Episode 9 - Odd Attraction
"I wanna go again!"
"You kiddin' me!? Your last plan was a complete dud!"
"I've barely gotten to do anything!"
"What're you gonna do, clown boy, annoy 'em to death!?" Sambash yelled.
"Excuse you, I have a really good plan!" Yabaiba retorted. "I just need to make it."
"Please!" Yogostein yelled, knocking the two back with his spear. "Neither of you idiots could come up with a decent plan, not even if you were given the blueprints to one!"
The three villains continued to bicker and fight amongst each other, slinging insults and hitting each other. The Omnipotence could feel his anger at them growing.
With a pulse of energy, the three were knocked to the ground. "QUIET YOU IDIOTS" It yelled, striking them back with bursts of electrical energy. "I AM THE LEADER, I WILL CHOOSE WHO GOES NEXT"
The cylinder began to pulse with even more energy. In a flash of light, Enter appeared in the room, clutching his head and quickly shifting from his animal form to his human form.
He let out a groan, before regaining his composure. "What is it, mon maître?" He asked, trying not to seethe.
"IT IS YOUR TURN TO BRING CHAOS"
"But sir, I've been..."
"NO EXCUSES" It yelled, causing Enter's body to ripple with painful electricity. "YOU HAVE BEEN IGNORING DUTIES EVER SINCE I BROUGHT YOU BACK. IN ORDER TO PROVE I DIDN'T MAKE A MISTAKE IN BRINGING YOU BACK, GO DESTROY THE RANGERS FOR GOOD"
"Very well, I'll head out now." Enter said, still smoking from the electric shock. He turned to exit the base, but was interrupted.
"AND MAKE USE OF THAT AWFUL CREATURE YOU BROUGHT BACK, PROVE IT WASN'T A MISTAKE AS WELL"
Enter let out an annoyed click, and turned to the caged sheep, who in turn faced towards him.
"So, sheep." Enter began, moving towards the cage. "What would be the fastest way to plunge this city into chaos, and destroy the rangers?"
"Well, if I were you, I'd go for some kind of mind game." She said, no fear in her voice.
"I've already tried mind games, they're fairly clever."
"Don't have to tell me that twice." Bellwether quietly said.
Enter shook the cage, causing the sheep to fly into the side. "Just give me something so I can make the master happy. Quickly."
She tapped her hoof to her woolen head. "Uh, maybe try destroying some monuments. That could lower morale."
Enter stepped back from the change, and gave a brief glance to the cylinder, then turned back to the sheep. "Merci." He then vanished from her sight in a burst of red.
"Anybody else get the creeps from that guy?" Bellwether asked, looking around the room. She noticed no one seemed to notice her.
"Yeah, he really gives me the chills!"
She rolled her eyes. Aside from the clown, of course.
"So, why did we come here again?" Nick asked, pushing his cricket casserole around with his fork.
"I wanted to talk about us." Judy answered, the only thing she had ordered was a carrot latte.
The two had headed to a local diner a while ago, because Judy wanted to talk somewhere that wasn't the apartment. It was an old fashioned diner, and the two sat at a red seated booth next to a window.
"You mean you want to talk about me, and how great I was the other day, right?" Nick said, finally taking a bite of his meal.
"No, I wanted to talk about us in a... relationship sense." Judy replied back, still not having taken a sip of her coffee.
Nick spit out some of his casserole in surprise.
His heart began to beat faster. "What do you mean by that, Carrots?" He nervously chuckled.
"Well, are we just friends, or are we actually dating?" She asked. "It's really hard to figure out."
"Obviously we're just friends." Nick said quickly and frankly. "I mean, who would believe a fox and a rabbit..."
"Bogo told me you were crying like a baby when you found out I was comatose."
The fox dropped his fork, he began to sweat.
"Then there was the hug, and how you've danced around the subject every time I've tried to bring it up." She continued, finally taking a sip.
"That was a friendship hug." He tried to excuse. "It symbolized my friendship with you."
She rolled her eyes. "I also heard from my parents that the doctor confused you for my boyfriend. I was pretty confused when they called me to say they were 'concerned about my love life'."
"I keep getting confused for your boyfriend, alright?" He said. "It's not like everyone in the city thinks we're dating."
"Literally everyone in the city thinks your dating!" A voice from across the diner yelled.
The two looked out from their booth to spot Delgato, who gave a halfhearted wave, and turned to his meal.
"I guess it is easy to confuse on work duty with romance." Nick sighed. "But let's get this entirely straightened out, we're just friends, alright?"
He extended his paw. "That's all I wanted to know..." She reached out and shook it. "Pal."
"Bud."
"Friend-o-mine."
Nick felt incredibly awful lying to her like that.
Suddenly, a piercing noise began to strike through the diner, making nearly everyone cover their ears.
"Oh good, saved by the bell!" Nick shouted, looking down at the Zoolizer on his wrist, before he quickly rushed out of the diner.
Judy shook her head, and pulled out her wallet, leaving the change on the table before rushing out herself.
"Magnet Ninja Art, Polarity Ninja Stars!" The monster yelled as people ran from the park.
The robotic figure mechanically pulled out two ninja stars from its sides, one colored red, the other colored blue, and threw them. The red one struck a statue of a lion, while the blue one lodged itself in a nearby car. In a few moments, the car was completely lifted off the ground, and pulled towards the statue. The two crashed together, resulting in an explosion which destroyed both.
"Excellent!" It yelled, preparing another two ninja stars. "Let us see how this city fareth 'gainst mine magnetic prowess!"
"Not so fast, you, uh..." A voice yelled behind him, before beginning to stumble.
The robot turned around, revealing himself to the two rangers that had arrived to stop him. He resembled a stereotypical ninja, except with large, spiky hair, and a bunch of magnets hanging off him, including two massive magnetic blocks on its arms.
"Oh, you're a magnet guy." Red said, trying to figure out a joke, only to come up with a blank. "I can't come up with any magnet puns."
"Why don't you reverse your polarity, and get out of this city!" Blue yelled. "Does that one work?"
"Better than what I had."
"Hah!" The robot laughed. "Hah, I say! I, the legendary Magnetroid, hath come to bring doom upon this city, and none can stop me!"
"Yikes, we hit a really weird one today, huh?" Red said quietly to his partner, who nodded in response.
"If you wish to stop me, then you must defeat my NINJA ARMY!" It yelled, snapping its fingers.
Two dozen of the monsters Judy had encountered during the bomb scare suddenly appeared in bursts of smoke, clad in black suits instead of the purple suited ones Judy had encountered a few weeks ago.
"That's your ninja army?" Blue scoffed.
"I'm a bit lost, what are those?" Asked Red, a bit confused at these new monsters.
"They're..." She drew a blank when she tried to bring up a name. "They're really weak, that's what they are!"
The robot began to laugh, and wagged its finger very stiltedly. "These art not the Buglers thou faced before!" It yelled, the Buglers quickly spinning around and pulling out swords. "These art the Bugler Ninja Corp, the deadliest force in the eight regions!"
The two went a bit slack, and turned to each other, very confused.
"I have no clue what you're even talking about, but let's just fight already." Red said, before both forces rushed towards each other.
Red leaped into the fray, pulling out his sword and easily cut through a number of them, destroying them nearly instantaneously. Blue followed with her previous strategy, blasting them with her laser guns, which also destroyed the Bugler very quickly.
"You know, when you said 'weak', I didn't think you meant…" A bugler quickly ran up to the fox and attempted to slash him with its katana, only for it to be swiftly blocked. The fox knocked the sword back, and then did a quick cut through the Bugler's torso, causing it to vanish into data. "…I didn't think you meant THAT weak."
"Yeah, I'm not entirely sure what this guy means by them being deadly." Blue said as she leaped up and threw her daggers at two of the monsters, them instantly evaporating. "They're more like really big bugs."
With a few more blasts and slashes, the Buglers were completely cleared, and the baffled robotic ninja was the only one left standing. "Maybe 'deadliest' 'twas a bit of a misnomer…" It said to itself. "But nonetheless, thou shalt now face me in combat!"
It rushed towards the two Zoorangers, and pulled out two blades, one colored red, and the other colored blue. "Prepare to face the wrath of North Wind and South Pole!" It yelled, attempting to strike the two.
They both leaped out of the way of the strike, the blades striking the ground. "Couldn't you come up with a better name for your sword?" Red joked, rushing at the monster with his own sword. The two clashed, Magnetroid holding the fox back with both blades. "'South Pole'? Really?"
"Yeah, it's just really on the nose." Blue continued, blasting the monster in the back with her blasters. It flinched in response, unlocking blades with the fox, which let him strike the robot.
The monster sighed to itself, and looked back and forth at both of them. "How about Ma-South-Mune? Does that sound cooler?" The monster's once deep voice had suddenly gained a slight higher pitch.
"That's much better." Red said.
"Very well!" Its voice suddenly got deeper again. Prepare to face the wrath of Ma-South-Mune!" He then looked at his other sword, and then lifted it up. "And it's new partner, Kisa-North-Gi!"
"Now you're just going a bit far."
"Face my Magnet Ninja Arts," It yelled, throwing one of its swords up into the air. It then lifted the other one up, an electrical beam suddenly connecting the two. "Pole Sword Cyclone!" It then swung the sword around in a circle, the beam connecting the two causing the other sword to swing around as well.
The blade formed a red and blue cyclone around the monster, it being large enough to reach the two rangers, knocking them backwards before they could do anything.
"There's an ancient Japanese proverb fitting of this situation." It said, looking at the disoriented Zoorangers. "' ido no naka no hitori-goto mo san'nen tateba shireru.'"
"What does that even mean!?" Red yelled, getting to his feet.
"Thou will find out in Hell!" The robot yelled, rushing towards the fox, blades ready.
"JAN JA NIN!
ROCK N ROLL
DROP N ROLL!
SOLAR FLARE SABER!"
"That's enough of this!" Red yelled, swiftly swiping the massive sword through the monster. The monster let out a yell as it flew backward, crashing into the ground.
The robot got to its feet quickly, and pulled out its blades… only to find the blade parts missing. "You ruined my sword!" It yelled, its voice going high pitched again. "Those cost me a fortune!"
Blue ran up, landing a flying kick directly to the back of the monster's head, and then leaping off and landing next to her partner. "Good thinking, Red!" She complimented, giving the fox a fist bump. "Maybe we can actually finish this guy before he powers up!"
The monster began laughing. "If thou thought that 'twas all I had, think again!" It robotically reached for the two ninja star shaped markings on its legs, and pulled them off, revealing the multi colored shuriken. "You have simply made me resort to my truly deadliest Magnet Ninja Art!"
It prepared the ninja stars. "Polarity Ninja Stars!" The robot threw the two ninja stars, one off into the distance, and the other directly towards Red.
He leaped out of the way effortlessly, the ninja star simply flying past him. "You really need to work on your 'Magnet Ninja Art, Actually Aiming Correctly'." He mocked. "Seriously, where were you even aiming with that throw?"
"Nick, look out!"
He turned around, seeing the ninja star flying directly towards him. Unable to dodge due to his mocking, he braced for a sharp pain.
Which never came, even though he felt the ninja star hit him in the chest.
He patted his chest as his partner ran over. "Are you okay, Red?" She asked, a bit worried.
"Uh, yeah, I'm perfectly fine." He said, still trying to find a wound.
"Hah, you thought I missed!?" The monster yelled. "Your true pain shall come in but a few moments!"
The fox felt a sudden thump through his entire body, which coincided with his body glowing a bright red. He then felt his fur begin to pull backwards, something was pulling him back. He tried to fight it, grasping onto the ground with his paws, but in a few moments he was flung backwards through the air.
Directly into a nearby building.
The fox slammed right into it at high speeds, leaving a noticeable imprint right in the concrete. Blue gasped in shock as this happened.
"I'm okay…" He yelled out weakly.
"Now 'tis your turn, rabbit!" The monster yelled, pulling out two more ninja stars. He threw the two as well, one towards Blue. She jumped out of the way, and kept her eye on the star, which suddenly stopped mid-air, and changed course to where she was now.
She felt a thump through her body as she began to glow blue, but she didn't feel anything pulling her away like with Red. Then she turned to the street, and saw it.
A bus, coming directly towards her.
Then, an idea struck as she turned back to the monster. She ran right towards the robot, who grunted in surprise at this act. In a few seconds, she was standing directly in front of the monster, with a tumbling bus coming for both of them.
"You're gonna get us both killed!" It yelled, panicked.
"Not both of us, just you."
She leaped out of the way at the last second, causing the full brunt of the bus to crash into the monster, causing a massive firey explosion.
The fox suddenly felt all the force behind him disappear, letting him fall to the ground, directly on his face. He rubbed his muzzle, and then ran right to the scene of the explosion.
"That was a real 'sticky' situation we were in, huh?" He said, nudging his partner in the shoulder and laughing to himself.
"'IT SHALL TAKE MORE THAN THAT TO FINISH ME!" The monster's voice rang, as it crawled from the fiery wreckage, looking only slightly worse for wear.
"Oh, great." Blue sighed. "I thought we could go finish our meal."
"Prepare to face my ultimate punishment!" The robot yelled, pulling out two more ninja stars. It threw the stars directly into the two Zoorangers, Nick glowing blue, and Judy glowing red. "You shall now be stuck together, forever! Try going out in public like that!"
The two braced themselves for impact, covering their heads, and closing their eyes. But it never came. They opened their eyes, looked at each other, and then looked to the monster.
"I think you threw a dud there, Magneto!" Red joked.
The monster stepped back nervously as the two rangers approached him. "There's an ancient Japanese proverb for this too!" He yelled. "'kame no kou yori toshi no kou', which roughly means, 'RUN AWAY'!"
The monster leaped into the air backwards, moving away from them. "Magnet Ninja Art, Concealing Leaves!" It yelled. The monster performed a few brief motions with its hands, and then pointed its giant magnets towards two trees.
The leaves of the trees suddenly all flew off, clinging to the monster's body, covering it from head to toe in leaves. As soon as the ninja was completely covered, the leaves fell into a large pile.
The two rushed over to the pile of leaves, and rustled it around. The monster was gone.
"Well, isn't that just fantastic." Nick said, untransforming.
Judy also untransformed. "Let's go home," She suggested. "If the monster does anything else, it should show up on the news."
"Good idea." Nick complimented. "We need to stay alert."
The fox's snoring filled the dark apartment as the TV played.
"'Stay alert', he says." She mumbled to herself, rolling her eyes. "Nocturnals."
The TV continued to play, nothing about the monster coming on. She sighed. Maybe it had actually ran away for good, since it usually didn't take this long for a monster to attack again.
Yeah, they struck fear into that monster! They made it run away in terror, they deserved a bit of a break.
The fox fell onto his side, his tail flicking the rabbit in the face. She pushed it out of the way, but then realized something as she touched it. She never noticed how soft it was. She played with it a bit, before the fox let out a snort.
He sat up, bleary eyed, and saw the rabbit grabbing his tail. "What are you doing?" He asked, a bit confused.
She quickly let go of the tail, which the fox moved inwards. "N-nothing. It was… in my face." She tried to excuse.
"This is probably something you don't know, but touching a fox's tail is…" His last word trailed a bit, making it even more awkward. "Inappropriate." He finished.
She blushed and cupped her paws over her mouth. "I'm so sorry!" She let out.
"Its fine, you didn't know." He said, rolling over again. He smacked his lips. "I'm kinda hungry, what're we having for supper?"
Judy's ears perked up. "W-well, I was thinking…" She started, twiddling her thumbs. "The monster doesn't seem to be showing up any time soon, so, I was thinking, maybe, we could go out for dinner?"
"Are you okay?" He asked, sitting up. "You're acting weird, the Judy I know would sit here until something happened."
"We've been sitting here for hours and nothing has happened, so, obviously, it might not be coming back soon." She repeated.
"I know, but are you sure there isn't any OTHER reason you want to go out?" He asked, eyeing her.
"NO!" She yelled. "I just think… we deserve a break." She said, trying to keep composure.
There was a bit of a silent pause as the fox continued to look at her oddly.
"Alright then." He said, breaking the silence. "As long as we don't go to Romino's, I'm up for it."
"I was thinking about, maybe, that Rabbit Stew place?"
"The fancy soup place downtown?" He replied, leaning back. "I thought they just sold herbivore stuff there."
"It is literally illegal to not sell a mix of herbivore and carnivore food." She explained frankly. "You're a police officer, how do you not know that?"
"I was joking, Carrots."
She blushed again, and got up. "We better get going, huh?" She tried to excuse, heading towards the door.
The fox got up and rolled his eyes. "Lead the way to the stewed rabbits, Fluff."
She turned back to the fox, and gave him a glare. He laughed in response, pushing her out the door. "You know you love me."
She laughed in response as they headed out, but a thought struck her.
Did she actually?
He knelt before the coated cheetah. "Enter-senpai!"
"Don't call me that." Enter said plainly. "How did the mission go?"
"It went well, until the Zoorangers showed up." The magnet monster explained, standing up. "I tried to use my magnetic ninja stars to make them stick together," He placed his hands together to demonstrate. "But it didn't work, and they're still separated!"
Enter turned to the edge of the roof. "So, your only use doesn't work, hmm?" He quickly swerved around, pulling out a rapier, and sticking it directly into the monster's face. "Not exactly worth having around, then."
The monster let out a high pitched yell, and stepped back. "W-wait, it had to have done something!" He tried to explain. "I saw the effects activate, it's just I saw nothing! There has to be some form of attraction between them!"
Enter's eyes dilated, and he lowered the sword. "Say that again."
"There has to be some form of attraction…" He stopped when Enter turned around.
"Attraction." He said to himself. "I believe I've figured out what you've done to them."
"What?"
"You haven't physically attracted them to each other, you've mentally attracted them." Enter began to explain.
"I don't understand." The monster said as the cheetah circled around him.
"Of course you don't, you've never felt love before." Enter said, a bit solemnly. "Love, the most fragile emotion organics have. The one to best use against them."
"So, what do you want me to do?" The magnet robot asked.
"Mind games." Enter said. "Play games with them, mess with them a bit."
"Oh, I get it!" the monster began to realize. "Use their love against them, and that will destroy them!" The monster began to laugh dramatically, Enter only sighing in response.
"I won't fail you, Enter-senpai!" It promised, leaping off into the night horizon.
"What a disgrace." Enter sighed, before disappearing into data.
"Ugh, did we have to walk?" Nick moaned as they walked down the darkened city street, only lampposts to light the way.
"Yes, yes we did."
"But we have a car, why didn't we just drive?"
"Because you need exercise." She lied. She just wanted to spend time with the fox, for some reason.
She wasn't sure why, she already spent most of her day with him, but this felt different. It felt special.
"I run around enough already, especially after this Zooranger stuff started." He whined. "Besides, didn't you say this was supposed to be a break?"
"It will be once we get there." She said. "So stop complaining, or I'm gonna touch your tail again!"
"Oh no, please, anything but that." He said sarcastically, causing Judy to chuckle. Nick was surprised, and ran up next to the rabbit. "Did you just laugh at one of my jokes?" He asked.
"Is it wrong to laugh at your jokes?" She asked, stopping. "They are funny most of the time."
"Okay, who are you and what have you done with the real Judy Hopps?" He jokingly asked, starting to walk down the street again.
She caught up with him, and nudged the fox in the arm. She then noticed someone up ahead. A different, familiar looking fox.
"Hey, is that Lupina?" She asked.
"Huh, it is." Nick affirmed. She was standing by a bus stop, alone.
The two ran up to the patiently waiting fox. "Hey, Lupina!" Judy yelled, the fox reacting in shock as she turned to look at them.
"Oh, you're the officers from last month!" She said, a bit happy, but also nervous. "Uh, Hopps and Wilde, right?"
"Just calls us Nick and Judy while we're out of uniform." Nick suggested.
"What are you doing?" Judy asked. "And I mean that in a friendly, actually wondering way, not an undercover cop way."
The female fox gave the rabbit a quick look. "Uh, I was off work, and had a bit of cash, so I'm heading to the Rabbit Stew for a meal."
"Funny, we're heading there too." Nick replied.
"Hey, I have an idea!" Judy yelled cheerfully. "Why don't we all go together? Nick and I can pay!"
The fox's eyes widened. "Well, Judy can pay, at least."
"We share the same money."
"Yeah, and that's not a whole lot."
"I'd love to have dinner with some company… for once." She sighed. "And I'll pay for my food."
"Are you also going to pay for the bus tickets?" Nick asked.
"We're not taking the bus." Judy stated, a bit annoyed.
She then heard something behind her stop. She turned around, it was the bus. Its white coloring shone against the night sky, making it incredibly obvious. How had she not seen it until just this moment?
The doors opened up and the two foxes stepped on, followed by a very disgruntled bunny.
Little did they know, that just above them, on top of a building, was a very brightly colored ninja monster.
It laughed to itself. "A third party, this is absolutely perfect!" It ringed its hands together, before leaping on top of the bus. "If I hit the female fox with my red Magnet Ninja Star, she'll start to fall in love with the male fox, and the rabbit will start hating her! It'll ruin them all for sure!"
He stood tall, letting out a laugh to himself. The bus then jerked forward, causing the monster to fall onto his face.
It groaned in pain. "Ninja rule thirty seven, always stay low to the ground when sneaking."
The bus drove off, the ninja clinging to it via his magnetic body.
The bus halted, and the three waited for the rest of the passengers, both big and small, to depart before they got off. "So, how far away is the restaurant from here?" Nick asked, stepping off the bus with his two companions.
"It's only about a block away." Lupina said. "Like, five minutes, tops."
"You can handle five minutes of walking, can't ya?" Judy said, nudging the fox again.
"Stop that." He rubbed his arm, it was actually starting to hurt. "Yeah, yeah I can do five minutes."
The group started walking down the street, unaware of the monster watching from just atop the bus. It watched them as they walked away, and tried to get up when they were out of ear shot, only to find itself stuck to the roof.
It tried desperately to get up, beginning to panic as its targets continued to get farther away. After struggling for a few seconds, it managed to stand up and leap to a nearby building, barely making it before the bus left.
"That was close." It muttered, tracking the group silently from the darkened rooftops. "So, they're going to a restaurant, hmm?" It said to itself. "I'll never be let in... Unless..." The monster began to quietly laugh as it continued to follow them.
After almost exactly five minutes, the three reached the restaurant. It was a rather small place, a simple wooden sign with a stylized "Rabbit Stew" logo painted on it. Despite the rather homely outside appearance, through the window they could see the red velveteen interior, with a number of customers sitting around, even at this time of day.
They opened the door, hearing a bell ring. They approached a podium with a smartly dressed cougar behind it. "How can I help you?" The waiter asked.
"Table for three, please." Judy said.
"Right this way, then."
They followed the waiter to a table to the side of the restaurant, a round one almost directly next to a booth. The waiter reached under it, and pulled a lever, causing the table to compress downwards, making it large enough for them to sit at.
"Would you like to order now, or should I just bring refreshments?" The waiter asked.
"Just some water for right now." Nick said, pulling up the menu that was on the table. "I'd like to check out the menu for a bit, if you don't mind."
The waiter nodded, and headed off.
"So, Lupina, how's life been going after the... incident?" Judy asked, rocking a bit in her seat.
"To be honest, not much different." She sighed. "It was a bit exciting for a few days, I was being asked all these questions by the press. But after that, everything went back to normal."
"Ah, the dreaded five minutes of fame." Nick joked, not looking up from his menu.
"I guess so." She placed her paw on her cheek. "I just wish something exciting would happen again."
"Speaking of exciting," Nick said, flipping through the menu. "They're having a sale on the cricket and onion soup, might have to get some of that."
The two ladies laughed. "Is he always like this?" Lupina asked, giving a smirk to the rabbit.
"All day, every day."
Meanwhile, only a few meters above them, the magnetic robot ninja was busy plotting his scheme.
"Magnet Ninja Arts, Disguise Time!" It yelled, raising a finger to the air. The robot began to spin around, becoming surrounded in smoke. The smoke cleared, revealing that the monster was now dressed in a rather matted panda mascot suit. Its face and hair were revealed, however.
"Perfect, now I can get in there no problem!" It said to itself, leaping down from the roof.
The door bell rung. "How can I help…" The cougar waiter paused, looking the "disguised" monster up and down. He let out a sigh. "How can I help you, sir?" He asked, a bit frustrated.
"I'd like a table." The monster glanced over at the trio he was following. "Somewhere over there."
"Right this way… sir."
The monster was sat only a few feet away from the group, who he kept his visor-like eye on. After a few minutes, their food had arrived. This was the perfect time to make a cool entrance.
The monster stood up and turned around, throwing his disguise off and laughing. Everyone turned to him, a few brief seconds of awkwardness creeping in. The magnet ninja sighed, and sat back down at his table, picking the menu up.
The waiter walked up to him, the robot still looking through the menu. "Would you like to order now, sir?"
"Yeah, I'd like the… wait a second." The monster stood up and threw the menu over his shoulder. "I'm not here to order any food! I'm here to wreck the place!" He paused for a second in thought. "I mean, I am hereth to wreak havoc throughout this establishment!" His voice got deeper with those last few words.
He then flipped the table over, causing the waiter to run away. "Magnet Ninja Arts, Spike Hair Shot!" The monster leaned down, and began spinning around, his pointed metallic hairs flying from his hairdo and around the room.
The spikes flew over the trio's lowered table however. Nick turned from his meal to look at the monster. "Great, another monster ruining our meal." He sighed in frustration.
"This happened to you guys before?" Lupina asked calmly, ignoring the screaming and panic around her.
"Yeah." Judy answered. "It happened at noon, we had to evacuate when this guy attacked."
"Well, you guys are cops right?" She asked. "Why don't you try to do something about him before the place blows up?"
'Good idea." Nick said, getting up, preparing to hit the button on his Zoolizer. Judy quickly hopped up and pulled his arm away from it. "Not in front of everyone!" She whispered angrily.
The fox's eyes widened as he looked at his wrist. "Yeah wow, that could've been bad." He whispered back.
Judy shook her head, and stepped forward, pulling out her badge. "ZPD! You're under arrest!"
"Hah, why shouldst I be afraid of the police?" The robot scoffed. "I am far more powerful than any of you whelps!" It quickly leaned over, and shot several spikes towards Lupina, Nick quickly diving in to get her out of the way.
"Oh! Thanks!" She thanked as the male fox stood up, out of breath.
"No problem." He panted. "Just doing my job."
"It is time for my killer technique!" It yelled, raising its left arm into the air. "Magnet Ninja Arts, Silverware Arm Armor!"
"Oh, there's no way that's a real ninja art." Nick said in disbelief, running back next to Judy.
He was proven wrong quickly, as every single piece of silverware in the building flew towards the monster, and began to swirl around its arm. The silverware stuck to the monster's arm, forming a rounded, club shaped appendage.
"And now, for part two of my killer technique!" It yelled, aiming the massive, silver arm towards the two officers. "Magnet Ninja Arts, Silverware Machine Gun!"
The silver mass began to spin around, an audible revving starting up. Thinking quickly, Judy rushed to the lowered table, and pushed it upwards, extending the pole to give it some leverage. "Quick, get over here!" She yelled to her friends, who quickly ducked behind the table.
"Please, I can cut through that table with little effort thanks to this art!" It mocked, shooting the silverware on its arm off at an incredibly fast rate, comparable to that of a machine gun.
The three braced themselves under the table, holding their ears down to ease the sound. After a few seconds, Nick lifted one of his ears, and only heard a very dull clanking against the table.
"What the!?" The monster cried from in front of the table.
Nick slowly peeked from behind the table, letting out a laugh. Judy heard this, and turned to him. "What are you doing!?" She scolded, pulling him back behind the table. "Are you trying to get killed!?"
"Carrots, I think you need to see what he's actually firing."
She peeked around the table as well. On the ground were easily hundreds of spoons, and only spoons. The monster was hanging its head in shame. "There wasn't a single knife or fork in there…" It said sadly.
"You're in a place that sells soup, you don't eat soup with a fork and knife!" Judy yelled.
The monster reacted in over dramatic shock, stepping back as if hit by a weapon. "There's an old Japanese proverb for this situation." It muttered to itself. "Gukou yama o utsusu."
It then quickly raised its head, a bright glowing light shining from its visor. "But I still have this!" He raised his silverware covered arm, and rushed towards them. It slammed the metal arm directly through the middle of the table, knocking the three away from each other.
The robot eyed the female fox lying on the ground, and let out a small laugh. It then pulled out a red ninja star, and threw it towards her. The two officers tried to get up to stop the ninja star, but by the time they got up it was too late, and the shuriken had hit her.
"Mission complete." It said quietly.
The two officer ran to Lupina, to make sure if she was okay. "You alright?" Judy asked, worried.
She got up, and felt around her body. "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine!" She said cheerfully, none of them noticing her glowing red for a second.
Nick turned to Judy, looking a bit confused. "That guy just can't seem to get anything to work, can he?"
They turned when they heard laughter coming from the monster. "We shall meet again on the field of combat, I can assure you of that!" It said. "But until then, I bid you sayonara!" It threw a small ball to the ground, which created a burst of smoke that cleared rapidly, showing that the monster had disappeared.
"You know, I've met some obnoxious people in my time, but that guy might be the worst." Nick joked, getting a rather loud laugh from both the lady fox and the rabbit. "You two sure you're alright?" He asked, a bit concerned.
"Nah, we're fine."
She had the worst sleep she'd had in a while.
Judy had only managed to get a few hours of shut eye, the rest had been restless tossing and turning. Why had she let Lupina go to the dinner? It was meant to be for her and nick only, not a third wheel. Maybe she was being too nice.
These thoughts continued for hours, and before she knew it, her alarm had gone off.
She groggily got out of bed and headed for the kitchen. When she exited, she saw Nick, sitting on the couch with a cup of his normal morning coffee.
"You're up early." She mumbled, reaching up to the counter to set up her own carrot mocha.
"And you're a lot less active than normal." He responded, having noticed the bags under her eyes.
"I had a rough sleep."
"Couldn't tell." He said sarcastically, taking a sip of his coffee. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"
"Yes, I'm feeling… PERFECTLY FINE!" She let out, sounding much angrier than she was trying to.
There was a bit of an awkward silence as she waited for her coffee to finish. Once it did, she sat at the table, and took a sip.
"Why are you up so early, anyway?" She asked.
"Weirdest thing," He began. "Lupina called me."
The rabbit's heart began to beat fast.
"Said she wanted to meet me in central park for some reason?" He continued. "Don't know what she wants, but it's in an hour."
Judy had started grinding her teeth, but she had tried to not make it obvious.
"You could come if you want." He suggested. "It's probably just something related to the Zoorangers."
"No, no you go on ahead." Judy managed to spit out.
"Alright then." Nick sighed, pulling out his phone. "I should probably head out if I want to meet her." He put the coffee cup on the table, and headed out for the door. "If you change your mind about coming, just give me a ring, kay?"
"I will!" She lied, the fox sighing and closing the door.
"No I won't." She muttered quietly, quickly gulping down the rest of her coffee. "You won't even know I'm there."
She had headed out only a couple minutes after Nick had left, and in order to keep things inconspicuous, took the long way to the park instead of the bus, like her partner had. She was only slightly late to their meeting, and watched from a faraway bush, binoculars in paw.
She watched them, several meters away, starting their conversation. Lupina was sitting at a bench when he arrived, facing the park's lake.
"A lakeside view during sunset!?" The bunny angrily growled. "She's good at this."
Nick walked up to the bench, and sat down next to her. From this distance, she couldn't make out what they were saying, but she didn't want to hear it. It would just make her even angrier.
She bit her thumb with her large teeth as she continued to watch them sit there and talk. It was aggravating for some reason.
"Excuse me, what are you doing?" A voice behind her asked.
The bunny responded in surprise, the binoculars nearly falling out of her hands as she turned to face a large bear in a business suit.
"Oh, I was just, uh…" She stumbled, putting on a fake smile. "Bird watching. I was bird watching."
"Really, because it looked like you were spying on that couple over there."
"I totally, absolutely, was not doing that." She tried to excuse, unable to come up with anything good.
How did Nick come up with excuses so quickly, anyway?
The bear rolled his eyes, and continued walking through the park. Judy waited for a second before turning back to Nick and Lupina, only to find neither of them there.
"Oh no, oh no, where'd they go!?" She said to herself in a panic.
She ran down to the bench as fast as her legs could carry her, which was pretty fast. She checked out the bench, finding nothing, and then looked around, trying to spot somewhere they would've gone.
In a panic, she decided to just run around until she saw them.
"Isn't this great?" Lupina said to the very confused Nick. "Just you, me, a really inconspicuous tree, perfect for sitting under…"
"Lupina, why did you want me to come here?" Nick asked. "I thought you wanted to talk about something important, but this is more like a date."
"It is important, silly." She said, laughing. "And it's also a date."
He sighed. "Lupina, just because you're a female fox I happen to know, doesn't mean I'm in love with you." He stated. "And besides, I already have someone else."
"What!?" She yelled, panicked, startling the male fox. "Who is it!?" She grabbed onto his shirt collar.
"Okay, first," He started, gently taking her paws off of his shirt. "Don't invade my personal space. Second, she doesn't even know, so why should I tell you?"
"Is it the rabbit?"
Nick's eyes widened, and he let out a sigh. "Alright, yes, it's Judy."
"Trust me, I can be a much better partner than her!" She insisted, grabbing him by the shirt again, a crazy look in her eyes.
This time, he pushed her back. "Okay, something weird is happening." He said. "First Judy's acting weird, and now you're acting crazy, what's going-"
Suddenly, a yell was heard in the distance, gradually getting closer.
"Oh god no."
It was Judy, running as fast as she could towards them, which was, again, incredibly fast. She leaped into the air, and landed a diving kick straight to Lupina's face. The two fell to the ground, and began struggling, fighting each other.
"What the hell is going on!?" Nick yelled, unable to get close to the two.
A laugh echoed from nearby, and Nick glanced towards the tree. In a single motion, Magnetroid revealed itself by throwing away its cloth covering of a tree.
"Something strange is indeed going on, my kitsune friend!" It said, walking over to the two fighting mammals, who didn't seem to realize the monster standing near them. It pulled out a red ninja star. "I might as well tell you, since thy won't remember soon, anyway."
"What?"
"These magnetic shuriken do more than just smash objects together, naive." It started to explain. "They can control how much someone is attracted to another person."
"You're messing with us." Nick said, figuring it out. "Why are you doing this?"
"Sempai told me to, so tis what I must do." He let out a laugh, and then threw the ninja star at the fox, who winced in nonexistent pain as it hit. "I'll be taking this." He said, kicking the rabbit off the fox, and then reaching his hand into her stomach, pulling out a blue ninja star.
"And since you know too much, I'll be taking your memories of this as well!" It said, the fox feeling a thump as he glowed red. "Magnet Ninja Arts, Magnetic Erasure!" He aimed his magnets at the fox's head, and fired a red and blue beam from both of them, hitting the fox directly in the face. He yelled in pain, and then fell to the ground. All of them were unconscious.
"Magnetroid, out." The monster threw another ball at the ground, creating a blast of smoke that covered it, then faded, leaving nothing in his place.
After a few minutes, all three of them got up.
"What just happened?" Lupina asked, rubbing her head.
"I have no idea, the last thing I remember was, uh…" Judy paused. "Me not spying on you two."
"YOU WERE SPYING ON US!?" Nick yelled at her, suddenly becoming very angry. "We weren't even doing anything!"
"I feel like I missed something." Lupina said, backing away. "I'll let you two be." She quickly ran off, leaving the rabbit and fox alone in the park.
"What else was I supposed to do when you two were going on a date!?" Judy yelled.
"Not spy on us!" Nick said, exasperated. "You could've just stayed at home!"
"Yeah, I should've!" She said. "I have no idea why I was jealous over you!"
"I have no idea why I felt anything for you either!" He responded. "You're exactly what I thought you were on day one, a dumb bunny!"
"And you were exactly what I thought, a lying, conniving, traitorous FOX!"
Nick let out a growl, which Judy returned with a very angry look. "Let's just get to work." He sighed. "Maybe I can get a better partner, one who respects me!"
"Maybe I can get a partner who doesn't betray my trust every day!" She retorted, walking away from him.
He let out a growl, and walked away from her as well.
A bit later, both had arrived at the police station. This wasn't after a large fight, however.
They had both realized that, whoops, everything they needed for work was at the apartment. The outcome wasn't exactly pretty. Yelling, shouting, insults being thrown. There were indeed complaints from other tenants because of this.
The drive over was also miserable. As was the walk to the bull pen. And the wait for Bogo.
The two were basically at each other's throats as they waited, nearly literally as well.
"Great, everyone's looking at us. "Judy groaned. "This is all your fault, bug breath."
"How is it my fault?" Nick responded. "Obviously they just realized how ridiculous it is for a bunny to be an officer."
There was a swift sock to his jaw, the room filling with shock.
"You hit like a bunny." He said, trying not to show how much it actually had hurt.
"Guess you didn't know bunny's hit HARD!" She quickly leaned backwards, and kicked with both her feet, launching the fox across the room where he crashed onto a table.
He got up, dazed, and shook it off. "You're gonna pay for that, Fluff." He protracted his claws, and leaped at the rabbit, knocking her off the chair.
The tumbled around the bull pen in a daze, most of the other officers just watching on in amazement. The two were so wrapped up in their sudden complete hatred over each other.
They didn't even notice when Bogo walked in.
He lifted the two up from their fight by the cuffs of their collars. Judy gave the buffalo a weak wave, which was returned with a frustrated snort. "What are you two doing?" He asked, calmly.
"Uh, practicing... combat?" Nick tried to excuse.
"We're going to my office, right now."
A few moments later, they were seated in rather uncomfortable chairs, with the buffalo looking down at them. He was utterly embarassed. "You know, I've cut you two a lot of slack recently. I know recent events have made your lives a bit more tough, but this fighting is something else." The buffalo said, ashamed. "There's only one thing I can do in this situation."
"Give us new partners?" Nick asked, a bit hopeful.
"No."
"Fire Officer Wilde?" Judy asked, the fox giving her a glare.
"Definitely not." Bogo said. "You two are both suspended until you can get over yourselves."
"WHAT!?" Both of them yelled in unison.
"Sir, you can't do that, I'm a great officer!" Judy pleaded.
"Let me think about it, no." Bogo said sternly. "Get out of my office, go home, and be friends again."
"But-"
"NOOOOW!"
The two instantly sprinted out of he angry buffalo's office, and back down to the entrance, without even stopping for a breather.
"This is all your fault, you know that right!?" Nick yelled at the bunny.
"No, this wouldn't be happening if you didn't go on a date with Lupina!" She retorted.
"Oh, is that what this is about!?" He yelled, quickly pulling out his phone. "I'm gonna call her up, and we're going to go on another date right now!"
"See what I care!" Judy yelled back as the fox walked away, talking on his phone. "YOU'RE THE WORST, WILDE!"
"This is really... sudden." Lupina said as she walked down the street next to Nick. "We've only met each other twice now."
"Well, sometimes twice is all you need." Nick excused. He felt dirty for some reason. Everything about what had been going on had smelled rotten, but he didn't know why. Every time he tried to question it, it would be... blocked out, with another thought.
"So, where do you want to go?" He asked, rubbing his paws together. "We could go to the park again, maybe go see a movie, get some lunch, I dunno."
"I am kind of hungry." She admitted. "Maybe we could get something to eat down at the market."
"Great idea!" He said. "There's a sandwich shop down there that has really good centipede sandwiches."
"You mean Reggie's?"
"Yeah, you've been there too?" He said, amazed. "Wow, we really think alike."
"It's the only sandwich shop in the market, Nick." She said frankly.
"Oh."
"Are you alright?" She asked. "I know we don't know each other that well, but you're acting odd."
"I'm not acting odd, I'm perfectly fine!" He said, a bit panicked, and letting out a laugh. He was screaming internally, something was definitely wrong, but he couldn't...
Then he heard the sound of something crashing, and people yelling.
He turned to look down the street. "Oh, well that's just great." He said deadpanned. It was a bunch of those Bugler things running down the street, terrorizing people and destroying stuff with strange claw like weapons.
And of course, behind all of them, was the Magnetroid.
"Lupina, you need to get out of here." He said sternly.
"Trust me, I don't want to get wrapped up in one of these monster things again after last night." She said, running off shortly after.
He waited until the monsters were a bit closer, and until Lupina had rushed behind a building.
He leaped into the air, and landed in front of the crowd of monsters, transforming into ZooRed. "You're gonna be seeing red and blue when I'm done with you!" He quipped, twirling his sword around.
"Speaking of red and blue," The monster began from the other side of the crowd. "Where 'tis your partner in crime? Hath you two perhaps had a bit of a falling out?"
"I don't need the bunny in order to beat you, magnet face."
"Stop right there, monster robot thing!" A voice cried from a top a building. They both looked up to see the aforementioned bunny, standing on top of the building, hands on her hips triumphantly.
"But I guess that won't stop her from trying."
She leaped down from the building, transforming into ZooBlue on the way down. "You're gonna be seeing red and blue when I'm done with you!" She yelled once she landed, twirling her blades around.
"Great, now you're stealing my jokes." Red said to her, a bit angry.
She turned to him with an indignant look on her face, which he couldn't see under the mask. "How was I supposed to know you already used that one?" She angrily asked.
"Oh, I don't know, it's not like I just said it two minutes ago!" he yelled.
"Ooooh, I hate you so much!" She yelled. "I'm just gonna leave if you're gonna be here for the fight!"
"Alright, then I'll leave too, no point if you're also here!"
A few meters away, the monster was letting out a small laugh. His plan was working perfectly. With these two fighting, he could easily take both of them down, and then move on to destroy the rest of the city as well! It was brilliant!
He slowly walked towards the two, pushing the Buglers out of the way as he did. It was time to finish them off.
He reached within a few inches of them, the two arguing organics not even noticing he was there. He pulled out two daggers, both marked red and blue. He was ready to strike them, finish them off for good.
But just as he was about to, a noise got all three of their attention.
"HOT HOT SUN!"
In a flash, the monster felt a burning fireball smack directly into its chest, resulting in an explosion that knocked it backwards.
"What was that?" Blue asked, turning to the direction the fireball flew in from.
They both looked in the distance. A rather tall figure walked towards them. Not as tall as a Sentai ranger, but taller than both of them by the looks of it. It wore some kind of black cloak over most of its body, covering everything but its legs and arms. Even then, a piece of black cloth, which looked like it was ripped directly from the cloak, covered something on the figure's wrist.
From what they could make out was a very similar look to their own suits, but colored a glittering silver. It also carried what looked like a rapier, with a very bulky, rounded guard.
"I suppose you need my help yet again, ZooRed." It said, its voice gravelly, deep, and almost definitely artificial.
"Wait, are you...?" Red said as the figure walked between them. The mammal gave a brief nod, affirming the fox's suspicions.
The monster hastily got up, obviously angry at the figure. "Who the hell are you supposed to be!?" It growled.
The figure raised the arm it wasn't using to hold the sword upwards, parallel to the ground. It then raised the hand holding the sword upward. "GUARDIAN OF THE ECLIPSE!" It yelled, before quickly spinning around and pointing the sword directly at the monster. "ZOOSILVER!"
"THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!?" The monster yelled, terrified.
"Oh man, that means I don't have to have this jerk as my partner anymore!" The two other rangers said in complete unison. They glanced at each other, and then turned away.
"It's time for your dawn to end!" ZooSilver said, stepping forward.
Magnetroid backed away slowly, retreating behind the crowd of Buglers. "Get him, you idiots!" He yelled, pointing towards the approaching silver figure. The army of Buglers quickly ran towards it.
"Behold my weapon, the Eclipse Thruster!" Silver yelled, dragging its paw across the blade. "With it, I can harness the very forces of the cosmos!"
Silver rushed towards the crowd of Buglers, quickly exterminating a few of them with a few slices. The figure stopped, and turned back to the two other Zoorangers. "It has three amazing modes for battle!"
It turned back, slashing a few more Buglers backwards. Silver then dragged its paw across the guard, causing it to spin around incredibly quickly, visible sparks flying off. It then put its paw on it again, causing it to stop and emit a glowing red light.
"HOT HOT SUN!" A deep voice from the sword cried.
"Sun mode gives my blade the strength of the sun!" Silver cried, his blade suddenly lighting into a blaze. It slashed effortlessly through a large group of Buglers, the range of the blade increasing exponentially as it did.
"It also lets he harness solar energy into a powerful blast!" Silver said, demonstrating by thrusting the blade forward, causing the fire to fly off directly into another large group of Buglers, who were almost instantly vaporized in the explosion it caused.
Silver spun the hilt again, more sparks flying as it happened, and then placed a paw on it, stopping it in place. A blue light emitted this time.
"SHINE SHINE MOON!"
"In Moon mode, I can control light through my blade!" Silver slashed a few times, causing a long strand of blue light to shine from the blade, and also slash at a group of Buglers. It had functionally turned into a whip, but made of light.
Silver followed by showing just how whip-like it was, swinging it around to manipulate a group of Buglers into a straight line. Silver thrust it forward, the strand extending and going directly through the torsos of the Buglers, causing them all to explode.
"And with that, your night has fallen."
"ENOUGH OF THIS GLORIFIED TOY COMMERCIAL!" Magnetroid yelled, stepping forward into the charred street. "Let's see how you enjoy taking ona real monster!"
He pulled out two of the daggers, which quickly expanded into a around ten as he shifted them around. "MAGNET NINJA ARTS, MAGNETIC KUNAI STORM!"
The magnet robot threw the two handfuls of kunai, which quickly multiplied into well over a hundred of them. The hovered in the air as they were thrown, and then quickly shifted direction towards Silver, who gave out a small laugh.
Silver spun the guard once again, and stopped it, this time a silver light emitting from it.
"HOT SHINE ECLIPSE!"
The kunai flew directly towards Silver, who stood there, not moving. As they approached a foot in front of his body, he began to swing his sword, unnaturally fast, and with absolutely incredible precision.
In a split second, he drew back the sword, and all one hundred kunai disintegrated into dust. "Wh-what!?" The magnet monster yelled. "How did you do that!?"
"Eclipse mode gives me reflexes and speed beyond normal mammals, even if for a brief moment." Silver explained, walking towards the monster.
Silver then leaped at the monster, slashing at it multiple times before thrusting the blade into it and launching the robot backwards. "It is time to finish you off."
Silver pulled out a silver ZooTag, a picture of the Eclipse Thruster on it. It plugged the tag into the bottom of the blade, and the guard began to spin around rapidly, flashing all of the previous colors.
Raising the sword upwards, he began to move it in a clockwise motion, visibly forming a glowing ring around him. As the sword reached its original position, he swung it downward and yelled.
"COSMIC ECLIPSE SLASH!"
This caused the ring of light to spin around, forming the faint appearance of an actual eclipse, and then fly towards the monster, who flailed around in a panic. Just as the eclipse was about to hit, the monster also yelled out.
"MAGNET NINJA ARTS, SUBSTITUTION!"
As the eclipse blast hit the monster, it exploded into a puff of smoke, showing it had transformed into a metallic log with the monster's hair attached to it. The log then exploded into a massive burst of flame.
"Damn it, he got away." Silver muttered, before turning to the other two Zoorangers, who ran up to him.
"Wow, that was pretty impressive." Nick said, both of them untransforming. "Maybe you and me should be partners, it'd be better than sticking with-"
Silver thrust the blade directly through Nick's chest. Judy looked on in horror as he let out a horrifying yell of terror. Silver pulled the blade out, and Nick fell to his knees, eyes widened.
"Goodbye cruel world..." He whispered. "Tell my mom I love her." He fell to the ground, tongue lolling out.
He then opened his eyes and rolled over, feeling for a wound. There was none. Actually, he felt like a weight had been lifted.
"What happened?" He asked, getting up, and looking at Judy.
"Great, you can't even stay dead." She muttered, a second before she also felt the blade pierce through her.
Silver pulled it out again, and she tried to find the wound. Again, there was none, but she felt better somehow. "What did you do?" She asked the silver figure.
"That monster was using these," Silver held out his sword, causing two ninja stars to slide down the blade and onto the ground. "To manipulate your emotions."
The pair's mouths dropped open.
"He was the reason you two were fighting amongst yourselves." Silver continued to explain. "He was planning on killing you while you were fighting." It looked at Nick. "He also erased your memory when you found out."
Judy clenched her paws, and stamped on the ground "That! That..." Judy tried to blurt out, but she couldn't come up with anything, she was absolutely furious at what that monster had done.
"He'll be back soon." Silver continued. "You must be prepared. And with that..." It spun around, the cloak flinging around. "I bid you farewell, until I am needed again." Silver leaped off across the rooftops, and into the horizon.
The two looked at each other, and grabbed the ninja stars lying on the ground. "I can't believe that robot." Nick said. "Do you think this was that Enter guy's plan?"
"Definitely seems like his MO, considering our last run in with him." Judy said back, dropping the ninja star to the ground.
"OH MY GOD!"
They both turned around to see Lupina running towards them.
"Uh oh, do you think..." Nick whispered as Judy gritted her teeth.
"I had no idea you two were the Zoo Rangers!"
They both facepawed in disbelief.
"Well, actually, I had a bit of a hunch." She admitted. "I mean, that monster was basically stalking you two, so it had to have had a reason, right?"
Nick sarcastically clapped. "Congrats, you've figured it out, we're the Zoorangers." He paused for a second. "There's no space in it, by the way."
"It's just a shame you had to see us like that." Judy said, sounding upset.
"Yeah, that was pretty... embarrassing." She said. "But how about that silver guy, huh? How cool was he!?"
"He was pretty cool, gotta admit it." Nick admitted, shrugging.
"He did basically save our hides, so at least we can trust him." Judy said, crossing her arms.
"Don't you have to go find that monster now?" Lupina asked.
"Yeah, knowing how this works, he'll be back even stronger than before." Nick explained. "It's probably best if you don't follow us, alright Lupina?"
She nodded.
"Let's go Carrots, we have a monster to stop."
They both transformed, and summoned their bikes, riding off down the street.
Judy scratched a bit at her fur as they rode.
"Enter... sempai..." Magnetroid moaned as it stumbled through an alleyway. His injuries over the last few fights had finally built up, and he was almost as good as dead. He had to find Enter.
"I'm right here."
The ninja turned around in shock, seeing that his master had suddenly appeared behind him. "Enter sempai, I need help..." It said, reaching towards the cheetah.
He pulled out a small red object, and threw it at the monster, which hit it directly on the headband. The robot began to writhe in pain as it glowed red.
It's spiky hair flew off of its head, formed into a more compact ball, connected to its head only by a stream of red and blue electricity. The magnets on the side of its head, and the headband, melted across its face, before forming a white mask around it. A visor like eye burst from the mask, and several markings appearing across it, blue on one side of the mask, red on the other.
Its body changed into what looked more like a robe, only a bit blockier looking, the shoulders resembling shoulder pads, and it was colored to match the red and blue motif, but with a gold trimming. It pant-like legs puffed out a bit more, and its sneaker like feet turned into faux-sandals, still obviously one piece.
"KONTON JISYAKULOID!" It yelled, twisting its head around and stomping, the sound of a string instrument coming from nowehere.
It bowed down towards the rather nonplussed Enter. "Arigatou, Enter-dono." It thanked. "I will see to it that the Zoorangers are finally dealt with."
"Hm." Enter grunted. "Just do something so I don't have to deal with you anymore."
The newly improved ninja robot disappeared in a burst of smoke, leaving Enter only a tiny bit confused.
"I suppose this could be interesting." He said to himself. "Might at least be entertaining to see that idiot get destroyed."
He disappeared in a flurry of data particles.
"Are you okay, Blue?" Red asked over the helmet's communicator. "You've been scratching at your arm a bit."
"Yeah, I'm fine." She assured. "Just got a bit of an itch, I don't know why."
"I hope its just an itch." He said to himself as they rode through the city, trying to find the monster. "So, where do you think this guy might show up?"
"Hard to say." She replied. "We don't exactly have any leads, or even anything the monster's actually capable of if it managed to upgrade. We just have to keep our eyes out-"
She skid to a halt quickly as a refrigerator flew passed, missing the bike by only a few inches. It skid across the ground, and then flew off into the air, into what appeared to be a massive round object in the distance.
"You mean keep our eyes open for something like that?"
They quickly drove off towards whatever the massive object was. As they did, they noticed hundreds of metal objects flying towards, from all across the city.
"What in the world is he trying to do?" Red asked as they sped along, following the flying objects.
"I have no idea, but he's not going to do it." Judy said, sounding a bit angrier than normal.
Eventually they made it to where all the items were being made, the middle of a large, open park. The monster was sitting in the middle of it, legs crossed. A red and blue beam of electricity shot up into the ball of junk. The two skidded into the middle of the park, and leaped off the bikes, weapons drawn.
"Okay, ninja boy, what exactly are you planning with this..." He looked up at the absolutely massive sphere, and then back at the monster. "Ball of random, useless junk?"
"It is very simple, kitsune." The monster said, almost completely motionless. "Once the ball is large enough, I will launch it across the city, destroying everything in its path. Now if you excuse me, this takes a lot of concentration, but if you refuse to leave..."
The monster made several quick motions with its hands. "SUPER MAGNET NINJA ARTS, DUPLICATION!" In a massive puff of smoke, there were suddenly five other monsters, each resembling the monster's previous form.
"We can take you all on, no matter how many of there you are!" Red said proudly. "We just need to work as a team, right Blue?"
There was no response.
"Blue?" He turned around, seeing the rabbit standing dead still, he head lolled to the side. "Judy? Are you okay?" He asked, worried.
"Of course I am, Nick." She said, stone coldly.
Her head jerked up unnaturally, and the outline of teeth appeared around her helmet. Two deep, blue eyes shone through the helmet's visor, as the teeth split to form a mouth leading way to a bit of pure black.
"Oh no."
It let out a monstrous roar, what was once a suit turning into dark blue fur, and the gloved paws now becoming what were very clearly regular paws, with black tipped nails.
Then it began to laugh.
"I MAY BE ALRIGHT, BUT THESE GUYS WON'T BE!" It yelled, sounding exactly like the thing Nick had in his dream. "Savage is back, baby, and he's ready to fight!"
The monstrous rabbit rushed towards the copies, leaping into the air and kicking one rapidly in the chest, each kick visibly making the monster's chest cave in. With a final two legged kick, Savage's legs went directly through the ninja's chest, causing it to disappear in a burst of smoke.
"What!?" Savage yelled, glancing at the other four monsters. "These guys don't have anything in them, where's the fun in that!?" It let out another monstrous roar, before turning to Red. "Don't think I've forgotten about what you did, Wilde. Once I'm finished with these sad sacks, I'm coming for you!"
Red began to back away slowly, before eventually turning into a sprint. He ran as fast as he could, and leaped behind a nearby tree, absolutely terrified of whatever it was that had taken over Judy.
He hit his head repeatedly. "I should have told her, I should have told her..." he peaked out from behind the tree to watch in morbid curiosity.
"Let's make this quick, I have a fox hunt to get to." Savage joked, holding its claws up to the still fearless ninja copies. With two quick slashes, two of them vanished in puffs of smoke, leaving two remaining.
"I guess I could have some fun with you two..." Savage muttered to itself. "How about I tear you both limb from limb, and then rearrange you into a macabre statue? It'd make this place far more interesting to visit."
Almost as soon as he finished, the two monsters burst into smoke. "What the? I didn't even do anything to them!" Savage yelled, trying to clear the smoke away. "Who kill stole!?"
The smoke cleared, and walking towards the rampaging Savage was ZooSilver.
"You." Savage snarled, baring his claws.
"This kind of power should only be used for good, you monster." Silver told the creature. "You were a mistake that should never have been released."
"Pssh, come at me, glitter boy."
The two rushed at each other, Silver attempting to strike at Savage with his sword, only for the rabbit to block it effortlessly with its own bare claws. A few more attempted strikes, which were only met with yet more blocks.
"Jack rabbit be nimble, Jack rabbit be quick," Savage started in sing song voice, clutching the blade in its claws. "Jack rabbit's gonna rip you bit from bit."
"Not today, Savage." In a brief motion, Silver thrust his sword upwards, out of the rabbit's reach, and then let out a lightning fast slash, knocking him backwards.
As Savage hit the ground, it went limp. But after a moment, it rose like a puppet on strings, and with what sounded like cracking bones, readjusted itself back to normal. "You hit me." It said in disbelief. "No one's supposed to hit me."
"There's a first time for everything."
Silver rushed over to the rabbit, and lifted it up into a choke hold. "Let go of me!" Savage yelled, trying to break free of the clutch.
"This is for your own good." Silver said, tightening the grip around Savage's neck. After a few seconds, he let go, the rabbit falling to the ground unconscious. Before Silver's eyes, the monstrous rabbit reverted back to ZooBlue. Silver let out a sigh. "Even when he's weakened, he's still powerful."
Red rushed from his hiding spot, a tried to nudge Blue awake. "Judy, please wake up!" He cried. "Please, I don't want to go through that again!"
"I guess I have been getting knocked out a lot." She said, groggily opening her eyes and sitting up. "What in the world happened?"
"Nick can tell you later." Silver said. "Right now, you need to stop that other monster." It pointed the sword towards the ninja robot who was still sitting in the field, completely oblivious.
"Can't you help us?" Blue asked.
"I'll only help you when times are dark, friends." Silver explained. "I have a feeling you can finish this guy on your own. Farewell."
Silver then leaped off into the horizon, the other Zoorangers watching as he left.
"So, ready to finish this guy now?" Red asked, holding his sword on his shoulder.
"Yep, but let's make this as quick as possible."
She pulled out her blasters, and fired at the monster, who reacted in pain and fell over. The ball of junk began to shake, and fall apart.
"You know, maybe we should have done that from farther away." Red said as he saw a large truck heading towards them.
They quickly ran away as the junk continued to fall from the sky. Objects of all kinds, TVs, cars, even odd things like dentures and tents attached to bars. All of this fell from the sky, crushing trees and benches, and nearly crushing the two rangers at multiple times.
After a few seconds, the giant ball of metal objects was no more, reduced to massive piles of junk scattered across the park.
The two stopped running when they stopped hearing the sounds of crashing. Red looked around at the massive piles of scraps. "Well, looks like the park rangers are gonna have their work cut out for them, huh?" He quipped, Blue nudging him in the arm. "I've missed that."
They heard an angry cry from the middle of the park. "YOU FOOLS! YOU'VE RUINED MY PLAN!" There was then sort of electrical burst, causing a bunch of objects from around the area the scream came from to launch through the air.
"You don't suppose he's angry at us, right?" Red joked.
Blue rolled her eyes, and they ran towards the middle of the park. When they got there, the monster was floating in the air, electricity crackling through the air.
"I'll make sure you wretched animals see the deepest bowels of Hell!" It shouted, pulling out two ridiculously long red and blue swords.
"See you got your swords fixed." Red pointed out. "Did you come up with decent names for them yet?"
The monster didn't respond, only slashing the swords in their direction, creating a blast of energy that knocked them both away and into piles of trash.
"I don't think he's in the mood for jokes, Red." Blue said, moving a few pieces of scrap out of her way.
Her partner pulled his head out of a broken microwave, and threw it to the ground. "Pretty obvious, I'd say."
Blue leaped down from the pile of junk, and fired her blasters at the monster again, who sliced the blasts out of the air with his blades.
"Let me handle this, Carrots." Red said, running up next to her, swinging his blade around by the rope it was connected to. He tossed the sword slightly to the side of the monster, only slightly catching the monster's attention.
"You missed."
"Might wanna..." He tugged at the cord. "Check that again!"
The monster looked back, as the blade flew directly towards him. It smacked him directly in the face, causing him to fall from his magnetic floating.
He got up and rubbed his head. "This is no way to treat a legendary ninja!" He yelled at the two.
"You're not a ninja!" Blue yelled, throwing her daggers directly into the monster, knocking him backwards. She ran up and grabbed the daggers from its chest, and began jabbing them into him. "AND! YOU'RE! DEFINITELY! NOT! LEGENDARY!" She yelled with each stab, and finishing by kicking the monster away.
The monster rolled across the ground, and weakly got up, clutching its chest.
"Let me finish this." She said, holding her paw out in front of her partner.
He looked at her, and she rolled her eyes. "Give me the Solar Flare Saber!" She explained.
He dropped the tag into her paw. "Be careful, it's really heavy."
She quickly plugged the tag into her Zoolizer.
"JAN JA NIN!
ROCK N ROLL
DROP N ROLL!
SOLAR FLARE SABER!"
The blade appeared in her hand, and she carried it almost effortlessly. "Feels pretty light to me."
"Never mind then." He said a bit meekly, backing off. "You go get him."
She gave him a nod, and rushed towards the monster, getting a running leap above him.
"DON'T MESS WITH ME AND MY FRIENDS!"
She brought the sword down through the monster, cleaving it directly in two. She spun around, slashing through the monster's midsection, and then dropped the sword to the ground as the Magnetroid exploded.
She turned back once the explosion cleared to see what was left, only a small horseshoe magnet and another of the red objects laying on the ground. She stepped back as the red object floated into the air, and then flew off into the distance, the giant monster reappearing outside the city.
"Now I'm bigger than Mt. Fuji!" It yelled, "Nothing can stop me!"
"Wanna go prove him wrong?" Blue said, turning back to her partner and holding up a ZooTag. He nodded in response, holding up his own.
In a few seconds, ZooRobo had been formed, and the two were ready to fight. ZooRobo tried to slice at the ninja with its sword, only for the robot to dodge out of the way and retaliate with a series of swift palm strikes. The robot stumbled backwards a bit.
"The swiftness of the ninja can defeat your lumbering machine any day." It boasted.
"You want fast, huh?" Blue said, cracking her knuckles. "I'll show you fast."
The controls switched around, and ZooRobo put its sword away, entering Usagi Mode. The robot leaped up, and delivered a swift kick to the monster's face. It followed with rapid punches, which knocked the ninja backwards.
"Hmm, so you're fast as well, but I bet you can't counter this!" In leaned forward, the ball attached to its head extending via the electrical beam. The Magnetroid then began spinning its torso around, turning the ball into an incredibly fast barrier.
"There's no way past my Super Magnet Ninja Arts, Super Magnetic Barrier!"
"This guy really needs to stop coming up with attack names, it's getting annoying." Red admitted.
ZooRobo tried to step through the barrier, but only got knocked back by the swinging ball.
"Looks like we've reached a stalemate." Red said. "Think we should call in ZooBison?"
"No, I have a plan." Blue said.
ZooRobo reached forward, and quickly snagged the ball as it flew by, causing the ninja to stop. "Ow! Let go of my hair!" It yelped in pain.
"Your hair, huh?" Blue said, jerking the controls so that the robot pulled on the hair more. "Looks like you could use a trim!" ZooRobo's free hand pulled out the sword, and sliced it through the beam connecting the ball and the ninja.
The ninja fell forward, directly onto its face, letting out a squeak of pain before getting up. "That hair had all my electromagnetic powers in it!" He yelled. "Give it back."
ZooRobo dropped it to the ground. "Oops." Blue let out, before making the robot crush it with its foot.
"Yeesh, remind me not to get on your bad side again." Red let out.
"Let's finish this guy off for good!" She yelled.
ZooRobo leaped into the air, higher than it ever had before, and locked on to the monster.
"LUNAR KICK!"
The robot performed a dive kick, travelling at ridiculous speeds to reach the monster, which it went right through.
The monster writhed in pain as it started exploding. "There's an ancient Japanese proverb for this!" It yelled. "issun saki wa... yami!" It fell over, exploding into a massive ball of fire.
"Not so attractive now, are you!?" Blue yelled.
Meanwhile, back in the city, a figure watched on the rooftops. "I knew that one was a failure." Enter said to himself. "But at least I made the Omnipotence... happy." He then gave a smirk. "And I also got to see that fight with the rabbit... Savage. Interesting."
He disappeared in a burst of particles.
Judy fell onto the couch. What an awful two days that had been.
"So, why didn't you tell me about the horrible evil thing that can possess our bodies?" She asked, looking up at the fox sitting in the kitchen.
"It's, uh, because I didn't want to worry you." He tried to excuse. She seemed to take it.
"Who do you think Silver is?" She asked.
"All I know is that it was definitely the guy that saved my life last week." He said. "But who he actually is, who knows."
"He could be anybody." She muttered. "Somebody we know, maybe somebody we don't know!" She went quiet for a second, and the sat up. "You don't think its Lupina, do you?"
Nick gave the bunny a look, and then quickly became a bit more contemplative. "I mean, Silver only showed up after Lupina left, so..."
"We'll just have to wait and see I guess." Judy said, sitting up. "I have another question."
"What is it?"
"do you actually love me, Nick?"
The coffee mug he was holding hit the table as the fox became stunned by the question. "W-well, uh, um..." He mumbled. He pounded his chest for a few seconds, and took some deep breathes.
"Yes."
Judy let out a small sigh.
"But, I kind of want us to just stay... friends, right now." He admitted. "It's nice just having a relationship that's... normal. But if you want to start dating, we can, I guess."
"If you wanna be technical, we've been together for three years." She said. "That's how long we've lived together, how long we've been partners on the force..."
"How long we've basically known each other."
"You want to keep lying to people about it to mess with them?" She asked.
"Carrots, you know I would love that."
Enter stood atop the mountain, looking up at a particularly bright, yellow star. "That Savage creature could be of use to me." He said. "As long as everything keeps going smoothly, I should-"
"What are you doing up here, robot?" A voice called to him. He turned around, revealing Long.
"It's not like there's any other spots on the mountain good for contemplating." Enter explained. "I suppose that's why you're here as well?"
"Not exactly." Long said. "I heard you say something about... Savage."
"You've also heard of it?" Enter asked. "A tres magnifique creature that is."
"So, you're also hatching something, huh?" Long replied. "I wonder which of us will get him first."
Enter smiled. "I have an idea." He said, walking up to Long. "What if we make this into, say, a game?"
"A game?" Long said back.
"We'll see who can destroy the Zoorangers with Savage's help first." Enter explained. "The prize will be the satisfaction of destroying them."
Long thought about it for a moment. "Very well. Game on."
He disappeared in a burst of fire. Enter chuckled to himself. "He should be useful as well." He turned back to looking at the sky.
The star from before had disappeared.
I'm sorry to everyone for today. It's truly been an awful year. Maybe this chapter cheered you up? I know a lot of people like that sweet WildeHopps!
Probably didn't do it any form of justice, though.
Anyway, if there's one chapter I'll probably get to redoing anytime soon... it's chapter one, but then it'd be this one. I mostly wrote it the day its being posted, cuz... y'know. I also wanted to do it a bit quicker than normal, because I'm very excited for the next episode.
Anyway, writing Magnetroid was good fun, tried to make him as much of a Japanese-wannabe loser as possible, and I think I did well at that. Also hope you all enjoy ZooSilver, he's going to be important, obviously. And yes, the astrology theme does mean something, don't worry.
Next time, be careful what you wish for.
Wish me well.