Chapter Two...
Beyond Voltage: The Battle for Megumi
Volt HQ buzzed with a frenetic energy that mirrored its ominous name. The sleek walls glowed with eerie luminescence, highlighting the high-tech atmosphere of the despicable lair of the Volt villains. Yusuke, as LiveRed, felt the adrenaline coursing through his veins as he prepared for the confrontation ahead. Beside him, Joe, or LiveYellow, tightened the grip on his signature weapon, the Live Blaster, which glinted with the promise of urgency and raw power.
"Yusuke, we have to be quick! Megumi needs us now more than ever!" Joe's voice was tense yet focused. "I can't imagine what Dr. Ashura and Volt is doing to Megumi's body!"
"Help me locate and rescue her, Joe!" Yusuke replied.
The two heroes sprinted down the metallic corridor, hearts pounding. The air was heavy, polluted with the faint hissing of machines and the occasional maniacal laughter that reverberated from the labs. Just moments earlier, Yusuke had received a report of Megumi, their fearless female "Blue Dolphin" leader, being captured by the malevolent Doctor Mazenda and the relentless Ashura. The boys' report sender was Koron, the robot companion of the Liveman Rangers. Knowing that they could not waste another second, Yusuke and Joe plunged deeper into the heart of the blackened space fortress.
Suddenly, they skidded to a halt as they rounded a corner. There, in the dim light of the operational chamber, Megumi was strapped tightly to an awful electric torture chair, cables snaking from its mechanized arms to visible power conduits.
"Yusuke! Joe!" Megumi cried in terror, her heart racing as she was immobilized by the restraint straps against the cold metal. "Ashura and Mazenda injected me with tranquilizers, and then they strapped me to this metal chair!"
"Don't worry, Megumi! We're here!" Yusuke called out, pulling his Live Sword from his hip. "We've been searching for you!"
"Volt cannot defeat us as Liveman," Joe replied. "We'll destroy Volt when the day comes..."
A sharp metallic sound echoed in the chamber as two menacing figures emerged from the shadows—Doctor Mazenda and Ashura. "Foolish worms! Megumi is ours... we'll send her to heaven with this toy!" Doctor Mazenda taunted, her voice laced with a sneer. "This is just the beginning of Megumi's end! Let the voltage surge! Voltage level one, start!" Mazenda switched on the ECT chair with her fingers. The chair sparked with slight but painful electric shocks, making Megumi grunt and cry in pain. Pain worse than her occasional dysmenorrhoea or period cramps.
"Voltage level two, start!" Mazenda laughed evilly. Megumi's pains intensified.
"Unforgivable!" Yusuke shouted.
"You dare call yourselves humans?" Joe asked.
"We have attached a ticking time bomb to Megumi's belly," Ashura replied. "Within three minutes, she'll explode. You can join hell with her!"
Yusuke and Joe rampaged against Mazenda and Ashura, weapons glimmering as they lunged into action.
"Lion Punch!" Joe shouted, delivering numerous punches to Ahura and Mazenda, but each time, both villains suddenly disappeared into thin air - reappearing after each punch ended.
Yusuke fired several raygun beams at the villains, but they remained unscathed. "Hahahaha! Those beans hurt like bug bites..." Mazenda laughed.
"You're no match for Volt," Ashura replied. "Test Brain (a previous monster) did a great job slaying the world's useless professors. Human intelligence is inferior and worthless..."
"You're wrong! That's a lie!" Yusuke replied.
Ashura backfired on the two guys. "Ashura Break!" He shouted, ejecting explosive bullets at both rangers.
"AUGH!! AUGH!!" Yusuke and Joe yelled in pain, as the bullets exploded into orange smoking clouds and sparks. They struggled to lift themselves off the cold, concrete floor.
Yusuke tackled and sucker-punched Ashura and Mazenda, keeping them distracted from Megumi's distress. Joe tried to deactivate the dynamite bomb and destroy the shackles. Using a pocket knife, he slit open each shackle, freeing Megumi's limbs, but her belly was secured to the chair by the dynamite bomb.
"Joe! Please hurry, or I'll explode!" Megumi cried in pain and terror.
"Shit... this bombs not easy to deactivate," Joe swore under his breath, trying to break the code on the timer. It had a four-number password. Finally, with the password of "2431" working, Joe deactivated the bomb. He slit open the seatbelt and held onto the deactivated dynamite carefully, in case the dynamite could be used against a Brain Beast.
"Thank you, Joe," Megumi replied. Megumi still had her Liveman watch on her wrist.
Suddenly, a portal opened, revealing gesticulating shadows writhing beyond it. Unbeknownst to Yusuke, Ashura was calling upon a formidable ally. With a snarling roar, the howler-monkey monster, Howler Brain, burst forth, its eyes blazing with ferocity, eyes shimmering with an iridescent hue of wickedness.
"I have summoned Howler Brain unto this area... he was revived by me! Let the carnage begin!" Ashura cackled as Howler Brain swung its heavy arms, ready to wreak havoc.
To be continued...