Episode 15 – Alpha
"Why are we doing this?" Nick asked, sat on a stool.
Judy had wheeled in a large whiteboard earlier in the day, the sitting room was completely rearranged to fit the board, which didn't almost didn't fit the room. Judy herself was standing on a taller stool, so she could actually reach it.
"Well, you see," She started, slapping a large pointer in her other paw. "I felt it was finally time we discussed who ZooSilver actually is. We've gathered enough evidence, I feel, to deduce who it is!"
She grabbed the bottom of the whiteboard, and pushed it, causing it to spin around rapidly. She then stuck her foot out, stopping it, and revealing three pictures.
"You just really wanted to do that, didn't you?" Nick asked. The rabbit enthusiastically nodded.
"Alright, so, we have three major suspects! First up," She pointed the pointer to a picture of a rather confused looking Lupina. "Victoria Lupina. She was at the sight of Silver's first appearance, and is one of the first people we encountered when we became Zoorangers." She stated, bringing the pointer down. "If I were to guess, she might've somehow become one at some point shortly afterwards."
The fox was too busy staring at the pictures to listen to what Judy was saying. "Where did you get these pictures?" He asked.
"I took them."
His head tilted in confusion.
"Second suspect," Judy continued, pointing her pointer at a picture of a more perturbed looking Wolford. "Maxwell Wolford, fellow police officer. He was also there when Silver showed up to help us defeat that pig monster. He also kind of seems like the kind of guy who would help us."
"You mean a goody two shoes?" Nick joked, the rabbit giving him a glance.
"And finally, suspect number three," She pointed towards a picture of a rather excited looking Kyle. "Kyle Izanami, fanboy of ours, potential stalker, but overall nice guy. He was also in the area when Silver showed up to help fend off that gun guy." She turned to look at the board herself. "Now, all of them have the same amount of potential, and considering Silver seems to disappear and appear at will…"
She continued talking to herself, as the fox got up. "Uh, Carrots?" He said, trying to get her attention, unsuccessfully. "Fluff?" Still no response, she was still thinking to herself. The fox sighed, and walked up to the stool she was standing on. He grabbed two fo the legs, and slightly shook it.
"Whoa!" She yelled, trying not to fall over. "What was that for?"
"I think I know who it is." He stated. "Well, I know who it isn't."
"Alright, Sherlock," She started, hopping down from the stool. "Lay it on me."
"Well, it's not Lupina." He said. "When Silver saved me that one time, he brought me to his basement. And where does Lupina live?"
"An apartment." Judy answered. "How do you know it wasn't the apartment's basement?"
"Too small, and I don't think an apart basement would have a TV set up down there." He said. "So it's not Lupina."
The rabbit's ears drooped. "Aw, that kinda sucks." She lamented. "I kind of wanted another girl on the team."
"Yeah, that does suck." Nick admitted. "Seems kind of sexist. Anyway, on something that doesn't suck, Wolford isn't Silver, either!" He said, rather cheerfully.
"I thought you two were friends?" Judy questioned.
"More like an acquaintance I try not to insult in public." He replied. "I still really don't like him."
"You can't just say he's not Silver because you don't like him."
"No, I have actual reasons!" He assured. "For one, the guy doesn't seem like the guy who can keep a secret himself. He might be able to keep other people's secrets, but definitely not his own."
Judy gave him a skeptical look.
"Also, there was the bit where he leaped off into the city, and then Wolford ran out of the restaurant shortly after." He continued. "That is a physical impossibility."
"I guess you have a point." She admitted. "So that leaves…"
"It leaves the guy who's been following us around, our biggest fan." He said, a serious look growing on his face as he turned to look at her. "Kyle."
Judy let out a small snicker. "I'm sorry, you can't say Kyle dramatically."
"It did sound pretty weird, huh?" He chuckled. "Anyway, now all we need to do is wait for a monster attack to happen, and we'll be able to figure it out."
As if on que, their Zoolizers began ringing, causing the two mammals to clutch their ears.
"Augh, still too loud!" Judy cried.
The devices stopped buzzing. "I'll never, ever get used to that." Nick admitted.
Judy rapidly nodded, he head still ringing. "Alright, let's go find this monster!"
The two pulled their bikes in front of an old factory. Rusted, abandoned, and generally menacing looking from the outside. The kind of place children would be forbidden from going to. They hopped off the bikes, and walked towards it.
"I thought these monsters were trying to cause trouble in public places?" Red asked as they stopped outside the gate. "What kind of mass panic can it cause in a factory?"
"I dunno, something feels off." Blue admitted. "But it's supposed to be in there, so…"
The two took deep breathes, and stepped into the rusted factory. The inside was oddly clean, a large section of the ground cleared out. Surrounding the clean area was a large pile of scrap metal, a path leading directly to it. The rangers walked into the center of the cleaned, circular area. Then, they heard a sound, a slam, and turned to see the doors had closed.
"I knew something was wrong!" Blue yelled, rushing towards the exit. Just as she was about to exit the area, the scrap metal started to move on its own, forming a wall, and pushing the rabbit to the ground.
"Oh, that's not good!" Red yelled, rushing to the rabbit and helping her up. A laugh sounded through the factory.
The rangers looked up. Kyuemon was standing on one of the walkways above them. "Welcome, Zoorangers!" He greeted. "Looks like you've fallen for my trap. You may have been able to defeat Wolfman, but I've made a significantly… stronger, opponent for you today." He snapped his fingers.
The two turned to look as the scrap metal on the other side of the arena rose up, revealing a monster. It had the face of what they assumed was a primate, a mane of hair surrounding it, and a wrench stuck in its mouth. Its lower body appeared, however, to be that of a tiger. The monster also had a large toolbox coming out of one of its shoulders, and various tools protruding from its back. Its right hand was also a large, but still thin, spiral drill, which had a snake spiraling around it.
"Introducing, Advanced Yokai, Nue!" Kyuemon announced. The monster stepped forward, the scrap metal falling back into place as it entered the arena. "He is one of the most powerful Yokai in history, and he is the one that will finally dispose of you."
Kyuemon then vanished in a puff of purple smoke, leaving behind a Jukkarage. The stone creature carried a small, brass bell, and an even smaller wooden mallet. The monster hit the bell with the mallet, causing it to ring.
Nearly instantaneously, the monster waved its normal hand, causing the bell to fly out of the Jukkarage's hand, and fly directly towards the two rangers. The leaped out of the way as it crashed into the ground.
"Holy smokes!" Blue yelled as the dust cleared. "I guess it can control metal!"
"Let's see how well it can control metal when I'm done scrapping it!" red yelled, pulling out the Foxfire Blade. He then dashed towards the monster, who waved his hand again. Before Red could even get halfway to the Yokai, a large steel beam flew directly into his side, knocking him out and crushing him beneath the pile of scraps.
"Oh god."
Silently, the monster approached the rabbit, its drill hand beginning to spin and make an infernal noise. The rabbit pulled out her blades, and rushed to the monster attempting to strike it. As she leaped up, the beast quickly knocked the blades out of her hands with its drill, and smacked her backwards with its normal hand.
She slid across the ground, and tried to get up as the monster approached. She fell to the ground as the monster raised its drill, prepped to strike. She quickly rolled out of the way as the monster thrust the drill forward, cleaving a large chunk out of the ground.
The rabbit got up, and started to run, the Nue chasing after her, drill still cleaving through the ground. It waved its hand, causing a pipe to stick out of the side of the arena, tripping the rabbit. The monster approached the grounded rabbit, drill still spinning. She glanced over to Red, his lifeless body crushed underneath several pieces of metal. She looked back up at the monster, hovering over her, eyes glaring.
"You have failed." It said.
Her heart raced as she closed her eyes, preparing for the final blow. However, the drill stopped, and she heard a different noise. The sound of someone cutting through metal.
She opened her eyes, the monster had turned to face the entrance. Blue looked at the door, which almost instantly exploded open. In stepped Silver, cloak still shrouding their figure. "Another animal wants to die, I see." The monster said.
Silver leaped over the scrap pile, and entered the arena. "I won't let you." Silver said, pointing the Eclipse Blade at the ape. "These two's story has just begun, I will not let you end it early."
The Yokai raised its drill, which started to spin. They charged at each other, locking drill and blade. Blue quickly got up, and rushed over to her crushed partner. She managed to lift the beam up slightly and off of the fox. "Nick, speak to me!" She yelled, shaking the unconscious fox. "Please, wake up."
The fox let out a groan. "I'm fine, the scrap metal cushioned my fall." He muttered. Blue nearly felt like crying, she had nearly lost him. Red tried to move, but let out a grunt of pain. "Oh hey, I can't move my leg!." He said, strained, but still trying to stay calm.
Silver thrust the blade into the monster, knocking it back. "You two just stay there, I'll beat this guy!" The silver ranger yelled to them.
"But-"
"Nick, you can't do anything right now!" Blue told him. "You're wounded!"
He grunted. "Can I at least get off this scrap pile?" He asked. The rabbit helped him down into the arena, and they slowly moved towards the exit.
"Alright, lunchbox, let's finish this." Silver said. "COSMIC ECLIPSE SLASH!"
Silver quickly spun the sword around in a circle, forming the vague image of a moon in the center of the circle. The silver ranger then swung the blade down, causing the moon to fire towards the monster, launching it backwards into the scrap pile. There was an explosion, sending scrap flying.
"Wow." Both of the Zoorangers let out, untransforming.
"Guess we got this done with early, huh?" Nick chuckled, still in pain.
Silver turned to them, head still obscured by the cloak. "After you're done recuperating, I need you to meet me at the station, tonight." Silver stated.
"Okay," Judy started. "Why?"
"It is time."
With that, Silver leaped over them, and cut the pile of scrap out of the way, creating a path. The mystery ranger then ran out the door, and leaped off.
"Well, that wasn't ominous." Nick grunted as Judy helped him out of the building.
"Do you think that means what I think it means?" She asked.
"I'm mostly focusing on how much my leg hurts."
She rolled her eyes. "Well, I think he's going to reveal his identity to us tonight!" She said excitedly, letting go of the fox.
He nearly collapsed. "Why'd you do that?" He asked.
"Well, we need to get home." She said, transforming. "Do you think you can drive the bike?"
"How's your leg feeling?" She asked as they waited in the back lot of the police station.
The fox shook his foot a bit. "Still hurts, but I'll manage." He looked around at the area. Nick looked around the darkened area, dumpster and all. He let out a sigh. "Wow, this is pretty nostalgic, huh?"
The rabbit looked at him.
"This is where it all started, remember?" He said. "This is where we met Kruger, and got the Zoolizers!"
She looked around. "Huh, that's weird." She said. "It feels like it's been a lot longer than it actually has."
The fox nodded. "So, Silver's showing up soon, right?" He asked, putting his paws in pocket. The rabbit nodded. "Hope it's soon."
"So, I was thinking about something." Judy started. "What if Silver isn't any of the suspects?"
"You mean an unknown third party? Or, fourth party?" He questioned.
She nodded. "What if it's just someone we don't know who's been helping us, and everything else has been a coincidence?"
"After about a month and a half of build-up, I doubt it would just be someone we don't know." Nick laughed.
"It was just a thought." She muttered. "So, you're sure it's Kyle?"
One hundred percent, utterly, positively certain." He replied confidently. "If it isn't," He pulled up his loose tie. "I'll eat my tie."
Judy chuckled, and then looked up. A full moon. "Huh, didn't realize it was a full moon tonight."
The fox looked up as the clouds cleared, revealing it in its shining glory. "Neat, full moons are always nice to look at."
"I know, right?" A deep voice said from behind them. They quickly turned, managing to spot a black figure run out of sight.
"What was that?" Judy asked.
"Over here."
They turned, seeing a cloaked figure. It was definitely Silver.
"It is time," The figure began. "To reveal myself!"
"Oh, yes, please!" Judy said, excited. The fox let out a small chuckle. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing." He dismissed. "Anyway, we already know who you are." Nick said, stepping forward with a slight limp.
"W-what!?" Silver said in surprise. "How did you figure it out!?"
"We're police officers, that's kind of our job." Judy explained.
"So just show yourself, KYLE!" Nick yelled, pointing towards the figure, dramatically.
Silver let out a sigh. "Oh thank god you guys guessed wrong."
Judy gave the fox a stern look, as the fox awkwardly gritted his teeth and lowered his paw. The two looked on as they heard a small clink hit the ground. In a moment, Silver flung off the cloak, revealing himself.
It was Wolford.
"Surprise!"
The rabbit tried not to laugh, as the fox gave the wolf a glare. "Alright, slick, how do you like your tie?" She asked, still laughing. "Medium, or rare?"
"Wow, you guys really know how to ruin a dramatic moment." Wolford said, a bit disappointed.
"Sorry, it's just not every day you get to see Nick be completely wrong about something!" She was still laughing, and the fox was still glaring.
"I've never been more disappointed at a twist in my life." Nick muttered.
"Hey, I thought we were friends." Wolford said, a bit dejected.
"Ha ha, yeah, no." The fox said, beginning to sound actually angry. "You're the guy who said to open up, and here you are, having kept this a secret from us. Hypocrite."
"Listen, I…" He stumbled with his words a bit, and slapped his forehead. "I have reasons, alright?" He sighed, and walked up to the two. "Listen, how about we go to my place for a bit, get some coffee, and I can explain everything."
"That sounds wonderful." Judy said. "We would both love to get to know you a bit better."
"I'll go." Nick said. "Just for the coffee, though."
She punched the fox in the side. "Nick, seriously!?" She yelled. "Quit being rude for no reason!"
"Hey, we're all on the same team here, right?" Wolford said. "This isn't how teams act, so maybe, we can get to be friends, maybe?"
There was a bit of silence. "Ugh, fine." Nick groaned. "We'll go to his house to 'hang out'."
"Great!" Wolford said, excitedly. "C'mon, we'll take my car!"
The three were sat in Wolford's rather modest living room. It wasn't much, a standard couch, a smaller chair, coffee table, and TV stand. It was very, very average looking, Wolford walked over, carrying two cups of coffee. The wolf was dressed in casual clothes, jeans, and a grey shirt.
He handed the cups to the guests. "Thank you." Judy said, taking a bit of a sip of the coffee.
The fox remained a bit silent, and took a sip. It was really good coffee, but he wasn't going to admit it. He was going to be as rude as possible.
Or at least, he was trying. Judy kept nudging him every time he did something rude. "Uh, thanks." He let out to appease the rabbit.
"So… can we call you Max?" She asked.
The wolf nodded. "We're going to be a team from now on," He started. "So first name basis is important."
The fox scoffed a bit.
"Alright… Max," Judy said, a bit awkwardly. It was weird having to call a colleague she barely knew by his first name. "How, exactly, did you become a Zooranger?" She asked.
"Well, it all started a few months ago, the night of those weird assaults." He started. "You know, the ones that ended up being that fox guy." He snapped his fingers. "Uh, Cootymon or something."
"It's Kyuemon." Nick corrected.
"Yeah, him. So, it went like this…"
I was walking home from the store, in the dead of night. Silent, dark. That's when it happened. I felt something jab into my back, a real deep cut.
Still have the scar, actually, but that's not important right now.
So, I dropped what I bought to the ground, and turned around, managing to catch a glimpse of the Kyuemon guy. Gotta say, glowing yellow eyes, yellow tiger pelt, and purple really stand out at night. He held a blood covered ninja star in one of his paws, and looked frustrated.
"Another failure…" He said, sounded very disappointed.
I asked him what the hell he was doing, and what the hell he was, and he replied with something cryptic, like "None of your business." Some generic villain speech.
So, I punched him in the gut.
He seemed surprised that I had managed to do that, and pulled out a sword. I managed to get out of the way before it could slice me to ribbons, and dashed into an alleyway. Kyuemon followed me, but I managed to grab onto a trash can lid, and block some of his sword swings. It was a trash can lid against a sword, so it didn't last very long.
I managed to get away again, going deeper into the alley, and managed to fling a trash can at him before he could attack me. The guy cut the trash can in half, and got covered in garbage. He yelled something about how he "Didn't have time for this" and, poof, disappeared in a burst of smoke.
After that, I ran home before anything else could happen, still in pain from being stabbed. I basically jumped into bed when I got home, but later that night, I got woken up by something. There was a bright flash and a loud crash in the backyard. I rushed out to see what it was.
It was a gigantic egg.
Not a real egg, but some kind of metallic egg, embedded in the ground. I walked up, feeling compelled to touch it. When I did, it opened up, the top half splitting into three panels, like a beetle's pincers. Inside was my Zoolizer. As I lifted it up, I heard a voice.
"Wear it."
Usually I'm not one to trust voices in my head, but something seemed… trustworthy about this, so I complied. When I put it on, I blacked out, and woke up… somewhere, I'm still not sure.
It was pure white, some kind of purgatory, maybe even Heaven itself. The only objects were a series of haphazard arches. And standing in front of me, was something I'd never seen before in my life.
It was tall, standing up completely straight. It was wearing some kind of suit, with a gold trimmed shield on its chest. Going up the sides of its body was black, claw like marks. It had a piercing, red visor on its helmeted head, and a large crest. I was absolutely terrified as it walked towards me.
"Maxwell Wolford," It started, its voice calm, but intense. "I have been looking for someone like you for a while." He kneeled down, and explained to me who he was, and what he was doing there.
He was Doctor Mikoto, AbareKiller, a member of Abaranger, part of something called a Super Sentai. He explained to me he was from another world, but had managed to travel through the afterlife to reach our world. He was also dead, having died after a battle. He asked me to become his protégé, take up his powers and fix his mistakes.
I accepted, I mean, who wouldn't want to be a super hero? For the next while, he taught me how to use the powers, acting as a spirit guide only I could see. There were a few mistakes throughout the training, but it took a short time, surprisingly, only about a week.
"And that's how I became ZooSilver." He finished. "Unfortunately, Mikoto said I had to keep my identity a secret for a bit longer, or I'd lose them, so that's why I had to help you guys without giving my identity away. It was pretty hard during the disappearing food case."
"Wow." Both of them said, Nick coming off a bit sarcastic, while Judy sounded genuinely amazed.
"I have a few questions." Nick started. "First, how much of this are you making up?"
"I may have embellished the fight a bit." He admitted.
"Second, this… Killer guy, was he the guy you were talking to when you rescued me that one time?" He asked.
Max nodded. "Yeah, that was him. Guy followed me around for months, it kind of got annoying. Guy was a real buzzkill." He let out a sigh. "He disappeared about a week ago, I don't know what happened to him. Kind of miss him."
"Do you have your Zoolizer on you?" Judy asked, getting up from the couch. "I'd love to see it."
"Oh, yeah, sure." He said, pulling it out from his pocket, and tossing it to her.
She caught it, and examined its design. It was completely different from their flat-face styled Zoolizers, instead resembling a side shot of a wolf's head. She fiddled with it a bit, realizing that the mouth could open and close. There was a much wider slot in the mouth, larger than a ZooTag's size.
"So, why does it look different from ours?" She asked.
She held up her wrist, and the wolf leaned in to get a better look. "Huh, I'm not sure, honestly." He admitted. "But I can probably guess."
The two looked at him, inquisitively.
"Well, it's for the toyline." He said, causing them to tilt their heads in confusion. "See, this Super Sentai stuff is really similar to Zoo Rangers, you know them?"
"We watched a few episodes months ago." Judy said. "But I don't get what you mean."
"Well, it's all toyline based." He tried to explain. "See, I grew up collecting the Zoo Rangers toys, and watching the show, it's actually what inspired me to be a police officer." He admitted with a chuckle. "But what I mean is, all the stuff you guys have been getting is based around trying to sell toys, even if those toys don't actually exist."
He held up his Zoolizer. "So, there's probably a reason mine looks different, but the main reason is because I'm the sixth Ranger of the season, and have to make my toys more appealing."
The two stared at him, absolutely dumbfounded.
"Listen, I know it doesn't make any sense, but I've been watching this stuff for years."
"Oh, so you're a nerd." Nick said, deadpan.
"Yes." Max replied, not catching onto the sarcasm. "I've watched Zoo Rangers since it started airing, it's really important to me."
"So, I guess this entire thing is like a dream to you, huh?" Judy suggested. "Must be pretty lucky."
Max nodded. "Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a hero like the Zoo Rangers," He started up, sifting in his seat a bit. "But obviously it was impossible for me to become a real super hero, so I became an Officer. Second best thing, right?"
"In a way, I suppose." Judy said.
"So, wait," Nick started. "You still watch Zoo Rangers? I thought it got cancelled decades ago."
"That's just what everyone thinks," Max started. "It's a kid's show, no one in the media actually cares about it."
"Huh." The two let out.
"Yeah, it's in its twenty something season?" The wolf continued. "Dinosaur based. Pretty alright, better than the last two seasons at least." He muttered. "Oh but, I actually know a few of the monsters you guys have run into!"
"Wait, seriously?" Judy said, surprised. "How do you know about them?"
"I don't know how, but some of them were in Zoo Rangers!" Max stated. "Like, Jindrax and Scorch!"
"Who were those again?" Nick asked.
"Clown guy, dragon guy…" Max explained. "…Why, do you not know who they are?"
"We actually know them by very different names." Judy said. "Yabaiba and Long."
"Huh." The wolf let out, a bit confused. "I guess they're not the same guys. Well, they did look different…"
"Alrighty then," Nick started, getting up from the couch. "This has been a wonderful look into your psyche, but we have work tomorrow, so we should probably be going."
"But-"
"See?" He interrupted before the rabbit could continue. "Judy wants to head home too."
The wolf gave him a bit of a disappointed glare, then sighed. "Well, if you want to go, I can always drive you-"
"We can walk."
The fox quickly grabbed the rabbit by the arm, and stormed out the front door, leaving the wolf behind.
"Well, I'll see them tomorrow anyway!" He said to himself, trying to stay positive.
The fox monster chuckled to himself as he walked into the factory. The scrap was still piled up all around the place. "I suppose they thought they could just beat Nue like that." He said, walking up to one of the piles.
With a sweep of his hand, the scrap flew off, smashing into the wall. Removing the scrap had revealed Nue's body, lying on a few other pieces of scrap. Its eyes were dead, and the entire monster had gone limp. "Well, his body survived, at least." Kyuemon muttered.
He pulled out a Chaos badge, and jabbed it into the corpse's chest. It suddenly pulsed with life, twitching and sparking with red electricity. The Yokai backed away, watching as the pieces of scrap seemed to melt onto its body.
"That's new."
The creature rose as the metal twisted across its flesh, smoothing out parts of its body into a patchwork of machinery and monkey. Its normal arm became completely engulfed in the metal, turning into a near replica of its other arm, only silver, and with a large claw at the end. Half of the monster's face became robotic, while both of its dead eyes burst to life, now red in color.
It let out a roar as it finished transforming, now resembling a cyborg more than a Yokai. It then kneeled down in front of the fox Yokai. "What are your orders, Master Kyuemon?" It asked in a robotic tone.
Kyuemon stared at the monster for a second. "Obedient, no quirks…" He muttered to himself. "Maybe you'll be the one to finally destroy the Zoorangers." He suggested. "And that was an order."
"I will…" The monster rose up, red eyes becoming more visible, shining in the darkness of the moonlit factory. "Destroy the Zoorangers. I will get my revenge." The monster rose its drill hand to its chest, which began spinning.
"If you want that," Kyuemon said. "Then you'll need to make yourself noticeable. I'm sure you can wreck a city, correct?"
"Secondary objective confirmed." It said, eyes shining. "Destroy city." It let out another roar, as its claw hand quickly morphed into a secondary drill. The two drills spun, and it dug into the ground, vanishing.
"Interesting." Kyuemon said to himself. "A cybernetic Yokai. This could prove entertaining, at the very least."
With that, the fox monster vanished in a burst of purple smoke.
"Seriously Nick, what's your deal?" Judy asked as they entered the apartment. "You're being horrible to Max."
"I dunno, I just really, really hate the guy." He said, walking to the couch. "He's obnoxious, not funny, and way too cheery."
"You're upset because he's like you, but with a social life, right?"
The fox tried to come up with a rebuttal, but came up empty. "Yes, basically." The rabbit gave him a look. "And also because I'm jealous of his relatively normal life, and I think he's a bit of a spotlight stealer." He regrettably admitted.
"'Spotlight stealer'?" She said, confused. "I didn't realize you had such a fragile ego, Wilde." She joked.
"Well, I do." He admitted. "I have many very fragile emotions, and you reprimanding me isn't helping any of them."
"I think you're also upset because you were wrong about something for once." She suggested. "Kinda seems like that struck you a bit."
"Maybe it did!" He yelled, he was getting very aggravated. "Maybe I was just getting angry at his stupid mug!"
There was silence for a few minutes, before Judy let out a sigh. "You… You really are just worried about him taking away your spotlight, aren't you?"
The fox gulped. "This was supposed to be you and me, Judy." He said. "We don't need a third member, we can handle this ourselves!"
"Um, excuse me?" She replied. "Did you miss the fight today? We nearly died without Max's help!" She yelled. "And that's not counting the other times he saved our asses! The monsters are getting stronger, Nick, we're going to need help eventually."
"Then why can't big red send us more Sentai guys?" He asked. "They're ones who actually deserve to be fighting! All Wolford did is maybe fight of Kyuemon and be a fan of a stupid kid's TV show!"
"Nick-"
"Did you see how he treated them?!" He asked. "He was treating those guys, who risked their lives for their world, like toys!" He waved his hands in bafflement and frustration. "He doesn't deserve this!"
"Maybe you're the one who doesn't deserve it." She said, heading to her bedroom. "Goodnight, Nick." She said solemnly.
The fox watched as she closed the door slowly.
The fox gripped his paw. "I'll show her who the one that deserves it is…" He muttered, walking to his own bedroom, and slamming the door behind him.
"Alright, so no weirdness today, alright?" She said as they walked into the station.
"No insulting, jeering, or 'huwting his feewings'." He replied. The rabbit scoffed.
"This is serious Nick, we're going to be working as a team, no matter your weird egotism." Judy continued, stopping the fox in his tracks. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
The fox rolled his eyes. "C'mon, Carrots, can't you just let me hate a guy for no reason?" He asked.
"No, not when we're going to be in contact with the guy for a good chunk of however long this will take." She replied. "You weren't like this when he was just a guy in a cloak that saved us."
"Well, it was easier to attach a non-aggravating personality to Wolford when we didn't know who he was."
"Didn't know who what was?"
The two turned to see Wolford. "Oh, hey Max!" Judy greeted, awkwardly. "We were just talking about… nothing whatsoever.
"Uh huh." He replied, skeptically. "Anyway, since we're, y'know, partners, I felt maybe we should hang out some more!" He suggested. "Get to know each other better, what do you think?"
"I'd like to keep this partnership strictly business, thank you." Nick rudely interjected. The rabbit jabbed his side.
"Oh, Nick, you and your jokes." She tried to excuse. "What he means is yes, we would love to get together sometime. What did you have in mind?"
"Uh, I guess we could go to a pub." He suggested, rubbing his head. "I haven't exactly planned it all out, but we can totally go do something tonight."
"Yeah," Judy started, the fox having gone silent, arms crossed. "I mean, it's not like we have a monster to fight."
"Yeah, with how you single handedly destroyed it." Nick sarcastically sneered.
'I know, wasn't it great!?" Max started, not catching onto his sarcasm. His expression lowered as the rabbit gave the fox a quick look. "Oh, sarcasm, I get it."
"It was impressive, Max." She tried to comfort. "Nick's just acting like a jerk."
"Not acting, I am a jerk."
He sighed. "I know you don't like me Nick, but we need to work together, can't we at least try?"
"We did try, remember?" Nick said. "You're the one who said I should be more open, and I'm being very open about how much I don't like you."
The wolf's ears drooped a bit. "Hahahaha, alright, that's enough of that." Judy sternly said, grabbing the fox and walking off towards the bull pen. "See you later, Wolford!"
Before he could say anything, his Zoolizer quickly lit up, and let out a wolf howl. "Oh, not now!" He said, trying to cover it up.
The rabbit turned back to him. "What was that?" She asked, running up to him, fox still in her grasp.
"Oh, nothing, that just means…" He leaned into a whisper. "It means there's a monster!"
"Wait, does yours actually work properly?" Nick asked, a bit confused.
"Now's not the time, Nick." Sh esighed. "Bogo's gonna kill us, but we have to."
"I could always stay here while you take care of it." Nick suggested.
"No, this is a team effort." Judy stated. "Let's go."
"Great, the monster's in Tundra Town!" Wolford said. "I'll meet you there." He quickly ran out of the station.
"How do you think he's going to get there?" Nick asked. The rabbit shrugged.
"Doesn't matter, we just have to get there as soon as possible!" She stated, the two quickly heading out of the station as well.
The two rangers slid into the middle of a snow covered plaza in Tundra Town, and hopped off the bikes. "Alright, so where's Silver?" Red asked. "Probably gonna show us up or something."
"I don't think he has a bike." Blue suggested.
As she finished, they heard a honk, looking over as Wolford's car, which they recognized from their case with him. It slid to a halt, and Wolford quickly got out, looking around. "Alright, where's the monster!?" He asked, walking up to the two.
"Uh, we don't know." Blue admitted. "It should be around here somewhere."
"Why didn't you just jump here?" Red asked. "You did that a lot when you couldn't show yourself."
"I have reasons, alright?" He said. "Don't question my methods."
The fox rolled his eyes, trying to make it noticeable behind the helmet. "Alright, whatever you say, Wolfsbane."
"Don't-"
Before Max could finish, the ground began to shake. In a burst of snow, the monster had appeared, and it looked very, very familiar. It let out a growl, and headed towards them. "Destroy… Zoorangers…" It muttered, its drill arms spinning.
"Wait a second," Blue started. "Didn't you destroy that guy!?"
"Looks like even the mighty ZooSilver wasn't enough to stop him." Red joked.
"Oh man," Max started, clenching his fists in excitement, seeming to ignore what they had just said. "I've been waiting to do this for months!" He quickly held out his left arms, digits hovering over the back of his Zoolizers.
He pressed it in, causing the device to let out a triumphant howl. "ZOO ON!" He yelled, bringing the device up to his face, and pressing the snout of the wolf in. There was a flash of light, and Max had transformed into ZooSilver.
His outfit was very similar to theirs, except entirely silver, obviously. The only thing breaking up the color were his white gloves, which, unlike theirs, had a gold trim. The visor was also slightly different, instead of being jagged, it was more of a V-shape.
"WARRIOR OF THE ECLIPSE!" He yelled, spinning around, and hitting his claws against the snow covered ground. "ZOOSILVER!"
Silver turned back to the other two. "Pretty impressive, huh?" He postured.
"It certainly is flashy." Red said sarcastically.
"We don't have time for fashion talk!" Blue yelled, rushing past Silver. "We kind of have a monster to deal with!"
"Oh, right!" Silver let out, quickly following her, Red trailing behind. The three lined up, weapons drawn. Blue twirled her daggers, Red swung his sword, and Silver pointed his blade towards the creature.
The robotic Nue let out a growl, its original drill arm beginning to spin around. Its other drill hand quickly morphed into a large chainsaw blade, which began letting out a roaring grind.
"Alright, Red, what do we do?" Silver asked.
"What?" Red said, confused. "Why are you asking me!?"
"Well, red is usually the leader." He explained. "So obviously, you should be leader too!"
"Leader, huh…"
'I don't think-" Blue said, a bit concerned, before Red hushed her.
"Sorry, Blue, your leader is thinking up a plan." He didn't have much time, as the monster had begun to advance towards them. "Uh, just attack him!" He yelled out, rushing towards the monster.
"Alright, boss!" Silver said, rushing forward as well.
"Oh, Nick…" Blue sighed, before rushing forward herself.
The monster watched, as amused as an emotionless monster-robot could be, as the three haphazardly rushed towards him. Red, having run in first, was also the first to attack, locking blades with the monster's chainsaw, and in a few seconds being thrown back.
Blue was slightly faster, and managed to pull out her blasters, firing at the beast. It managed to effortlessly block the blasts with his drill, redirecting them to the rabbit and knocking her back. Silver was the last, and managed to do slightly better, keeping the monster's weapons at bay for a few seconds. Unfortunately, the Nue quickly figured out his attack pattern, and performed a double weapon strike to him, launching the wolf backwards.
Throughout all of this, Nue hadn't moved from where he was standing.
"Ugh, great plan there, leader." Silver groaned sarcastically as he sat up from the snow.
"Hey!" Red yelled back, rolling from the snow. "I didn't exactly have much time to think!"
"WATCH OUT!" Blue yelled to Red.
He quickly glanced up, watching as a massive hammer headed towards him. He leaped out of the way as it crashed into the ground, snow flying everywhere. After the miss, the hammer retracted back to Nue, reforming itself into a claw.
The monster then pointed the claw at Silver, who also dodged out of the way as it suddenly shot off from the ape monster's arm. It crashed into the snow, before retracting back to the Nue. "Alright, buster!" Red yelled, pulling out the Vickscannon. "Let's see how you like a bit of heat!"
He fired the cannon at the monster, whose arm quickly shifted into what appeared to be a large welder's mask. The mask blocked the blast of fire, causing it to disperse immediately.
Silver rushed up again, spinning the guard on the Eclipse Thruster. "HOT HOT SUN" It sounded. Silver slashed the blade, once to the left, another to the right, each swipe shooting off a wave of fire. The monster blocked both of the waves with the mask-shield.
He grunted, and then spun the guard again. "SHINE SHINE MOON" It sounded again. He leaped back, and then whipped the sword towards it, shooting off a laser. The Nue raised its drill arm, the laser whip wrapping around it. The drill then began to spin, causing Silver to be dragged through the air to the monster, who punched him away with the shield-mask.
The wolf tumbled through the snow. "SILVER!" Blue yelled, rushing up to him. "Are you okay?"
He quickly got up, and turned to the fox, who was just standing there, watching. "Are you gonna help or not!?" He yelled.
"I'm trying!" He yelled. "I just need to come up with something…"
"You're obviously not good at that!" Silver yelled, stomping up to him. "I can't believe you got picked as leader, you're a rude, egotistical, idiot!"
"And you're a spotlight stealing, overly cheerful dunce!" Red retorted.
"Guys!" Blue yelled, running over to them. "We don't have time for arguing!" She looked back, as the monster approached them. The two continued flinging insults at each other. "Oh, I can't believe I'm going to have to do this…" She sighed, pulling out a ZooTag.
"JUNGLE MIND!
BUSTING TIME!
UKI UKI OO!
ZOOSARU!"
In a flash, ZooSaru appeared in front of them. The Nue stumbled back as the gorilla-bot stared down at him. With a flick of the mech's hand, Nue was sent flying, crashing into a nearby building.
"Error… Major damages taken…" It groaned mechanically. "Must… retreat…"
She pulled the ZooTag out, causing the robot to disappear, and turned back to the two, who hadn't seemed to notice. "Alright, hey, the monster's weakened!" She said, motioning towards the monster as it stumbled up. "We can probably beat him now!"
"Personally, I don't think you even deserve your powers!" Silver yelled, pushing the fox back.
"And I don't think you deserve to be treated so special!" Red responded.
Blue jumped up and down, trying to get their attention. They were so wrapped up in their argument that neither had noticed anything within the last five minutes. She turned back to the monster, but it had vanished. "NO!" She cried, untransforming and falling to her knees.
She clenched her paws, and sat up. "YOU GUYS ARE IDIOTS!" She scolded, punching Red, and kicking Silver.
"What did we do!?" Red asked, obliviously.
"YOU LET THE MONSTER GET AWAY!" She yelled. "Why couldn't you just have your fight when we weren't trying to save the city!?"
"That's a great idea!" Silver said, sounding a bit angry. "Red, I challenge you to a duel!"
"WHAT!?" Blue yelled in disbelief.
"We'll decide who the leader is by whoever wins!" He continued.
"Alright, I accept your challenge!" Red said. "Central Park, sundown, tonight!"
"You're on!"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Blue shrieked
"This is THE single dumbest thing you've ever done." Judy stated, as she watched the fox do push-ups on the apartment floor.
"Probably," He stated, in a huff. "But I'm far too prideful to let something like this go."
"What do you even have to be prideful about?" She asked, as the fox switched to doing sit-ups. "Your 'cunning', or whatever?"
"This is about me being a leader." He said. "I can't just let that slip! I need to show the newcomer who the real boss is!"
"You didn't even know you were leader until two hours ago." She told him, dumbfounded.
"Well, then I guess I have that to blame on him as well!"
She slapped her face with both of her paws. "You don't…" She tried to figure out the words. "You don't need to do this."
"Uh, yeah, I do." The fox said, standing up, starting to run in place. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm going for a jog." He quickly dashed out of the apartment, leaving the rabbit alone.
"Oh, Nick…" She sighed. "I thought you were better than this now."
She let out another heavy sigh, and walked over to the kitchen table, the Sentai Encyclopedia sitting on it. She flipped the book open, and began to read through it again. She hadn't looked through the book in a long while, but she was looking for some information.
She had remembered something while reading, a very specific Ranger that seemed very relevant at this point. The rabbit flipped to the page on Gaoranger, the guys who had fought Yabaiba and the Orgs. Their sixth ranger brought her some curiosity. GaoSilver, a wolf. Very similar to Max. Not in just theming and coloring, but the weapon was also similar.
"'GaoSilver was cursed into the form of a monster, but sealed away for thousands of years.'" She read. "'After being freed, he attacked the Gaorangers, but eventually regained his memories and joined them.' That doesn't really sound like Max, so I guess it's just a weird coincidence.
She flipped to another sixth ranger that she had been reminded of. Gekiranger's GekiViolet, who also had a wolf theme, but was mostly purple. "'GekiViolet attempted to seal away an evil force, but was transformed into a werewolf.' Sounds familiar, but definitely not related to Silver."
Then, she remembered the Ranger Wlford had mentioned. AbareKiller, part of Abaranger, who she had mostly skimmed over. She flipped back to it, and read. She mostly wondered why one of these completely unrelated teams had gotten involved. None of their villains were here, and they were far away from the apparent animal theme the rest of the teams, minus Ninninger, had.
She read more about it, and finally reached AbareKiller's description. What she read shocked her. "Oh god, does Max know?" She asked herself. The description didn't paint the killer in a good light, despite him being part of a hero team. The rabbit got up, and started pacing. What if this was some sort of trick, what if this AbareKiller had some kind of ulterior motive to making Wolford ZooSilver. She felt that something was wrong.'
And in her gut, she knew that it was only going to get worse. There was no way this duel was ever going to go well. But Nick was a stubborn fox, though she had never entirely known how prideful he had been until today.
She heard the door slam open. "Whew, good workout!" Nick said, running in. "I think I'm all ready for the duel!"
"Nick," She started. "Please, don't do this. We have so much more to worry about beside your petty reivalry. I just read about AbareKiller, and-"
"You mean Wolfsbane's delusional friend?" Nick interrupted. "Yeah, I'd rather not hear anything about him."
"Nick, please, just listen to me for one-"
He glanced over to the clock on the wall. "Oh hey, almost time to get going, see you later, Carrots!" He rushed back out the door again.
"Nick…" She let out a grunt, and clenched her paws. "Stupid, stupid, STUPID FOX!" She quickly followed after him.
She drove her cycle up to the park, the sun beginning to lower on the city. She ran onto the grass, and spotted the two, staring at each other, standing next to the lake.
"You ready to go, Wilde?" Silver started, pointing his blade at the fox.
"Yeah, just give me a second." He said, pulling out a gold ZooTag, which he plugged into the Zoolizer.
"JAN JA NIN!
ROCK N ROLL
DROP N ROLL!
SOLAR FLARE SABER!"
The massive blade appeared above him, and fell into the fox's hand. He thrust it over his shoulder. "Alright, now I'm ready." He said. "Ready to kick your ass!"
"Great, I'm already too late." Judy bemoaned, watching the two rush up to each other and clash powerful blades. The force of the clash knocked them backwards, but they continued to rush and clash at each other.
Sparks flew as they swiped and slashed at the other, both seemingly evenly matched. Blue continued to watch, huddled over a hill. The two seemed to be too wrapped up in what their fight to actually notice her.
After more clashing, Silver finally managed to land a blow to Red's gut, knocking the fox backwards. "Hah, is that really the best you've got?" He taunted.
"Far from it, Wolfsbane." He grunted, getting up. The fox quickly spun the massive blade around, causing it to glow. He stopped and performed a single slash towards the wolf, and then a second, and then a third. Each slash released an energy wave, with the second and third being slashed at diagonal angles, causing the waves to tear through the ground.
Silver braced himself, gripping his blade by the end, prepping it for a block. As the massive energy slash hit the blade, he could feel the power behind it, struggling to keep it away. Then the other two slashes hit, and the wolf felt himself being pushed backwards. The slashes then began spinning around, and combined into a single wave. The wave quickly went through the sword, causing a massive explosion around the wolf, and causing him to fly off.
Red looked on, stunned at what had just happened. "Wow, didn't know it could do that." He said to himself.
The wolf got up, struggling a bit, and let out a massive howl, clearing away the smoke and fire around him instantly. "Alright, Wilde, so that's how you want to do things?" He growled. "Well, let's see how you handle this!" He pointed his blade towards the fox, and spun the guard.
"HOT HOT SUN"
His blade glowed with heat, and he then slashed it forward a few times, sending out his own waves of flame towards the fox. Red leaped out of the way, rushing in a curved direction as the wolf continued to slash at him. The flame blasts hit the ground behind him, barely missing Red as he continued to run.
As he ran, he pulled out the Vickscannon, and prepped it to fire. He leaped forward again, this time on his side. As he landed, he pointed the cannon towards the wolf, and fired continuously. The wolf saw this, and quickly spun the blade once more.
"SHINE SHINE MOON"
The blade glowed with blue energy, and slashed forward, unleashing a blue whip that lashed the fireballs out of the air. The fireballs burst into clouds of smoke, nearly blinding the wolf. Suddenly, he heard another noise.
"ROAR OF THE WILD!
ROAR OF THE ENGINE!
CAN YOU HEAR IT?
KITSUNIDER!"
The fox cleared the smoke as his bike quickly revealed itself, driving circles around the wolf, cannon still in paw. He fired it rapidly as he circled, lighting the wolf up in a burst of flame. He stopped, and gasped in exhaustion. "Guess you never really stood a chance, huh?" He joked between pants.
Before he could say anything else, a blue laser shot out of the cloud of flame, clearing it and revealing Silver, only slightly singed. The laser, connected to the blade, jabbed through the bike. Red looked down at the bike, and let out a small yipe, before it exploded, launching him off.
The fox rolled hard on the ground, the cannon landing next to him. He quickly snatched it up, and started firing at the approaching wolf. Each blast was effortlessly slashed out of the air by Silver, redirecting each blast.
One crashed into the nearby lake, causing the water to explode upward, drenching the two. Another flew up the hill, Blue leaping out of the way to avoid being burnt to a crisp. "Great, if they keep going they're going to destroy the park!" She yelled, looking at the burning grass. She looked back down, to see Silver hovering directly above Red.
Red still had the cannon pointed at him, while the wolf had his blade held, paw to the guard. The fox held a red ZooTag into the slot at the cannon's back. Silver quickly spun the guard.
"HOT SHINE ECLIPSE"
While red quickly plugged in the ZooTag.
"BRING THE HEAT!
BURNING HEART!
BOOM BOOM!
VICKSCANNON!"
Silver quickly jabbed his blade downwards repeatedly, while Red fired the blast directly into the wolf's chest. There was a massive explosion, reducing several square feet of grass to dirt. As the explosion cleared, Red rose, his suit damaged around the edges. Patches of bloodied fur poked out from the scratches caused by the blade.
Silver stood there, his suit burned. The two glared at each other, in a stand still. Quickly, red pulled out his Foxfire Blade, and rushed at the wolf, letting out a scream. Silver responded in turn, and the two began wildly clashing their blades. There was no strategy to the clash, it was simply them and their blades striking each other.
With each clash, the two took more and more damage, becoming more beaten and bloodied. Blue couldn't watch anymore, it was too much to see her partner doing something like that. She turned, and spotted something even more terrifying.
The monster, watching them fight. Its head slowly turned towards her. "Oh god." She let out, turning back to the fight. It was going to attack them. "I won't let you hurt them!" She yelled, pulling out her daggers and rushing at the monster.
The monster's red eyes glowed, and its silver arm shifted into a massive blade. It blocked both of her daggers with both arms as she attempted to strike the monkey robot. It flicked its arms upward, pushing her backwards.
"Prepare to be terminated." It robotically sounded, stepping towards her.
She plugged a blue ZooTag into her Zoolizer, summoning the Buster Boxers onto her paws. She rushed at the monster.
Back at the duel, the two were beginning to get tired. Very, very tired. After one more clunky strike, their blades dropped to the ground. The two panted, unaware of the other fight going on above them. Red gripped his paw into a fist, and struck the wolf in the gut, who returned with a punch to the side of the fox's muzzle.
The two continued biting, thrashing, clawing, and punching each other. It was turning from a duel to a straight up mauling. The two eventually locked their paws together, pushing each other back and forward.
Finally, the two heard a cry of pain, and looked up to see Blue, rolling down the hill. Above her was the Nue, whose red eye quickly pierced into them both. "JUDY!" Red yelled, quickly running up to the severely injured rabbit at the bottom of the hill.
He shook her, trying to get her to say something. "Please, don't die!" He urged.
She sputtered. "You guys are idiots…" She whispered. The fox helped her up, only to hear a loud crash behind him. They turned around to spot the monster, glaring at them.
"Hey, can't you see we're in the middle of something!?" the fox yelled at the cybernetic creature.
It nodded, stiffly. "Optimal chance to destroy you all." Its arm shifted from a blade into the shape of a gun blaster, which it pointed towards the fox and rabbit.
"Oh pumpernickel."
The fox leaped out of the way, Blue still wrapped on his shoulders, as the monster fired at them. They rolled on the ground, right up next to Silver. "So, uh," Red started, the two rangers getting up. "Got any plans, Silver, old pal?"
"Uh, not really." He nervously said, backing away as the monster approached. "I'm too terrified to think of anything."
"I know what to do." Blue said. "Think of what we did horribly wrong last time." The fox was ready to open his mouth. "The answer isn't bringing Silver along." She snapped at him before he could say exactly that.
"Well, what is it?" He asked.
"We didn't work together." She said. "You two were busy having a petty fight, we had no synergy!" She turned to the monster. "It can take us on one-on-one, but what about one-on-three?"
"We're pretty beaten up already, Blue." Silver said, rubbing his arm.
She turned to them, and gave an intense glare. "And whose fault is that?" The two looked down awkwardly. "Yeah, that's what I thought. So, are you gonna follow my plan, or are you gonna die?"
"Well, I'm personally not in the mood for dying today, so…" Red whipped his blade out. "I'm down for it."
Silver drew his blade as well. "I'm fine with it too."
She nodded. "Alright, we'll surround him, you two take the sides, and I'll go in from behind." She explained. "Then, we all attack at the same time. Got it?"
They nodded. Blue twirled her weapons. "Alright."
"Let's do this."
The three quickly rushed forwards, Silver taking the right of the monster, Red taking the right. Blue quickly slid under the monster's legs, flipping up to a stand. They had the Nue surrounded. "What?" It let out, shifting its look from one ranger to another.
"Got you surrounded, monkeybone!" Red said, prepping his sword. The three struck at the same time, causing the confused monster to spark in pain.
"And now we got you on the ropes!" Silver let out. He jabbed the monster, causing it to bounce backwards, straight into Red's sword. The monster felt itself get impaled, and the fox leap up, and kick it back. The Nue stumbled forward, and felt two objects poke into its abdomen. It looked down, seeing the small rabbit, guns pointed to him.
"Hasta la vista, baby."
She fired, the blasts going straight through the robot monster's body. The other two rangers stepped back as the Nue stumbled backwards. "No, this is impossible!" It yelled, some emotion coming into its voice.
"You better believe it is!" She said. "Let's light him up!"
Red stepped next to her, and they through their weapons into the air, forming the Zookaizer. "Oh, hold on!" Silver interjected. "Let me try something!"
The two other rangers were a bit confused, but the wolf ran up, blade drawn. He examined the bazooka. "Ah, there we go!" He said, placing the hilt of the blade on the top of the cannon. With a rather loud click, it fit on. Silver hopped behind the cannon, and helped lift it up a bit, having to bend down.
"Alright, now we're ready!" He yelled. "FIRE!"
"SOLAR NATURE BLAST!"
There was a burst of energy from the cannon, which quickly formed into a large orb. The orb launched at the monster, and split into two smaller orbs, one red, and one blue. The orbs crashed through the monster, and then circled above him, recombining into a single large, silver orb. The silver orb crashed down on the monster, and unleashed a massive explosion.
"DOES NOT… COMPUTE!" The monster cried as it sparked and stumbled. It fell over, causing another explosion. Out of the explosion flew a small, green tool box, which hit the ground, spilling its contents onto the grass.
"We did it." Silver said, quietly. He clenched his fist, and behind his mask, a large grin grew. "WE DID IT!" He kneeled down and shook Red. "WE BEAT A MONSTER TOGETHER!" He yelled. "THAT WAS AWESOME!"
"It's not over yet, pup." Red said, pushing the wolf away from him. "We still got the-"
"The giant form?" He finished. "Maaan, I've been waiting for this moment for my entire life!"
"What?"
Soon, the red object left behind began to glow, and flew off, reforming the monster in the outskirts of the city. "Probability of city destruction: One hundred percent!" It roared.
The two rangers pulled out their ZooTags, but were interrupted. "Why don't you guys sit this one out for a bit?" Silver said, pulling out a small, rounded, disc like object. "I've got this."
He opened the wolf's head on his Zoolizer, and plugged the disc into the slot. He then closed it shut, causing the device to emit a loud noise.
"HOWL HOWL ZOOOKAMI"
In a flash of white light, a massive mechanical wolf had appeared in front of them. It resembled their own mechs, but much, much larger. "There it is." Silver said, sounding a bit choked up. "My own mech." He leaped inside, and the thing's eyes lit up, causing it to howl.
"What." The two left behind rangers let out.
The wolf mech leaped off towards the horizon. It reached the outskirts, and let out a howl towards the mechanical monkey. "I do not recognize this machine." It said, stepping back. "Error, error!"
Inside the mech, Silver sat at his cockpit, which resembled the other two's, but silver, and the control panel, of course, resembling a wolf's head. "Alright, apeface, time to show you what ZooOkami can do!"
The wolf robot leaped at the Nue, scratching at it with its large, metallic claws. The monster stumbled back as the robot landed. The wolf mecha turned around, and delivered a donkey kick, knocking the beast to the ground.
"Parameters read." The monster groaned. "Formulating strategy." It quickly got up, its arm reforming into a large bear trap. It thrust its arm forward, firing the trap at the wolf machine. It clamped around one of its legs, and let out a mechanical grunt.
"That's pretty bad." Silver said, rather nonchalantly. "Too bad I have another surprise up my sleeve!" He pulled out the silver disc again, and plugged it into a slot on the control panel.
Much to the monster's surprise, the wolf began to shift. It leaped into the air, breaking from the bear trap. It flipped up, head folding down into the chest, revealing a small, more stylized, wolf's head underneath it. Its front legs straightened out, and revealed two large hands. Its back legs followed suit, the feet flipping around and folding out to form more workable feet. It tail detached from its rear, and into one of the hands, becoming a rather pointed sword.
"ZOOKAMI MODE"
The monster stepped back in surprise. "Error… Must work out new strategy…"
"Not gonna happen!" Silver yelled, jolting the controls forward. The robot stomped forward, and swung its blade into the monster's chest, causing it to shower sparks. He then thrust the blade forward, driving it into the monster's chest.
The mech then slapped the Nue back with one of its hands, and quickly sliced its drill hand off. "ZooKami's blade is make of stuff stronger than your average workshop tools!" Silver said. "Prepare to be scrapped!"
The Nue looked at its smoking arm, and then quickly shifted its silver arm into a sword. "Strategies will not help, must go all out!"
It swung its blade into ZooKami's blade, the two swords clashing in an explosion of sparks. After a few more strikes, the Nue managed to knock Zookami backwards. Its hand then reformed into a gun, which it fired at the robot. ZooKami managed to block most of the shots with its blade, but a few managed to land.
"This might not be as easy as I thought." Silver said to himself. "But I have to make a good impression, so…" He jolted the controls forward, and slashed directly through the gun arm, causing the barrel to fall to the ground with a thud.
"No!" The monster cried, staring at its now useless hands.
"That should do it." Silver said. "Time for your dawn to end!"
ZooKami raised its blade above its head, where it began glowing with silver energy. "ECLIPSE CUTTER!" He yelled as the robot brought down the sword. It fired a burst of silver energy, which formed into a circular blade of energy. It crashed into the Nue's body, grinding through it, and eventually cutting the beast in half.
"The improbability of this," The monster said, trying to hold itself together. "Is impossibly lar… lar… lar…" It stuttered as its body started to fall apart. "NUELAAAAAAAAAAR!" It cried, before exploding.
In a flash, Silver reappeared in front of the two stunned mammals, who had untransformed. "Wow that was…" Judy tried to say, as Max untransformed as well.
"Cool? Awesome? Amazing?" He suggested.
"Obnoxious is more like it." Nick said, causing Max's ears to droop. "You stole the spotlight yet again, Wolfsbane."
"Oh come on, seriously!?" Judy yelled. "Are you seriously starting this up again!?"
"Teamwork only goes as far as superhero-ing." Nick stated. "I refuse to be actual friends with this guy."
"Nick, seriously-"
"Well if you just want to be work partners," Max started, a bit forlornly. "I suppose that's fine. I can't really change how you feel if you hate me that much."
"Good, I'm glad you understand." Judy glared at him, but she could tell the fox had no remorse for his insulting.
The wolf's ears dropped down even more. "I guess I'll see you guys next week, huh?" He said with a sad chuckle. "See ya." He started walking off.
Nick started to walk off in the opposite direction, and the rabbit quickly ran up and blocked him. "Oh no you don't Slick!" She yelled, poking him in the chest.
"What?"
"I thought you learned a lesson from that fight!" She said. "I dunno, something about teamwork, working together always leading to victory, something like that!"
"I did." He insisted. "I learned that we'll need to use Wolfsbane to actually win." He explained, the rabbit's ears drooping down in anger. "Don't want to know the guy, don't like him from what I do know, simple as that." The fox walked off again.
She thrashed about, completely infuriated by how the fox was acting. She could only spit out grunts. The rabbit calmed down for a second, and stomped forward. "Alright, nick," She started, heading up to the fox. "Whatever you say."
"I'm glad you understand, Carrots." He replied.
In the rabbit's mind, she was formulating something. Despite what the fox thought, this was going to lead to problems. She needed to make them at least tolerate each other.
She had the perfect idea.
"I'm still leader, by the way." Nick said as they continued walking. Judy rolled her eyes.
"So, that was a real botch, huh?" Sambash mocked, pulling his bike up to the fox Yokai standing on the side of the mountain.
Kyuemon didn't respond, staring off into the distance.
"Well, I guess you don't care." The biker said. "Now if you excuse me, I have work to do." He revved the engine up.
"What?" Kyuemon finally let out, turning to Sambash. "Where are you going?"
"Gonna go destroy the city, what else?" He said, his tone making it sound like it was obvious, which it kind of was.
"It hasn't even been a week yet, and the Omnipotence let you go?" Kyuemon questioned.
"You think I give a shit about the boss' rules?" He laughed. "I'm my own boss, I do what I want, when I want, and I'm tired of waiting around!"
"He's going to be infuriated." The fox Yokai sighed.
"Not when I destroy the Zoorangers AND the city in one fell swoop!" Sambash revved the bike up again. "Ciao!" With that, the biker flew up into the sky on his bike, and dashed towards the city.
"Idiot."
Silver's identity has been revealed! He's totally not an OC, trust me!
Anyway, if you're wondering why I've included AbareKiller as a major plot point here, well… author appeal, basically. Abaranger is one of my favorite Sentai seasons, and Abarekiller might be my favorite Sentai Ranger of all time, so…
Speaking of, last episode's plot was totally NOT a rip-off of the time travel episode from Abaranger! And ZooOkami/ZooKami wasn't a typo, its a pun, y'see
And to the guy who wanted more fight scenes, well, next episode is gonna be KILLER for you!
Next time, the trinity is complete.