Episode 24: Part 1
It was a bright crisp autumn afternoon as Nick Adler walked alongside Claire down the streets of the small city of Hyperion Falls. As they turned off and headed down a shady parkway toward the bus-stop back to campus, Nick sighed as he shifted the weight of the heavy bags in his hands, "I still don't see why you had to buy all these discount textbooks for classes that you're not even taking yet."
"Oh, come on Nick. You know me by now," Claire said pointing to her head, "I'm always thinking ahead, "If I can get those books while they're cheap and available, I don't have to scramble like a madwoman last minute and pay premiums on the books for next semester."
"Fair enough," the Green Ranger groaned, "But I don't see why you had to trick me into coming along today."
Claire gave a sympathetic smile toward her friend and shrugged, "Well, look how heavy all those books are. You can't expect I'd be able to lug all that stuff back to campus by myself, do you?"
Nick rolled his eyes toward the White Ranger, "You know, I hope you don't just view me as some sort of big strong pack mule that you can just take advantage of whenever you need it. Try walking a mile in my shoes."
"Just like I could say the same about you and the others expecting me to think of everything whenever someone gets in a pinch," Claire replied with an edge of defensiveness.
The start of their little argument was cut short as they heard a loud commotion erupt from nearby.
The two students hurried across the parkway and spotted what looked to be a slender Cambion demon. It was dressed in the red, white, and black patterned suit of a harlequin jester from the Renaissance age. Below its multi-tipped cap with bells, the creature wore an ornate painted mask fixed in a wide smile that was both mischievous and diabolical. Nearby, it looked like a handful of innocent civilians were already laying stunned on the ground with a group of Magog foot soldiers hovering over them.
The harlequin demon gave another laugh and cornered several civilians before raising a little scepter crafted with a demon head and jester's cap of its own. "No need to fear folks. I, the great Pazuzu won't hurt you... much. Now just keep your eye on my wand."
In a flash of energy, the eyes on the demon head scepter lit up causing the civilians to stop and topple over.
As Pazuzu gave a grin and turned to leave the scene, a small volley of golden blaster shots struck the ground, stopping him in his tracks. When the smoke cleared, the Cambion spotted a morphed Green and White Vanguard Ranger standing in his way.
"Well... I didn't know I had a live audience to my show," Pazuzu smiled playfully twirling his scepter in his hand.
"The review is in demon, and it turns out your show's not very funny," Claire called gripping her blaster pistol.
"Whatever you did to those people, you're going to undo it or we're gonna have to make you," Nick challenged, drawing his gladius. Turning to Claire, he asked, "You ready to go short-stuff?"
"Let's do it!" Claire called taking aim and firing another volley of shots as Nick charged forward into melee range.
Pazazu giggled and nimbly danced around the shots while deflecting others away using his scepter. When the Green Ranger was upon him, the demon continued to use its amazing agility to easily dodge the Ranger's sword blows.
"Too slow," the demon cackled in a mocking laugh as he sidestepped Nick and tapped him on the helmet with his scepter in a taunt.
Nick growled angrily and swung again, but Pazuzu ducked and blinded him with light from his demon wand. In a heartbeat, Pazuzu slid under the Green Ranger's legs and whirled around swiftly. Before Nick could react, the demon kicked him in the rear end while he was off balance, causing the Green Ranger to fall flat on his face.
Pazuzu howled in laughter again as Claire charged forward to help, firing off a few more shots with her blaster. The harlequin easily evaded the shots and let her close to striking distance. As the White Ranger rushed forward and tried to throw a punch, Pazuzu disappeared into a cloud of black smoke. Claire stopped, momentarily disoriented before swatting away the smoke. After she did, she looked about in confusion and saw the demon was gone.
Moments later, she felt a tap on her shoulder and she whirled around to see Pazuzu's grinning face before getting blinded by the light of his demon scepter. Giving Claire a small push and knocking her over, Pazuzu cackled again before he looked up to see 4 more angelic Rangers descend on the battlefield.
"Well Rangers, that was fun," the demon called retreating from the scene with his Magogs, "But I think we should schedule a new play date. If you two are feeling up to it, that is."
"Hey, are you two ok?" Izzy asked hurrying over and helping Claire rise to her feet. The White Ranger blinked her eyes and regained her senses before giving a nod, "Yeah, I think so."
Nearby, the Red, Blue, and Gold Rangers rejoined them with Nick in tow. The Green Ranger was rubbing his bottom with a grumble. "My pride is a little bruised, but I'm ok too."
While they regrouped, the Rangers could see the stunned civilians regain their senses and begin to get up again.
"Strange," Kara commented to herself, "What do you suppose that demon was after?"
Claire shrugged and walked over to recover her bags of books that she bought earlier, "Aside from totally making fools of us in battle, I'm not sure."
The Red Ranger nodded slowly and gestured to the other Rangers, "Well, as long as you and Nick are ok, let's get these civilians back on their feet and then head back to campus. Follow me."
Meanwhile, in the darkness of the Abyss, the Cambion General Abaddon strode into the ornate throne room of his lord and gave a reverent bow as he approached the dias where the ancient fallen Archangel sat, "You summoned me Lord Gideon?"
The Archangel regarded him coolly and nodded, "Yes General. You have recovered from your last battle with the Rangers?"
"I look forward to crushing them into dust," Abaddon snarled as he clenched his armored fists.
Gideon smiled but shook his head gently, "Patience General. There will be time for that. I have called you here for a very special assignment. You know that the demon seal to the mortal world is nearly worn away. Even greater demons such as yourself may now cross over as you wish. But before we can prepare our full scale invasion, we need to tie up some loose ends."
"My Lord?"
At that, the demon counselor Shemhazai stepped from the shadows and took her place beside Abaddon with a bow. "A powerful group of renegade entities had been loosed from Bansheera's Cistern recently... four warrior horsemen by my spies' count."
"What does that have to do with us?" Abaddon asked.
Gideon turned his eyes on the warlord, "Those Horsemen are neither aligned with the Legion or the Rangers. We need to be certain those four horsemen will not interfere in our operations. If we can convince them to work with us to destroy our enemies, then all the better."
"You're proposing we sent an envoy to them?" Abaddon asked, "To treat with these Horsemen?"
Gideon nodded, "Precisely. I am tasking Shemhazai to locate the Horsemen and speak with them. I wish for you to accompany her as a show of the Cambion Legion's force. "
Abaddon growled and turned a suspicious eye to the Counselor before lowering his head to the Archangel, "If that is what you wish Lord Gideon, but what of the Rangers?"
"Do not trouble yourself General," Shemhazai smiled, "One of my agents, the harlequin Pazuzu, is already busy sowing enough chaos among the humans to weaken the Great Seal and keep the Rangers busy for us in the meantime."
Early the next morning, Claire rolled over in bed and gave a tired yawn, glad that it was going to be a lazy Sunday morning. As much as she wanted to snooze for a little while longer, she figured she might as well eat breakfast then get a jump start on her homework that she had put off the other day in the city.
As she cracked her eyes open and looked around, she froze as she realized her surroundings were different. Sitting atop her night stand was a small pot of geraniums. Hanging on the wall next to her bed was a pennant flag of the college's football team and she looked down to see a green colored blanket over her sheets. This was not her bed, or her room at all.
Claire sat up in bed and turned her head only to have her heart stop in shock. At the other end of the room, she saw Joe at the sink, standing in front of the mirror shaving. He looked like he had just showered up after a morning jog and was wearing nothing but a red pair of boxer shorts.
Claire gulped as the Red Ranger turned with a face still half lathered in shaving cream and gave a friendly smile while washing off his razor, "Morning. You're up early."
Claire sat staring in shocked silence both from confusion and the fact that her crush was standing right in front of her in nothing but his underwear.
"Uh... is something wrong?" he asked, "You're kinda weirding me out a little."
Claire glanced over toward the mirror and gasped again as she saw her reflection. In her place, she saw Nick's reflection and it slowly dawned on her that whatever that demon had done the other day, she was no longer in her own body, but in that of someone else's now.
Before she could answer, the door began to pound furiously and Joe walked over to crack it open and see who it was. Claire sat watching in stunned horror as she saw herself, or rather someone else in her body barge in past the Red Ranger wearing her pajama shorts and white camisole. "Let me in! You've got to help me Joe!"
"Geez Claire! What the hell is wrong with you?" Joe cried in outrage stumbling back into the room and scrambling to put on a pair of pants, "Can't you see I don't have any clothes on?"
Stopping and taking a glance, he said, "And for that matter, shouldn't you be putting on a few more clothes too?"
"Can't you see we've got bigger problems here?" the person in Claire's body interrupted waving their arms in a loud panic, "I woke up this morning and I'm no longer the same person! For God's sake, Joe! Look! I have boobs!"
Joe blinked in shock before turning his gaze away, his face growing red in embarrassment, "Um, yeah... and they're very nice Claire."
"Wait? You think my boobs are nice?" Claire asked in surprise from Nick's body causing everyone to stop and stare at her.
"Wait a sec! Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my body?" the person in Claire's body exclaimed furiously.
"Nick?" Claire asked slowly, "Is that you?"
The girl nodded and her eyes grew wide, "Claire? Are you in there?"
Standing between them with his face still half shaved and one leg through his jeans, Joe gave a look of growing annoyance, "Look... will someone please tell me what the hell is going on here? If this is some kind of crazy prank..."
"No. This is no joke," Claire said rising quickly from Nick's bed, "I'm really Claire in here and I think that demon from yesterday just caused Nick and I to switch places."
Nick nodded and began furiously digging through his own dresser drawer before pulling out a large green flannel button-up shirt. Putting it on over his newer smaller female frame made him look a little ridiculous but he didn't seem to care. "All right then! What are we waiting for? Let's call the others together and figure out what to do!"
Later that day, the Vanguard Rangers assembled at the Rookery Building in the office of Professor Bishop. As they did, the others cast puzzled looks among each other before looking to the Green and White Rangers sitting on the couch. They both wore awkward and unhappy looks while the others stared.
After Nick and Claire told their stories again, Danny sat down on the arm of the couch next to Nick and gave him a playful wink, "Aw come on. There's no way Nick can be in Claire's body. She's still so cute and innocent looking."
In a flash, Nick reached out and ferociously grabbed the Blue Ranger's collar in annoyance.
Outwardly, to see little Claire so easily manhandling Danny was an unusual sight.
"I'm not in the mood today preppy," he growled in Claire's voice, "I dare you to say that again."
"Hey, can I get in on that?" Claire asked cracking her larger stronger knuckles now.
The Professor cleared his throat loudly to break up the commotion.
"So you think that demon cast some sort of spell yesterday and caused you two to swap bodies?" Bishop said leaning back in his chair as he tried to understand the unusual situation before him. "Why would the monster do that?"
"Most likely to cause confusion and chaos," Kara answered, "If the demon already struck several other victims yesterday, the situation will only get worse assuming they were body switched too."
Joe nodded in agreement, "Kara's right. If the demons mean to keep working on that Great Seal, then this isn't a bad way to do it. The question is, how to do we undo the spell?"
Bishop frowned in thought, "If I had to guess? Destroying that Jester... or maybe that scepter he was carrying."
Claire spoke up as she fidgeted on the couch, "But that would mean we have to wait until that monster shows up again! Who knows when that will be?"
Nick nodded beside her, testing his vision with and without Claire's glasses, "Yeah! What the heck are we supposed to do in the mean time? We have regular classes and stuff tomorrow!"
"Oh my God! You're right!" Claire exclaimed in horror, "I have a Physics quiz scheduled. If Nick takes it for me, I can't afford to bomb my first grade of the semester. It'll set me back!"
"Hey! You think I'm going to fail it that badly?" Nick grumbled, "As long as I get a C grade it'll be fine."
Claire moaned before raising a finger, "Oh, and another thing Nick... if you're going to be stuck in my shoes for a while, you'd better not look or do anything perverted either."
"Well, same to you!" Nick retorted indignantly.
"This is just too weird," Izzy muttered quietly to the other two boys who watched with bemused expressions while the Green and White Rangers erupted into another squabble. Turning to Joe, the Pink Ranger said, "You realize we're going to have to switch up the sleeping arrangements in our dorm rooms for the time being, right?"
Danny gave a grin and sidled up alongside Izzy, waggling his eyebrows with a laugh, "Well Iz, you're more than welcome to share my room."
The Red Ranger sighed in exasperation and gave Danny a firm punch in the shoulder, "People, can we please focus here?"
Amid the petty arguments that began to fill Bishop's office while sorting out the new problems, the other Rangers couldn't help but wonder just how their friends would fare in the mean time, or how they would manage if that Jester were to switch up any more of them. For their sake, they could only hope Pazuzu would show his face again... and soon.