Episode 14 – Time and a Place
"And so I said to the guy, ORGETTABOUDIT!"
The Org motioned around the room, trying to get a response from any of the other villains. Absolute silence.
"I know my man Yogostein got it!" He pointed to the golden robot.
"I hate you."
Well, it was a response, at least.
"Alright, time for my next joke!" There was a loud groan from everyone in the room. "What do you call an org with a dunce cap?"
"YABAIBA"
"Hey, that's rude-" A sudden shock of pain coursed through his body, causing him to collapse to the ground.
"Finally." Sambash let out, pounding his latest bottle on the table. He stood up. "Your great Omnipotence, I would-"
"YABAIBA, YOU ARE TO GO NEXT"
"WHAT!?" Both the Org and the biker let out at the same time.
"He's an incompetent bumbler!" Sambash yelled. "Why should he go next!?"
"LAST I CHECKED YOU AND YABAIBA BOTH SHARED SIMILAR SUCCESS RATES"
The biker grunted, and satback down, muttering to himself.
"YABAIBA, I WANT YOU TO FINALLY GET RID OF THOSE RANGERS FOR GOOD" The Omnipotence shouted at the recovering Org. "AND DO IT QUICKLY"
"Y-yessir!" Yabaiba said, rushing to the door. "I'll have it done before you have time to finish cleaning your tube!" He paused for a second. "Time…"
The gears in his head finally clicked, he had come up with a completely fool-proof plan to get rid of them. The Org began to laugh madly. "I'll show you all who's incompetent!" he yelled, running out the door. "I'LL SHOW YOU ALL!"
There was silence in the room, as all the villains looked at each other awkwardly. "How long until his plan backfires?" Sambash questioned.
"I'd give him until 3 PM." Yogostein answered. "4 PM, tops."
"If he's truly impressed by his own idea," Long started. "Then I imagine it will take longer than that."
Nick walked into the hall, looking for Judy. She had stayed at the station overnight, for a reason she wouldn't tell him. He could probably assume what it was, anyway. He headed for her desk, and sure enough, there she was.
She was completely passed out, head on the desk, ears draped across her keyboard. She really wasn't a loud snorer. The fox rolled his eyes, amused at the sight, and quickly tapped her on the shoulder. She instantly jolted up.
"AUGH!" She yelled. "WHO'S THERE!?"
"Relax." The fox said. "S'just me."
"Nick?" She seemed genuinely confused at his presence. "What are you doing here so early?"
He sighed. "What time do you think it is, Carrots?" He asked, leaning onto her desk.
"Uh, midnight?"
"It's 5 AM."
She pulled her ears down in frustration. "But, I was just…" She growled. "I must've passed out!"
"Looks that way, Fluff." The fox said, taking a sip of the coffee in his hand. "What were you even doing at the station that late?" He was merely asking out of decency, he already knew.
"Uh, I was…" She stammered for a second. "Trying to find a lead on the monsters?"
The fox stared at her, and then glanced at her computer screen, which displayed a file on a certain fox. "I highly doubt that." He responded.
"Alright, yeah." She started. "I was trying to find out something about your dad."
"Told you, Carrots, it's pointless to." The fox said. "I've already tried, there's nothing about him anywhere."
"How does something like that happen?" Judy questioned, staring at the fox's portrait. "You can't just disappear forever."
"Sometimes there's just things we can't answer." The fox proposed. "And this is one of them."
"I just wanted to help you." She said. "Don't be mad at me."
"I'm not mad at you, Carrots." He sighed. "I just don't want you dealing with something that doesn't involve you."
She took a deep breath, and let it out in relief. "But you know who will be mad at you?" She turned to the fox in confusion.
"Who?"
"Bogo, when he realizes you didn't sign in."
"I still have time." She chuckled.
"You have about ten minutes."
The rabbit's eyes widened, and she gulped loudly. In a split second, she was dashing down the hall, racing towards the main hall. The fox shook his head and sighed.
"Dumb bunny."
"So, are we just Bogo's 'Handle weird stuff' guys now?" The fox questioned, pushing his sunglasses up.
The two had been tasked with an undercover assignment. Over the last night, there were reports of strange movements throughout the national history museum. Bumps in the night, loud crashes, that sort of stuff. There wasn't anything found, but the manager was worried about a potential robbery.
As such, the two were undercover as… normal visitors, waiting for something odd to happen. At this point, there wasn't much.
"Maybe it's good we're the ones who handle weird stuff." Judy suggested. "It usually turns out to be a monster attack anyway."
"I mean yeah, but why does Bogo always push it onto us?" The fox asked, his sunglasses falling back to his face. "Do you think he…?"
"I doubt he knows." Judy said, starting to stroll down the museum's main hall. "He has no reason to suspect it's us."
"Aside from the two times we acted weirdly in the bullpen."
She shrugged and tried to say something, only to come out with a loud "Ehhhhh."
"I'm honestly surprised nobody's figured it out yet." He continued. "How many bunny fox duos could there be in the city?"
"I mean," She retorted. "From what I read in the Sentai Encyclopedia, most Sentai teams tend to be made up of people who don't know each other. They could just be assuming that we're similar."
"It's still a very specific combo."
"I don't think we should be talking about this in public."
"Carrots." He sighed. "There's nobody else here."
They were completely alone in the large museum, they were basically the first to show up. In fact, due to Judy's rather obsessive punctuality, they arrived almost on the dot at the opening hour. Nick knew this punctuality was going to lead them to trouble sometime soon.
He didn't know how soon it would be, however.
The two undercover officers continued walking through the museum. Judy, personally, didn't want to come back here after the previous events that had happened. Unfortunately, she couldn't refuse an order from the chief. In both the "she's dedicated to her job" way, and the "she didn't want to be fired" way.
So when they entered the room where it happened, all she could do was stare and remember.
They had managed to clean up in only two weeks, but the image of her parents laying on the ground, nearly dead, still clung to the area.
"You didn't tell Bogo about what happened, did you?" Nick asked. The rabbit didn't respond, meaning it was a definitive yes. He sighed. "So, what are we supposed to be doing now?"
"Just waiting." She calmly answered. "It's more likely for the break-in to happen in the morning if the thieves didn't steal anything last night."
"Alright, waiting it is."
They didn't have to wait very long. The rabbit's ears perked up, she heard something coming from the main hall. A loud crash. "I think we got our guy." She whispered, before running off. The fox, confused, nonetheless followed her.
In the main hall, they found something they weren't really expecting. Admiring the old west exhibit was a creature, shrouded in a cloak, and wearing a large, cone-shaped straw hat. The articles of clothing covered the creature's oddly bulky body.
The thing quickly turned to them, and let out a small noise. It nervously backed away from the two as they approached.
"You're under arrest!" Judy yelled, pulling out her badge. "You have the right to remain silent!"
The thing glanced back at the exhibit, and popped its hands out from beneath the cloak. One hand was red, while the other was silver, and appeared to be wearing a wrist watch. Both hands were unusually thick, and they created a metallic noise as it rubbed them together.
It thrust its hands forward, causing a swirling blue portal to appear on the glass of the exhibit. Out of the portal jumped a handful of old west styled bandits, dingoes and coyotes of various shades and builds, but all dressed in very stereotypical bandit garb.
"Take care of them!" The thing yelled, running off.
The bandits pulled their guns on the two, who rose their paws in shock. "So, not a normal thief, I suppose." Nick joked
"Not the time, Nick!"
The two quickly pressed the button on their Zoolizers, transforming. "Alright, now can I joke?" Red asked.
"Eh, sure."
"Yeehaw."
He quickly pulled out the Vickscannon, and aimed it at the bandits. They backed away, shocked at the massive gun. "Who wants a piece of this?" The fox smugly asked.
The bandits answered by firing their guns rapidly at the two, smoke filling the area. It cleared, and the two rangers were still standing, completely unharmed.
"Normal bullets don't work on superheroes!" Blue cried out, pulling out her daggers. She quickly tossed one into one of the bandits, causing it to vanish in a puff of yellow sparkles.
"Alright, so they aren't real." Red said. "Which means I can do THIS!" He quickly fired at the rest of them, instantly clearing them all away.
Unfortunately, this also left a massive scorch mark on the museum floor. "Janitor can clean that up, c'mon!" The fox excused, rushing off.
The rabbit rolled her eyes, and quickly followed. They chased the monster into another room, it standing above them on a flight of stairs, surrounded by more exhibits.
"Yipe!" It let out. The creature started waving its hands around again, summoning another portal.
"Let's see what's behind door number two." Red joked. "I'm betting more cowboys."
Out of the portal ran a handful of large bears, each wearing heavy armor, and carrying an absolutely massive weapon. "You were wrong, Red." Blue stated frankly as the fox took a deep gulp. "It was barbarians."
One of the barbarians let out a roar, and leaped into the air, bringing down a large axe onto them. They jumped out of the way as the axe hit, leaving a sizable divot in the ground.
"Hey, can't we talk this out?" Red pleaded as the bear approached him. He quickly ducked as it swung the axe at him. "I guess that's a 'no'!"
Blue looked back and forth at the barbarians, as they closed in on them from the stairs. "Guess it's time to use that!" She pulled out a blue ZooTag, and plugged it in to the Zoolizer.
"LET'S MORPHIN'!
GET FIGHTIN'!
DON DON BAM!
BUSTER BOXERS!"
A bell sounded, as the boxing gloves appeared on the rabbits paws. She hopped from foot to foot, punching quickly. She leaped into the air, and thrust her fist directly into the back of the bear's head, causing it to vanish.
"When you'd get so good at boxing?" Red asked.
"Please," She dismissed. "I was a top boxer in the academy!"
"Really? I sucked at boxing." He admitted.
She pulled her fist back, and thrust it forward, launching a burst of energy towards another of the barbarians. She did it again with her other hand, launching it into the other barbarian. They both vanished into yellow lights.
"Round, finished!" She yelled, pumping her boxing glove-clad fist. The two ran up the stairs, chasing after the monster. Finally, they had it cornered to the back of a hallway.
"Again, you have the right to remain silent!" Blue yelled. "Even though you're probably not going to jail. I didn't really think that through."
"Looks like time is up!" The monster lamented, throwing off its cloak and hat. It revealed its true form, its body consisted of mostly a clock, with a singular bulging eye on the right side of its literal clock face. It had two horns protruding from its head, and had two dangling bits hanging from below its face. "For you, that is!"
"Ugh, time puns." Red groaned.
"Well, we're going to punch your clock!" Blue retorted, jabbing one of her fists forward.
"Too bad, so sad!" A voice from behind them yelled. They spun around, seeing the horned, clown-like monster. He was surrounded by an army of Orgettes, each one patting its head. "I don't believe I introduced myself last time we met," The monster stated. "I am-"
"Yabaiba, yeah we know." Red told him. "We read about you."
The monster pushed its jaw down, and slapped its hands against its face, mimicking a surprised face. "Whaaaaat!?" It pushed its jaw back up again. "I was going to do a thing were I introduce myself, and then I beat you, it would've been cool!"
"Not coming from somebody like you, it wouldn't." Blue stated, jabbing one of her fists towards him. "You're kind of a loser."
The monster cleared its throat. "Anyway, your time is-"
"Already used that one, boss!" The clock monster yelled. The clown Org yelled, frustrated, and stomped its feet.
"Even when I'm about to win I can't look cool!" He complained. "It doesn't matter, in a moment, you two will be long gone!"
"Yeah, how do you plan on defeating us, exactly?" Red questioned. "Your clockmaker over there hasn't exactly been putting up much of a fight."
"I'll show you!" Yabaiba said, clasping his hands together. He aggressively pointed towards the clock monster. "CLOCK ORG, OPEN THE PORTAL!"
"Got it!" The monster quickly spun the clock hands on his face around, counter-clockwise of course. "BUST A RHYME TO REWIND TIME!"
The clock hands spun around incredibly quickly, forming a blur that covered the monster's entire face. They soon began glowing blue, as a large blue portal emerged from the monster. It thrashed around, attempting to suck the two rangers into it.
Red dug his claws into the ground, gripping against the tiled floor. Blue attempted to do the same, only for her boxing gloves to get in the way. In a moment, she was swept off her feet and sent hurtling towards the portal. The fox watched as it happened.
"JUDY!" He yelled, before turning around to see Yabaiba staring down at him.
"Sayonara."
The clown gave the fox a quick kick to the jaw, causing him to let go and fly into the portal. It quickly closed afterwards.
"Good job, Clock Org!" The Duke Org complimented, giving it a thumbs up. "Now let's go and CELEBRATE!"
Judy opened her eyes. The sky was unusually grey.
Wait, wasn't she inside just a few seconds ago?
She jolted up and looked around, she was in the middle of a very barren field. She could spot buildings a ways off, but they looked off. They looked gloomier than normal, more industrial, with large stacks coming out of the top, billowing massive plumes of smoke.
"Ugh, what happened?" Nick asked, raising from the grass. He looked around, confused. "How did we get here?"
"I don't know, but I'm fairly certain whoever owns that building is breaking the law." Judy stated, getting up and heading for the building. As she approached, the smoke got thicker. She wasn't used to this kind of air, and started hacking.
"You alright?" Nick asked, helping her stay up.
"Ugh, I can't breathe here." She weakly said, letting out a cough. "The smoke's too thick."
She covered her mouth, and headed to the front of the building. The doors were just a large, sliding, orange door. She pushed it open, a horrible shrieking noise sounding from it. She cringed, hard.
"Oi, what the heck are you doing!?" A large bull sounded, walking up to the rabbit. She looked around, spotting a number of different mammals, of all shapes and sizes, working at odd machines.
"Sorry to halt your operation," She started. "But I'm afraid you're breaking the law!"
"Who gives ya the right to call me a law breaker?" The bull asked.
She pulled out her badge. "ZPD, Officer Hopps. The amount of smoke you're producing clearly violates all air pollution laws in the book." She continued. "Now, if you would come with me-"
The bull, along with all the other mammals in the building, burst out laughing. She looked around, confused. What had she said that was so funny?
"Listen, bunny, I don't know what joke you're playing, but I run a perfectly legal establishment." The bull retorted, his amusement fading quickly. He quickly snatched the badge from her paw.
"Hey, give that back!"
"An' what the heck's this?" The bull said as the rabbit ineffectively punched his leg. "Some kinda toy?"
"I worked hard to earn that!" The bull kicked her back. "This is assaulting an officer!" The bull quickly tossed the badge back to her.
"Go talk to a real officer about that." He swiftly kicked her out of the building.
Her face slid across the gravel. "What was wrong with that guy!?" She said, getting up. She turned to the fox, who was idly standing by the exit. "Thanks for helping me out in there."
"You are welcome."
She groaned. "It was like they've never seen an officer before!"
There was a gust of wind, several scraps of paper flying by them. A newspaper flew directly into Nick's snout, which he peeled off quickly. He examined it, and his eyes grew wide. "Uh, Carrots? We have a problem."
"What kind of problem?" She asked, grapping the newspaper from him. Then she saw it, the date.
1836.
"IT'S A PARTY!" Yabaiba yelled. "C'mon everyone, let's DANCE!"
A group of Orgettes appeared in the corner of the cavernous room, dressed as a mariachi band, each playing a different instrument. Sombreros suddenly appeared on the other five villain's heads.
"I can't believe this." Sambash mumbled, throwing the hat off his head.
"Out of all of us," Yogostein lamented. "He was the one who defeated them."
"This is like a cruel joke!" Sambash yelled, getting up from his seat. "I'm outta here!"
"Every party needs a pooper, that's why we invited you!" Yabaiba sang.
"Shove it up your ass!"
"I'll admit," Long said from his corner, he quickly tapped the hat, causing it to burst into flame. "I'm impressed you managed to do it."
"I'm not as dumb as I look, see?" Yabaiba said cheerfully.
"No, you're still about as dumb as you look." Kyuemon interjected. "You just happened to get lucky."
"Kyuemon is right." Enter started, in his human form. "I expect this plan to go horribly wrong at some point very soon."
"Man, you guys are such killjoys!" Yabaiba groaned. "Alright, I get it, you don't like fiestas, how about ondo? Hit it, Clock Org!"
The clock monster saluted, and waved its arms around. In a flash, the band had been replaced by a large tower, with an Orgette pounding a drum at the top. The sombreros had been replaced by various different colors of kimonos.
"Eh? This more your style?" Yabaiba asked.
"You're an idiot."
Before Yabaiba could respond, a burst of energy pulsed from the cylinder on the other side of the room. The objects summoned by Clock Org were instantly vaporized.
"Uh oh."
"YABAIBA" The Omnipotence thundered.
"Y-yessir?" He meekly asked.
"ENOUGH OF THIS FOOLISHNESS" It sounded, the force of its voice nearly knocking the Org off his feet. "IF YOU TRULY WANT TO PROVE YOURSELF USEFUL, DESTROY THE CITY"
Yabaiba gave a quick, nervous bow, and backed away, letting out a series of terrified, nonsensical mumbles. He glanced towards the clock monster. "C'mon, let's go!" He whispered. The monster nodded, and the two quickly dashed out of the base.
The room fell silent as they left. After a few moments, Yogostein broke the silence. "Did he actually say how he got rid of the Zoorangers?" He asked.
"I don't believe he did." Long answered. "I'm willing to bet it was something stupid, however."
The two had headed into town shortly after they had found out where… when, they were. It was hard to call this place Zootopia, though it obviously was. The central tower was currently in the process of being built, that was the only land mark that seemed to exist in the rather small city.
"Alright, so we're in the industrial revolution, over a hundred years from our normal time." Judy explained, trying not to panic. "And we have no way to get back. This is fine."
"No, it very much isn't fine." Nick retorted.
She let out a squeak. "I'm trying not to panic right now, Nick, and that's not helping."
"Oh, sorry."
The two continued walking down the rather dusty street. Judy looked around, they were getting odd stares from basically every mammal that was there. "I think we're being judged." She whispered to the fox.
"Wonder why that is." He flatly replied.
"Maybe it's because we're a prey and pred walking together?" She suggested. "This time period had a lot of specism in it."
"It's because of our clothes, Carrots." She looked at her pink flannel shirt and jeans, and Nick's green shirt, tie, and grey pants. Then she compared it to the clothes everyone else was wearing. Very old fashioned clothes, lots of dresses, caps, and dried up colors.
They probably looked really weird.
Zootopia had been founded by predators, and people back then had moved here because of the lack of specism, so of course it was their clothes.
"Wanna go buy some new clothes so we fit in while we're here?" Nick suggested. "Maybe go on some wacky, time travel antics?"
"I would rather die than wear a dress in public."
"Fair enough."
The bunny's stomach growled rather loudly. "Can we get something to eat, though?" She asked, clutching her stomach.
"You missed breakfast, huh?"
"How was I supposed to have breakfast five minutes before rollcall?"
"Maybe you shouldn't have stayed at the station all night!" He retorted. He looked through the crowd of mammals, attempting to find some kind of restaurant. "Do they even have restaurants in the eighteen hundreds?" He asked.
"I think that was an upper class thing." Judy said. "And we are definitely not in the upper class section of the city right now."
"So, our only choice right now is to find a marketplace?" He said, rather disappointed. "It feels like I'm homeless all over again."
"We technically are as long as we stay here." She explained. "Our homes don't exist yet."
The fox sighed. "Alright, let's go find a food stand to steal from." The rabbit gave him a dumbfounded look. "I mean, buy from."
He tapped on the leg of a bypassing yak. "Excuse me, sir, could you, perchance, tell us where the nearest food market is?" He asked, putting on a slightly posh voice.
The yak stared at him, dumbfounded. "Uh, there's one a few blocks down." He replied. "On Pack Street."
"Thank you!"
The two quickly rushed off towards Pack Street, leaving behind a very confused yak.
The two reached Pack Street, and were both quickly impressed, and disappointed.
The market was larger than one would expect, stretching down the rather bare road. However, the food on sale seemed to be rather… underwhelming. It was mostly breads, vegetables, and raw insects.
"Not really anything interesting here, huh?" Nick lamented as they strolled down the road, still getting stares.
"We're incredibly lucky." Judy stated. "People here basically only had this kind of food to live off of." She looked around, and spotted a stand selling a collection of veggies and fruit. She skipped over to it.
The mammal running the stand was a rabbit. "Hello there, ma'am!" He greeted. "What would you like to buy?"
She perused the stand's contents, carrots, blueberries, basically everything they needed. "Um, five carrots, and a pawful of blueberries, please."
"Comin' up!" He wrapped the carrots in a newspaper, and placed them in a basket. "Now, in technical terms, a 'pawful' means about fifteen blueberries."
She chuckled at the joke, and looked at one of the carrots. "Y'know, if you maybe tilled the soil a bit more, these carrots would be perfect!"
The rabbit looked up at her. "Huh, really?"
She nodded. "And with a bit more fertilizer, the blueberries would be even juicier." She suggested. "I grew up on a farm."
The rabbit pushed his cap up. "I'll have to take your advice!" He said cheerfully. "Do you have a stand anywhere over here?"
"Oh no, I'm from, uh…" She thought for a second. "Out of town! I'm from Bunny Burrow." She prayed that Bunny Burrow was an actual place at this point in time.
"Hey, I am too!" The rabbit said. "Haven't seen you there, though."
"Oh, uh, I travel." She excused. "A lot."
"Maybe I'll see around sometime." He finished placing the blueberries in the basket. "Here you go, that'll be five dollars."
"Wow, really?" She reached for her wallet, and looked through it. "All I have is a twenty." She pulled out the bill.
"A twenty!?" He grabbed the bill. "Wow, I've never been payed this much before. Looks kinda funny, though."
"It's foreign." She excused.
"If you want, you can take some more." He suggested. "I'd hate for your money to go to waste."
"No, it's fine!" She said. "You can keep it." She grabbed the basket, and headed off.
"What a nice rabbit."
Meanwhile, at the other side of the street, Nick had been looking at possible vendors. All of the insects on sale were raw, they'd have to heat them up on their own. That was a problem.
The bread looked fine, but how would he know if his money actually worked here? It was a conundrum. He sighed as he passed by a dingy alleyway.
"Hey, you!" Someone whispered to him. He turned to look, spotting a rather shaggy looking fox in dirty looking clothes. The fox looked to be just under half his age, about 18. "Hey, you want some food?" His voice sounded a bit wheezy.
"Uh, sure?" Nick said, pulling out his wallet. "How much do you want for it?"
"Nothing, it's free!" He pulled out a basket full of fruit, insects, bread, and veggies. "Take it!" He practically shoved it into the fox's paws. The fox quickly looked around, and dashed off.
"Uh, thanks?"
The fox turned back to the crowd, carrying the heavy basket. He saw Judy running up to him, also carrying a basket. "Hey Nick, I got some-" She stopped, spotting the basket full of food, and eyed him. "Did you steal all that?"
"This?" He said, looking at the basket. "No, someone gave it to me. For free."
"So, you stole them."
He groaned. "No, someone gave me this basket full of food for free." He reiterated. "No stealing involved."
She gave a skeptical nod. "Alrighty. Let's go find someplace to-"
"THERE HE IS!"
The two froze, and looked down the road, the crowd parting. Two wolves, dressed in long coats and police caps, each carrying a billy club, walked towards them. "Hand over the food, Wilde." One of them growled.
"I didn't steal this food!" He retorted. "Someone gave it to me!" He dropped the basket to the ground, and stepped back. "You can take it back, alright? You must have me confused for some other fox."
"Some other fox named Wilde?" Judy questioned. Nick took a deep gulp. He hadn't thought about that.
The fox gained an uneasy grin. "Alright, officers, if you excuse us, we'll be RUNNING AWAY NOW!" He quickly grabbed the rabbit by the paw, and they dashed down the road.
"Nick, this is stupid!" She yelled, keeping up with the fox as they ran. "Now all the officers in the city are gonna be looking for us, for no reason!"
"I know, but maybe I can lead them to the real thief!" He suggested. "He went this way!" The rabbit sighed, and continued running.
"How did they know your name?" She asked. "You aren't born for another hundred some years!"
"I think I know the reason, and I really don't want it to be correct!"
Back in the present day, Yabaiba was looking out over the city, Clock Org by his side. "Alright, clocky, you ready to tear this city a new time warp?"
"I don't understand what that means."
"That's a yes, then!" He shouted. "Let's go!" He leaped off the building, with the clock monster following shortly after, very confused.
They crashed into the pavement, causing nearby mammals to scatter and fall down in fear. "That's right, you dumb animals!" The duke org yelled. "Your heroes can't save you now, Yabaiba's here!"
"Not so fast." A deep voice sounded.
Yabaiba looked down the street, spotting a cloaked figure. "Oh, you must be the silver guy that's been messing with our plans." Yabaiba correctly assumed. "I doubt you can handle both of us by yourself, though!"
ZooSilver chuckled. "You two are both pathetic, I can tell you that." They pulled out the blade, and started moving towards the two monsters. "It's time to-" The cloaked ranger stumbled a bit, dropping the blade to the ground.
"Feeling a bit weak in the knees?" Yabaiba taunted. "Guess we're too scary for Mr. big bad Silver!"
"What's… happening…" ZooSilver stumbled forwards more, falling to his knees. His body had turned completely see-through, and it was spreading throughout the rest of it. Silver let out a scream of pain, before completely fading, the scream dissipating in the air soon after.
The two monster stared in awe at what had just happened. The duke Org quickly turned to his minion. "Did you do that?" He asked.
"I didn't!" The clock monster stated. "He just vanished on his own!"
"Well that's-" Yabaiba turned back, and let out a yell. The entire street had suddenly changed while he wasn't looking.
Instead of the bright, colorful place it had once been, most of the buildings had been ruined, run down. Trash cans with burning fires lit in them were scattered around the streets, as far more homeless-looking mammals, mostly predators, wandered around.
"Alright, you had to have done that, right!?" Yabaiba asked his monster again. "Please tell me you did that."
The monster shook its body… head. "I haven't done anything the last five minutes!" It pointed towards its clock face. "Something's doing this, and…" The monster quickly let out a yell of fear.
"What, is it the Zoorangers!?" Yabaiba asked. "What did you see!?"
"Boss!" It said, pointing downwards. "Your! Your feet!"
He looked down at his feet. They were completely see-through, much like what had happened to ZooSilver. It was spreading up his leg, and if it continued, he would disappear as well.
He let out a scream. "THIS IS BAD!"
The two had managed to find the real thief after a while. They peered into the alleyway, where the fox was talking to two rather large rams. "Now, I know I said I'd get some food, but there was a bit of a miscalculation…"
"Shut it, fox." One of the rams shouted, pushing the fox to the ground. "I knew we couldn't trust you."
"How's it feel having doomed everyone?" The other ram said. The fox's ears lowered. "Yeah, that's how it feels."
"What are they talking about?" Judy asked.
"I'm not sure, but we should probably stop it." Nick replied. The two stepped from the corner and walked down the alley.
"Oh, those your friends, Wilde?" One of the rams said, pushing the fox out of the way. They both cracked their knuckles, and their necks. "So, you want a fight, huh?"
"This is assault!" Judy declared. "We could have you locked up for this."
The fox sighed. "That's not going to work here, Carrots." She slapped her forehead. "We're going to have to go a bit old fashioned for this."
Judy quickly pulled her Taser out, and fired it at one of the rams. The fire hit, and the ram began to twitch and spasm, before falling to the ground. The other ram looked at his partner, and ran off screaming.
"WHY DO YOU HAVE YOUR TASER!?" Nick yelled.
"I had it at the museum in case it was an actual thief!" She explained. "I just didn't have a chance to use it."
"Well…" He replied, rubbing his temples. "Not the worst rash decision you could've made."
"Alright, thief!" Judy yelled at the shaggy looking fox. "You've caused us some trouble, so you're coming with us to the, uh…"
"To prison." Nick finished. "You're going to prison."
"No!" The fox yelled. "You can't do that, I have a job to do! I can't let them down…"
"Let who down?" Judy asked.
"Why should I tell you two weirdos?" He said, getting up and brushing off the dirt from his already dusty clothes. "Even if you just saved my life, I've learned not to trust your types."
"I feel you can trust us, Wilde." Nick said, giving a quick wink to his now confused partner.
"How do you know my name?"
"Trust me, I know."
"Well I don't!" Judy yelled. "Who are you?"
"Oliver," He started. "Oliver Wilde."
"God, I wish I wasn't right." Nick whispered to himself.
Judy looked back and forth at the two. She then noticed just how similar the two looked. They had the same fur pattern, general stance, it was uncanny, like looking at her partner but younger. And a lot more dirty.
"Wait, so you're Nick's-" Her partner quickly pulled her back, covering her mouth. "What was that for!?" She whisper yelled, pulling the paw back.
"Have you seriously never seen a time travel movie, Fluff!?" He whisper yelled back. "Anything you do can change the timeline in horrible, disastrous ways!"
She covered her mouth in shock. "Oh my gosh." She exclaimed. "You mean we could never be born?"
He nodded. "So don't you dare tell my great, great, great grandfather who I am, or else we'll both be dead!"
She nodded. "Alright, you do the talking from now on." She said. "I am awful at lying."
"Trust me, I know." He said, straitening his tie and stepping forward. "I am… Nick… Savage." He introduced. "We're not actually officers, don't worry."
"Who's your lady friend then?" Oliver asked.
"Uh, Judy Savage." He stated.
She frowned at that name. "So you two are…?" The younger fox started, a grin creeping across his face.
She groaned. "Yes, we're…. married." She harshly said. This was giving her awful flashbacks to last week. Both foxes laughed, Nick giving a slight chuckle to her reaction, and Oliver bursting out laughing.
"Oh man!" Oliver finished. "A fox and a rabbit, together, amazing." He sighed, and then turned to them, looking slightly more serious. "You guys are weirdos alright, but you seem friendly enough." He stated, and then motioned for them to follow. "C'mon, I'll show you around a bit, since you're obviously new."
He leaned down and grabbed on to a nearby manhole cover, and pulled it up, letting out a loud grunt. He slid it across the ground, and dropped it. He then jumped down into the sewer.
"Oh great, another sewer." Judy said, peering down into the dark, smelly tunnels. She turned to her partner, and gave a smirk. "Try not to have another panic attack, 'dear'."
"Don't worry, I won't."
The two climbed down the sewer ladder, and followed Oliver down the path. "See, this guy knows the sewers like the back of his paw." Nick pointed out. "I probably inherited that." Judy rolled her eyes.
"Good job that did last time." She said, jabbing him in the side.
They continued walking down the path, mostly in silence. After a few minutes, Oliver finally spoke up. "So, I had a perfectly good reason to steal the food, y'know."
"He finally admitted it." Judy whispered. "Can we book him now?" Nick tugged on her ear in response.
"So, here's the reason!"
They rounded a corner, which opened up into a relatively massive, rectangular area of the sewer. Lining the walkways were rusted, makeshift shacks, made of scrap metal. A number of mammals were walking around, all of different ages and species.
"Welcome to the underground." Oliver said as they walked in.
"Is this…?" Judy started.
"It's a slum." Nick said, his tone dropping.
"We prefer 'sanctuary'." Oliver responded. "I makes it sound nicer."
"So, you were stealing the food to feed people?" Judy guessed, sounding genuinely surprised.
He nodded. "I managed to get the food, but the police managed to catch me." He explained. "That's why I gave it to you, since you looked exactly like me for some reason."
"Just a coincidence, I assure you." Nick said.
"I'm sure it is!" He said. "I have bigger things to worry about now, though." He sighed, and backed up slightly. "I was supposed to get the food, and I failed, so, I probably shouldn't…"
All three perked up as a small voice sounded. "Oliver!" Yelled a young giraffe, dressed in rather ill fitting, dirty clothes. He was surrounded by a few other children, each of a different species, and also wearing dirty clothes. "Did you get the food yet?" The giraffe asked.
"Uh…" He stumbled for a second, and kneeled down, and rubbed the giraffe's head. "Yeah, I got it. It's hidden, I'll be back with it in a bit."
"Wow, you hid it?" The giraffe said, with awe. "Maybe we can help find it!"
"No, no!" The fox said, standing up. "I don't want you guys leaving, you might get hurt."
"Oh." The giraffe said, disappointed. "Well, can you find it soon? We're getting hungry."
"Yeah, I'll…" he tried to hold back his tears "I'll be back with it soon." He quickly ran off, before the tears could become obvious.
The giraffe looked at the other fox and his rabbit partner. "Are you guys new?" He asked.
"We're just guests." Nick said. "And we have to go… help Oliver." Judy nodded rapidly, and the two also rushed off.
The rounded the corner and down the path for a bit. Eventually, they found Oliver, sitting next to a wall, and crying. "God, I'm such a failure…" he sobbed. "The only things I can do are lie and cheat, why should I be trusted with anything!?"
"Think you can maybe work your rabbit heartwarming powers now, Carrots?" Nick whispered to Judy.
"I don't know him well enough." She replied back. "I can't give a pep talk for something like this. He's your ancestor, maybe you can get him to cheer up."
The fox took a deep breath. "Alright, but if I get erased from time because of this, I'm blaming you." He walked up, and sat next to his weeping counterpart. "So, Oliver, I know things look… tough, right now, but the only person who can make it better is you."
The younger fox looked up at him, dumbfounded. "I'll probably just make it worse." He mumbled, looking back to the ground.
"Not with that attitude you won't!" Nick yelled, getting up. "I was like you once, living on the street, lying to survive, but you know what? I made it better by trying. Giving up is the easy way out, but if you just try, try to help your friends, then you can make everything better. SO GET UP THERE AND GO STEAL ALL THE FOOD YOU POSSIBLY CAN!"
The younger fox looked up at Nick, who was out of breath from yelling. "You're right." He said, getting up. "I'll get these guys all the food they can! No, I'll get them food, and… and clothes! I'll get them everything they need!"
"That's the spirit!" Nick said, punching the young fox in the shoulder. "Go do what you need to do!" The other fox nodded, and ran off. Nick sighed in relief. "That went better than I thought it would!"
"That was actually very impressive." Judy admitted. There was a bit of silence for a moment. "So uh… what do we do now?" She asked. The fox shrugged
"How about you come with us?"
"What?"
In a second, the two felt hard objects hit their heads. They blacked out instantly.
"When I said something would backfire," Long started, looking at his now see-through hand. "I meant to you, specifically, not all of us."
"Well sorry, how did I know that sending them back in time would cause this!?" Yabaiba said, crosing his now translucent arms. He felt a swift knock on his head from Yogostein's spear.
"Did you not learn villain plan 101!?" Yogostein yelled, stamping one of his see-through feet. "Never mess with time travel unless you have everything planned out! OR ELSE THIS HAPPENS!"
"Why are we even disappearing, anyway?" Sambash asked, pouring himself another glass of gin. "Bossman over there isn't."
The Omnipotence remained quiet, but nothing appeared to be disappearing from his tube-like form. A sudden pulse shook the room. "IT APPEARS THAT WITHOUT THOSE TWO IN THE TIME STREAM, I DIDN'T REQUIRE YOU TO BE HERE" It explained. "THE CITY SEEMS TO BE WRACKING UP ENOUGH CHAOS ENERGY ON ITS OWN"
Enter looked over to an empty cage in the corner. "It appears our little lamb seems to be a better source of chaos than us." He sighed.
"I can fix this!" Yabaiba announced, he walked over to the Clock Org, and shook him. "FIX THIS! GET THEM BACK!"
"I can't time travel myself!" He stated, pushing the Duke Org back. "I don't have the energy to use it again!"
Yabaiba grabbed his chin, the gears in his head turning. Another idea hit him. "I got it!" He pulled out a Chaos Badge. "I just gotta give you an upgrade!" He quickly tossed the badge into the monster's clock face.
The monster writhed around in pain as it hit. The chaos symbol appeared on the clock face, directly in the center. Its eye dilated, and then shifted towards the middle. The clock face popped open, revealing a massive eye behind it. One of its horns grew slightly larger, both gaining an arrow shaped point. It also grew a bit bulkier, and more hunched over.
"Looks like my time has come!" It yelled.
"Great, yeah, time puns." Yabaiba said quickly. "NOW GET THE ZOORANGERS BACK HERE BEFORE YOU VANISH TOO!"
"Got it, sir!" The monster said. It pulled both of its horns, causing the clock face to slam back down on the eye. The clock hands whizzed and whirled, before shooting out a blue portal. "I'll be back in a 'second'!"
"JUST GO!" Yabaiba yelled, pushing the monster into the portal.
"So, this is the thief that's been going around causing trouble?"
Nick opened his eyes, everything was fuzzy, but he could hear people talking.
"Yes, sir. The rabbit appears to be his accomplice."
One of the voices sounded like the one of the officers from earlier, but the other sounded a bit gruffer, more posh.
"Alright. Let me talk to them."
He looked around the room. It was some kind of office. A rather small one at that, with sickly green wallpaper and an ugly brown carpet. The door to his side creaked open, a large lion stepping through. He was dressed in a suit with yellow trimmings. "Alright, Wilde, and friend, let's discuss some things." He said as he walked towards his seat.
"Uh, I'm pretty sure you have the wrong fox." He said. He turned to Judy, who was also sitting in a chair, completely passed out. He reached over, and snapped his digits a few times, causing her to jolt awak.
"What, huh, where?" She let out. She then spotted the lion sitting at the desk. "Oh my gosh, are you Terrance Manning?"
"Uh, yes, I am." The lion replied. "Founder of Zootopia, yes, I know the drill."
"It's an honor to meet you sir, you've done so much for-"
"Carrots," Nick whispered. "He thinks we're criminals. This is coming off like you sweet talking him."
She gritted her teeth. The lion looked back and forth at them. "Alright, you two are the thieves who have been stealing food for the last couple months, correct?"
"Actually," Nick started. "We are not. You are looking for Oliver Wilde, me and my… wife, here, are Nick and Judy Savage." Judy nodded rapidly, staying silent.
The lion facepawed. "Ugh, those idiots. You know, I really need to get a better law enforcement." He muttered. "Or at least train these guys to learn the differences between foxes."
"I can't blame them." Nick chuckled. "We do look alike, both very handsome."
"I am very sorry for the inconvienence." Manning apologized. "That kind of behavior is something I hate seeing."
"It's fine!" Judy assured, rubbing her head, which still hurt.
"Follow me, I'll show you the way out."
Manning got up, and opened the door for them. The three walked out into a parlor, with only two other mammals in it. In the corner was an aged antelope, looking at a few cages, each with a different, bright, exotic bird in it. He let out a whistle, to which one of the birds responded.
The other was a wolf, sitting at a table on a green sofa, clutching a bottle of brandy. He nervously poured himself a shot glass, and took a swig. "Nick," Judy whispered. "These are the founders!"
"I know." He said. It was bizarre to see them, alive, moving around, just being normal mammals. Literal living legends.
"Herman, how many times have I told you," He swiped the bottle from the wolf. "No drinking on my mother's antique table."
"Ey, I was jus' waitin' fer ya!" He yelled, jumping up from the seat to try and grab the bottle. "I have news I need to tell ya."
"News?" Manning said, inquisitive. "What kind of news?"
"He claims he saw the ghost." The antelope, Elliot Stamper, said. The two out of place mammals interest was suddenly piqued.
"Oh, that nonsense again?" Manning dismissed, walking over to a small bar on the side of the room, and placing the brandy on the counter. "You've been having too much of this stuff, Herm, you really need to lay off."
"I was completely sober!" The wolf yelled. "And I saws it, I did! The ghost of Animalia!"
Now, the two were intent on hearing where this was going.
"It crackled like lightnin'!" He yelled. "Like a tempest brewing on solid ground, red as the devil itself!" He walked up and grabbed the bottle from the counter. "Scared me half t'death!"
"Did you ever hear about a ghost on Animalia?" Judy asked Nick.
He shrugged. "Nope, must've been an old thing. But it's certainly interesting me now." He cleared his throat, and walked up to the two. "Excuse us, Mr. Trufield, could you tell us more about this ghost?"
"Y'wanna hear a good story, huh?" The wolf said, a grin creeping onto his face. "Well, it started a few hours ago, when-"
"Don't go into a story, Herman." Elliot said, walking up to them. "His stories can go on for hours, you probably have better things to do." He told the fox.
"Well, Judy started, sliding up next to her partner. "Could you maybe, perchance, tell us what it is?"
"It's just a rumor floating around the city." Manning said. "Some kind of ghost or monster living up on Mt. Animalia, I assure you, it's just rumors."
"It's real, I tells ya!" Herman yelled. "I saws it, with me own eyes!"
"Keep telling yourself that, Herm."
"It's mostly been described like Herman's overdramatic story." Elliot interjected. "Some kind of lightning spirit, usually red."
"Nick, do you think…?"
He nodded. "It might be." He replied. "Thank you for telling us this, we have some very important work to do, so good bye!"
The two quickly ran out the front door, leaving the three founders a bit confused.
"See? They believes in it!"
The two rushed out the door of the building. "Alright, so you're thinking what I'm thinking, right?" Nick asked.
"You mean that the ghost might be that thing that attacked us on Mt. Animalia?" She responded, the fox nodding in response.
"Maybe we can stop it before anything happens in the future!" Nick suggested. "We can stop this all before it even happens!"
She nodded back, enthusiastically. "Maybe beating it will send us back, too!"
The two quickly dashed off, but after a few minutes, were stopped in their track by someone. "Oh, hey, Mr. and Mrs. Savage!"
They turned behind them, it was Oliver, carrying a large basket of food. "Thanks for distracting the police for me." He genuinely thanked. "Not sure if you meant to do that intentionally, but… Well, anyway, I have something I want to tell you both!"
"What is it?" Nick asked.
"Well, I was thinking about what you said earlier, and what I said earlier, and I think…" He looked them directly in the eye, absolutely confident. "I'm going to become a tailor!"
"What spurred this on?" Judy asked, intrigued.
"Well, I thought, maybe I could get a job to help the homeless." He explained. "I could make clothes for them, and make clothes to sell off for food."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Nick said, his face starting to beam. "You're sounding a lot like…" He stopped himself. "You're sounding a lot like someone important to me."
"Who?" Oliver asked.
"Not really important right now." Nick dismissed. "Hey, we're heading to Mt. Animalia, you want to maybe, come along?"
"Not with the ghost up there." He stated. "I'd like to live to see my dreams come true."
"Eh, fair enough." Nick said, shrugging. "Well, I guess we'll see you-"
There was a loud crash, the sound of thunder hitting the ground. The three watched as a tear in the sky appeared, quickly ripping open into a massive, swirling vortex. Out of it dropped a single figure onto the dusty road. As it got up, they realized it was the clock monster who had sent them there, but it had gotten upgraded.
"Ah, there you two are!" It yelled. "I've been looking around the entire time stream for you."
"What the hell is that thing?" Oliver yelled, backing away.
"Oliver, you need to get out of here." Judy warned. "Right now." He nodded, and ran off, basket in paws.
"Alright, history boy, what do you want from us now?" Nick asked. "We have important business to attend to, and we don't want you getting in the way."
"Yeah, it's not like you can beat us either." Judy interjected.
"Beat you?" The monster said, surprised. "That would be the worst mistake in my career, I'm actually here to take you back!"
Nick scoffed. "You really expect us to buy that?"
"Yeah, trusting monsters doesn't usually go well." Judy stated.
"Well, you need to trust me, or else your city's doomed!" He said. "Without you guys there, everything's gone to complete chaos, and even worse, my master's vanishing from history!"
"Wait, your master is disappearing from history?" Nick grew a sly grin. "So, if we stay here, all you guys will just… poof, vanish?"
"Yeah, basically."
The two looked at each other. Judy grew a grin. "Guess we're staying here then."
"But!" The monster let out. "Your city is falling apart!"
"How do we know that's not a bluff?" Nick asked. "Do you have any evidence?"
The monster grunted, twitching around, trying to find something to retort with. It couldn't come up with anything. "Alright then!" It said, rubbing its metallic hands together. "Guess I'll have to do this the hard way."
Its clock face closed, and it pushed one of the hands on it backwards. There was a brief flash, and suddenly Oliver was standing next to them. "What the?" He said. "How did I get here?"
"Time reversal!" The monster yelled. "And now it's time for…" It placed its thumbs on the small hand. There was another flash, and suddenly Oliver was trapped in the monster's clutches. "Time stop!"
"Ack, let go of me!" Oliver screamed, flailing in the monster's hand.
"Alright, I'll let this fox you guys seem to care about go, but only if you come back with me." He quickly tightened his grip around the fox's neck. "And if you don't, I'll clean his clock!"
"Let go of him." Nick growled, intensely.
"Only if you come with me!" The monster said. "Didn't I make that clear?"
"I said." Nick reiterated, his eyes dilating. "Let. Him. Go."
"Nick, are you okay?" Judy asked. She tried to approach him, but he smacked her back. "Oh no…"
"H-hey, I thought you guys were partners!" The monster said, backing off as the fox approached. "Aren't you acting a bit intense?"
He raised his arm, shining his Zoolizer. Silently, he pressed the button. A new voice emanated from the device, deep, gravelly, unholy sounding.
"SAVAGE ON"
"Oh, that's new." Judy muttered.
A flash of red light, and Nick was taken over by the monster known simply as Savage. The beast was hunched over, laughing.
"Ahhh, the fox." He cooed. "So overemotional, so easy to take over."
"Nick!?" Oliver yelled from the monster's now trembling hand. "What's happening!?"
"Shut it kid, or I'll kill you after I'm done scrapping this piece of trash." Savage snapped. "Maybe I'll do that anyway." He drew his claws out.
"I'm not gonna let you!" Judy yelled, transforming and flipping over Savage, landing between the two monsters. She ran over to the Clock Org. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'll need your help."
"Wait, seriously?" The monster said, utterly shocked.
Blue nodded. "If we let Savage run around here, nothing will exist in the future."
"She's not wrong!" Savage chuckled.
"First, let Oliver go." The monster complied, and the fox quickly scampered off. "Alright, next, you need to let me do this!" She slammed the monster's clock face shut, and grabbed the small hand with her paws.
As she did, everything gained a lavender tint. "Time freeze." She said, whipping out her blades. She quickly rushed towards the now frozen Savage, and sliced at him a handful of times. She stepped back, and pulled out the Rabblasters, firing them a bunch. The shots remained frozen in the air as she finished.
"Alright, that should be enough." She said, hoping back over to the monster, and pushing the small hand forward.
Time unfroze, the lasers blasts rained into Savage, a shower of explosions and sparks covering him. They quickly cleared, and the monster stepped forward, seemingly unharmed. "Do you really think that would be enough to take me down?" He snidely asked.
"No, but it left you distracted enough to do this."
Without Savage realizing, Clock Org had begun to open a time portal. His clock hands whizzed and whirled, causing a blue hole to open beneath the monstrous fox. He fell through, screaming. "Alright, rabbit, you're coming too!" The monster said, pushing her forwards.
She gave the monster a quick glance, and then leaped into the hole. The monster quickly followed, performing a cannonball, and the hole closed up behind him. Oliver peeked around the corner, and rubbed his eyes.
"Well, that was odd." He said, scratching his head. "I should probably just forget about that."
In a few seconds, the three fell out of a portal in the middle of a park. Savage landed, and flipped off, while blue stumbled a bit as she landed. Clock Org simply faceplanted. The portal closed, and a massive ripple burst from it.
"What was that!?" Blue yelled, pulling her ears down.
"It was time fixing itself!" The monster said. "Everything's gone back to normal!" It paused for a second. "Which also means…"
Blue watched as a figure began to materialize in front of her. It was a familiar, cloaked figure. "Silver?" She said, approaching the figure as they fully manifested. "Where did you come from?" She asked.
"Um…" Silver looked around, and rubbed their head. "I'm not entirely sure myself."
"Oh look, glitter boy's back." Savage mocked. "Looks like I get three victims to play with after all!"
"I'll take care of Savage." Silver said. "I'm the only one who can take him. You deal with the clock… thing."
She nodded, and rushed off to fight the clock monster. Silver turned to the monstrous fox, who was looking at the ranger intently. "Just give him back, Savage, you've already lost to me more times than you've won. Which would be zero, if I recall."
"Please, astroboy," He laughed. "I'm only getting started!" Silver drew the Eclipse Thruster, while Savage extended his claws, and the two rushed at each other. Silver attempted to strike the fox, who caught it in one paw. Savage then struck at the silver ranger's stomach with his free claws, knocking him backwards.
"Y'see, Silver…" Savage started, leaping up and smacking Silver in the head, knocking the ranger to the ground. Silver lifted himself up, only to see Savage staring back down at him, massive grin on his face. "I don't know if you've realized this, but I'm getting stronger with each passing moment." He grabbed the ranger's hood, and slammed their snout into the ground. "Meanwhile, you're as weak as usual." He mocked.
Silver groaned, and slammed a fist into the ground. "I'm… WE'RE stronger than you, Savage." He muttered. "Wilde can overcome you, I know it!"
Savage laughed, pressing the ranger's head even harder into the ground. "Looks like someone's been watching too many cartoons! You really don't understand, I AM Wilde, and I AM Hopps, and I AM everything!" His tone suddenly turned dead serious. "And eventually, I will be the only thing."
Silver gripped their paws to the ground, and slowly lifted themselves up, even under Savage's intense strength. "I won't…" The monstrous fox glared at him with his red eyes, only amused at this resistance. "I won't let you do that!" He rose upwards, knocking the monster backwards, and then drew the Eclipse Thruster again. Silver unleashed a flurry of powerful strikes to the fox, an explosion of sparks launching with each hit. With one final strike, the fox was launched backwards.
Savage rose, and let out a powerful growl, which quickly turned into a laugh. "Y'know, it's a shame your boss kicked me out before I could have any fun with you." He laughed, stumbling forward. "I think you might be even more emotionally unbalanced than these two!"
"He did that to protect me." Silver growled. "To prevent me from becoming like he was."
"Yeah, and look how well that turned out!" The monster yelled. "Now you got me running around!" He let out a final laugh, before transforming back into Nick, who fell to his knees.
Silver rushed up to the fox, who shook his head, trying to get his bearings. "Are you alright, Wilde?" He asked, helping the fox up.
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine." He mumbled, stumbling forward a bit as he got to his feet. He looked around. "Guess I'm back in the present."
"What?"
Blue quickly rushed up to the two. "Oh great, you're back!" She chirped, out of breath. "We kind of have a massive, giant, awful problem."
Before either of the two could say anything, a massive roar shook the ground. All three looked up to see a large, feathered, tyrannosaurus rex, staring directly at them.
"Gotta admit, this might be the third worst thing I've ever woken up to." Nick nonchalantly said.
"What was the first?" Blue asked.
"Well, you ever see Finnick when he's drunk?"
"Now's not the time for reminiscing!" Silver yelled, as the dinosaur raised a large foot above them. "RUN!"
The three quickly darted off as the T-Rex smashed its foot into the ground, and started chasing after them. Nick quickly transformed into ZooRed.
"How the hell did this happen!?" Red yelled.
"The clock guy summoned it!" Blue explained. The three quickly leaped behind a large rock pointing out of the park ground.
"If we don't move, it won't be able to see us." Silver explained.
"Thanks, Goldblum." Red joked. "Haven't heard that one a million times."
"No, seriously, you guys missed a really cool fight!" Blue exclaimed. "There were ninjas, gladiators, tanks, it was awesome!"
"Sorry for being in the middle of a dramatic fight!" Silver whisper yelled. "Now be quiet!"
They heard the stomps of the Rex, and remained absolutely quiet and still, all bunched up against the rock. "Okay, I have an idea." Red quietly interjected. "I'll handle the T-Rex, you guys just… stay here for a minute."
"That doesn't seem very fair." Blue said.
Red rolled his eyes from behind the mask, and stepped out from the rock, pulling out a golden ZooTag. "Let's get this show started." He whispered, sliding it into the Zoolizer. The Zoolizer began producing noise, catching the feathered beast's attention.
"Maybe I should have thought this through more." Red said to himself as the Solar Flare Saber appeared in his paws. The T-Rex roared at him as he quickly spun the blade around, shooting a slash directly at the dinosaur.
The slash cut directly through the beast's neck, causing it to vanish instantly. "Monster, extinct." Red muttered, pumping his fist.
Blue hopped out from behind the rock. "Good job, Red!" She cheered.
"That was absolutely terrifying." He admitted. There was a pause as he looked around, a bit confused. "Where'd Silver go?" He asked.
The rabbit tried to answer, but came up with nothing. "I'm not sure, actually." She shrugged. "Must've run off."
"Hey!" A rather grumpy sounding voice yelled. "Time for you guys to stop ignoring me!" They turned towards the Clock Org, its large eye staring at them. "I've barely gotten any screen time! I'll make you watch the clock!"
He pulled out a large shell. "Use in times of emergency!" He noted, before thrusting it forward, the gooey contents of the shell flying out like a bucket with water. The goo sloshed against the ground, forming a pink puddle, which quickly reformed into multiple Orgettes.
The club wielding monsters patted their horned heads, and mumbled some nonsense. "Alright Orgettes!" The clock monster yelled. "It's show time!"
"Ugh, what a time for Silver to abandon us." Red sighed. "Wanna take care of these idiots quickly?" He asked his partner, thrusting the massive blade over his shoulder.
"Serve them up a combo?" She replied, pulling out a ZooTag. "Alright, sounds good."
"LET'S MORPHIN'!
GET FIGHTIN'!
DON DON BAM!
BUSTER BOXERS!"
She punched the two gloves together, and the two dashed towards the army of monsters. Red leaped into the air, spinning the sword around, before slamming it into the ground, causing a number of the Orgettes to burst into slime. "Ugh, gross." He groaned, wiping some slime from his suit.
Blue, meanwhile, was rapidly firing blasts from her gloves, taking care of the Orgettes one by one, rather quickly. As she did, she counted up each one she knocked out. "Forty… fifty…" She threw a final punch, letting out a massive blast, which knocked away many of the slimy ogres. "Seventy! I think that's the most I've ever beaten in under a minute."
Red swung the massive blade, taking care of the last of the monsters. "You really are good at boxing, huh?" He nudged her. "A real boxing bunny!"
The monster groaned. "Ugh, are you usually so quick at defeating these guys?" He angrily questioned. "Why'd I even bring them in!?"
"I dunno, maybe it's contractual." Red shrugged.
The monster growled, and pulled out a clock hand shaped sword. "Well, let's see how you handle this!" His clock face closed, and he pushed the large hand on it backwards. In a flash, all the Orgettes reappeared, Clock Org stepping through the crowd.
"Come on, seriously?" Blue groaned. "My arms are already getting tired." She said, stretching one of her arms. She started to step forward, only to be pushed back by the fox.
"Hold on a second." He said. "Even if we beat the monsters again, he'll just be able to revive them."
"So, we need to destroy the clock." She suggested. "That's where his time powers come from."
The fox nodded. "I'll deal with the small fries, you go take Big Ben." He said.
"What?" She said, surprised. "Why me?"
"You'll see." He said, pushing her forward. "Now go get 'em!"
She rolled her eyes, and rushed towards the monster, leaping into the air and striking the monster directly in the eye. The monster flew backwards, well behind the army of ogres. "Alright, time piece," She started, hopping from foot to foot. "Time to punch your clock!"
She heard Red cheering as she finished saying the line. She quickly turned back, just in time to hold back the monster's blade with her gloves. She pushed it back, and delivered a punch to the monster's gut area, knocking it back.
The monster ran up, and tried to strike the rabbit with his sword, only for her to duck and weave out of the way with each swing. "You're a fast little bunny, huh?" It said. "Let's see how fast you are when you can't move!" The clock face closed. "Not very much, is the answer!"
Before the monster could activate its time powers, Blue quickly rushed up, and delivered a straight punch to the center of the wooden clock face, causing it to shatter in a burst of sparks. The monster yelled in pain as it flew backwards, landing directly on its eye.
"AUGH!" It cried. "I HAVE SPLINTERS IN MY EYE!"
"Great job, Blue!" Red complimented, running up next to the rabbit.
"Thanks." She said, out of breath. "Why did you want me to do it again?" She asked. "You probably could've done it, too."
"I just wanted to hear you make a clock punch joke." He admitted. She let out a loud sigh.
"Just for that, I get to finish this guy off myself." She said.
"No fur off my back."
She gave a smirk from behind the helmet, before back flipping a ways behind the fox. Meanwhile, unaware to both of them, the monster was slowly rising up. She then ran at the fox.
"Wait, what-"
She leaped up, and used the fox's head as a footstool, launching herself even higher into the air, directly towards the now standing monster. "PUNCH DELETE!" She yelled, punching directly through the monster. She passed right through it, sliding across the ground as the monster sparked and stumbled, before exploding.
"Kaboom." She said, pumping her gloved fist.
"Did you really have to do that?" Red asked, rubbing his head.
"I needed some extra height, alright?" She said. "It's not my fault you're so short."
"Hey, I'm taller than you!" He yelled back, poking her in the nose. There was a loud crashed, and they turned around, seeing the clock monster standing on the horizon.
"AND NOW I'M TALLER THAN BOTH OF YOU!" It roared.
The two pulled out their mecha ZooTags, and in a few seconds, ZooRobo was formed, standing in front of the revived monster. "Alright, it's time to clean your clock!" Red said, causing ZooRobo to point its sword toward the monster.
"I already made that joke!" The monster yelled, pulling out its own sword.
"Who cares!?" Blue said, jolting the controls forward. The two locked blades, sparks showering with every clash of the blades.
After a few more swings, the monster managed to push the blade out of the way, and knock ZooRobo backwards. The robot responded by quickly recovering, and returning a slash to the monsters hand, causing it to drop the blade.
"Augh, my sword… clock hand… whatever!" It yelled. "Luckily, I have some more tricks up my sleeve!" it said, rubbing its hands together. The clock face closed, and it pushed the minute hand forward. "There's one thing you can never outrun!" It started as it pushed the hand forward.
In a flash, the monster reappeared behind them, and landed what felt like multiple punches in under a second. In then reappeared to their side, and let out a few lightning fast quicks.
It then reappeared in front of them. "And that's time itself!" It finally finished. "Behold my fast forward technique!"
Suddenly, the monster had its sword, and was rapidly running around the robot, slicing through it a surprising amount of times in under a minute. The two pilots were tossed and turned in their seats as they continued to be hit.
"What do we-" Red tried to say, as he felt himself hit the side of the cockpit. "What do we do!?"
"We just need to land one hit!" Blue said. "Directly-" Her head slammed into the controls. "Ugh, directly into its face!" She pulled out a blue ZooTag. "And I think I have just the thing!" She quickly plugged it into the slot.
"JUNGLE MIND!
BUSTING TIME!
UKI UKI OO!
ZOOSARU!"
In a flash of blue light, ZooSaru appeared. The ape robot deftly delivered a swift smack to the monster, causing it to fall backwards. "Augh!" It cried as it fell. "How'd he do that!?"
The three robots quickly combined. "ZOOROBO, SARU MODE!" The announcer in the mech cried.
"Seriously, where is that coming from?" Red asked, Blue replying with a shrug.
"So what, now you're kind of bigger!" The monster said. "And you've got like, twice as much blue on you, is that it!?"
The robot pounded its chest with one of its massive fists. "Just try us, stopwatch!" Blue dared.
The monster dashed forward, and began rapidly slicing through the robot with its sword, sparks flying. It looked up from its barrage, only to see it hadn't caused any damage. "Wh-what!?" The monster let out, stepping back.
"Guess this guy has pretty good armor, too!" Red said. "Now it's time to end this!" The robot quickly punched the clock monster in the face, causing the face of the clock to shatter again.
"MUSCLE BUSTER BLAST!"
The robot punched once, launching a blast of energy at the monster, and then blasted another from its other hand. It then punched with both hands, causing them to fly off and rocket directly through the monster.
It stumbled and sparked as the fists flew back onto the robot's hands. "What sound does a clock make when it hits twelve?" It asked. The small hatch above its head opened up, shooting out a small, clockwork bird with a horn. The bird let out a "Coo coo!" noise as the monster fell over and exploded.
The robot pounded its chest, and raised its fist to the sky. "Alright!" Blue cheered. "Nature, defended!"
"I'm pretty sure you mean 'Zootastic'." Red said back. The rabbit rolled her eyes.
The two had done their usual thing, reporting that the activity was a monster, and that the Zoo Rangers came along and helped them solve the case. Judy was starting to get worried that Bogo might have a chance of figuring them out. Nick assured her he wouldn't, since nobody else had.
However, Nick was worried about something else that night. Something a bit more personal, something that had been crawling through his mind. He stared at his phone, a digit hovering over one of the caller IDs.
His mother's.
He needed to ask, it was going to bother him for the rest of his life if he didn't. He took a deep breath, and pressed the screen. It rang, and someone picked up.
"Hello?" An older sounding female voice said. It was his mother's voice. Just the sound of it calmed him down. It had been so long since he'd talked to her.
"Hey, mom, it's me." He said.
"Nick?" She replied, surprised. "Why are you calling at 11 PM?"
"I, uh, needed to ask you something." He said, tossing over in his bed. "Do you know anything about my great, great, great grandfather?"
"That's something your father would know more about, god rest his soul." She said, he could tell she was making the sign of the cross on her chest as she finished. "But, he did tell me a bit about him."
"Oliver Wilde, right?" He asked.
"Yes. He's the reason your father wanted to start up his tailor business." She explained. "Apparently he was a really good tailor, helped with the homeless way back then." There was a silent pause. "Why did you want to know?"
"Just…" He stumbled a bit. "Something came up, and I was interested." He excused. "Sorry for waking you up."
"No, it's fine!" She stated, chuckling a bit. "It's always nice to hear from my boy every now and then. I heard you became an officer, right?"
"Yep, officer of the law."
"I'm so proud of you." She let out. "I just wanted you to know that."
There was a bit of silence again. "I love you, mom." He said. "I'll talk to you later." He hung up, and flung his arm to his nightstand, placing his phone down.
He laid there for a few minutes, in complete silence. He finally let out a sigh, and said something.
"That felt good."
"Augh, this is bad." Yabaiba lamented, as he scrubbed at the floor with a mop. The ogre was now wearing a headcloth, his horn poking through it, and an apron. "Why do I have to do this?"
"CONSIDER IT PUNISHMENT" The Omnipotence sounded. "THE ONLY REASON YOU AREN'T A PILE OF DUST RIGHT NOW IS BECAUSE YOUR INCREDIBLE MISTAKE AMUSED ME"
The Org let out a grunt, and kept scrubbing. He heard a smash against the ground, and turned around to see Sambash, a pile of glass at his feet.
"I just cleaned that!" He yelled at the biker.
Sambash chuckled, and popped the cap off of another bottle, and started pouring its contents on the ground, slowly walking backwards. The Org was shaking mad when the liquid finished spilling. "Whoops, sorry." Sambash laughed.
"Alright, you stop right there-" Suddenly, there was another explosion, and half of the Org was covered in a crude, black substance. The biker monster started laughing uncontrollably as the Org slowly turned to see around half the room splattered in oil.
Yogostein was standing between where the two parts of the room were covered in oil, foot pressed down on a now crushed oil drum. "Oops." He chuckled. "Guess I oiled your fun!"
"You guys are assholes, you know that?" Yabaiba said.
"This is what you get for nearly killing us all, shithead." Samabash said, exiting the main hall.
"And don't forget," Yogostein started. "You aren't doing anything until the base is spotless!" He left, laughing uproariously.
The Org muttered to himself, and began angrily scrubbing at the floor. "I'll show those guys." He said. "I'll show them I can be a real threat!"
Silver looked up into the clouded moon, from high atop a skyscraper. "So, you wanted to talk?" The ranger said, turning to face the large, white and black figure.
"Yes." He said. "I wanted to talk about our little… game."
"You mean the one I've been performing flawlessly?" Silver said. "Yeah, I think I've won."
"I wouldn't call it… flawless." The figure said, looking directly at the ranger with a red glare. "But, you have performed better than I expected you to."
"So, I won?"
The figure nodded. "You managed to pull this off up until now, which is when I was going to let you reveal your identity to them anyway." He stated.
"Thank god." Silver said, stretching. "The overdramatics were killing me."
"There is something… special, that I'd like to give you." The figure walked towards silver, and knelt down, opening his palm to reveal a rounded, silver disc.
Silver lifted it from his hand. "No way, are you kidding me?" The ranger looked at it in awe. "This is amazing!"
"Indeed." The figure said, rising. "Make sure to use it well." He turned. "I'm not needed anymore. I suppose we may never meet again."
"Wait, what?" Silver looked up, and the figure was gone. "Doctor?" Silver jolted around, looking for the figure. "Doctor!?"
"Dr. Mikoto!?"
Ooooh yeah, it's time.
I actually had to do some *gasp* research for this episode! The Industrial Revolution was a pretty interesting time, y'know? This is more of a world building episode, in all honesty, most of the Sentai…ing, happens at the very end, as you can tell by having read this far. Good job, by the way.
And don't worry, things will start actually happening in the plot soon. Well, eventually.
Next time, Silver is revealed! Who do YOU think it is?