Just beyond our world, past the veil of dreams and magic, lies the fairytale realm of Everafter. Here, the legends and fairytales of old are alive and well, living in harmony for countless centuries. However, all that changed when the evil forces of the Marchens invaded, transforming many into mystical Wonder Charms while those that survived escaped into our world. Now, under the guidance of the great wizard, Merlin, a small group of these survivors tap into the power of the Wonder Charms to face the Marchen menace. Full steam ahead, it's morphin' time! Power Rangers: Wonder Force!
Drought of Toads
In the Dark Keep, General Trample was angry. This was not at all an unusual situation, for Trample was a very angry being. The Tin Troopers took care to avoid the rooms of both Grizzle and Trample, for those where the generals most likely to destroy them on a whim.
Tramples room was full of broken things, and they were getting even more broken as Trample looked through his collection of corrupted charms. In each was a tale that could create a Marchen Beast, but he couldn't decide on which he wanted to use. He sat upon his unused bed (preferring to sleep propped up against the wall in toy form) but he couldn't decide which to use.
He wanted to make up for the catastrophic failure that was the Cyclops Marchen, for it had the potential to cut the rangers down and he managed to bungle it completely. But not a single charm spoke to him like the Cyclops charm did. Not a single emblazed icon was cool to him. As the Savage General the only options he was willing or allowed to use were the animalistic tales. Each Marchen General was ultimately bound to their given tales, Crusher had gone on about it being a psychological barrier that even he couldn't break. Trample just knew it in his bones, it was an instinct. The same came with selection, though it was not as debilitating. When seeking a charm from a selection, the general just felt a call from the one they were meant to use. They could choose to ignore it, but whatever charm was selected was the best for the job at hand.
Trample felt the call come from a charm and frowned when he saw what it was. The charm merely had a picture of a frog on it. He snorted like an angry horse and threw the charm out of his door, enraged at the insult the inanimate object had given him. Crusher was walking outside his door at the time and saw the charm hit the wall and clatter on the floor. Upon seeing it Crusher rushed to pick it up. He turned on Trample and said, "Don't you realize what this charm can do?" Trample rolled his eyes, "No, but your gonna tell me because you're you." Ignoring the implied insult General Crusher replied, "This charm has the potential to destroy an entire world. The mayhem caused by this charm alone, if used properly, could achieve our goals in one fell swoop!" Trample smiled evilly as Crusher told him the story of Tiddalik the frog.
Alice skipped happily, as she usually got around. She kept her humming to a minimum because she was in a library. She skipped over to her friends Arthur and Sun Wukong, better known as Sunny, who were hard at work studying. Sunny had a hard time with the school learning, not because he wasn't smart but because his smarts lay not in academic concerns, which sadly meant he floundered in the structured learning espoused by high schools.
Arthur was now helping Sunny study the Water Cycle, and it was hard going. This was mostly because the monkey king, at least when dealing with book learning, had the attention span and memory of a gnat. That is to say, none whatsoever. Alice caught a little bit of the conversation, with Sunny asking, "So this applies to fountains as well?" Arthur replied, "Yes. But normal fountains, which is what we are studying. I am honestly unsure how it works in Ever After."
Sunny let out a forlorn sigh, and said, "I am just not built for this! I am the Monkey King! I don't study! I travel!" He slammed his head down on the table and Alice came up saying, "Maybe if it's said in your native language you will understand it." Sunny looked up and said, "It might, but unless you can speak monkey we won't know." Alice gave a sideways glance and said, "I know some monkey, but I'm rusty and my accents atrocious."
The fact that Alice knew how to speak monkey was chalked up to Alice being a Wonderlander. Instead Arthur said, "Well, lets try it." Alice looked hesitant, merely saying, "I don't know, the last time I spoke monkey I insulted the ambassador's mother and nearly caused a war." Sunny shrugged and said, "I was born from a stone egg. I don't have a mom. And even if you do somehow manage to insult me, I wont be offended. After all, I know you won't mean it." Alive reluctantly said, "Well, OK."
She then started to make monkey noises, which Arthur would mistake for the real thing if he wasn't seeing Alice make the sounds. Sunny suddenly looked absolutely horrified, which confused Arthur greatly. Alice stopped and saw Sunny's face, nervously asking, "Oh no, what did I say?" Sunny's face didn't change, he merely said, "I know you didn't mean it. That's what's important."
Outside the library the cronies of Gary's old bully gang were doing what they did best, bully others. Unlike Gary, who upon seeing the heroism of the Power Rangers and realizing how wrong his previous actions were, these two were stuck in their old ways. Indeed, they were the kind of people who were ignorant by choice, cruel and small minded brutes. When Gary cut ties with them, they merely considered him weak. The sole reason they did not turn on him was the memory of how he had dominated them before.
And now a favorite target of theirs was coming along. A boy famous for his drinking lots of water had unfortunately led to his nickname of "Thirst Trap." They quickly began to mock the lad, but he ignored there jeers. While they stung his ego, he had long ago learned to ignore bullies. He just wished they could understand his plight, which was honestly a medical condition of some sort.
As he drunk from the water fountain he noticed a hobby horse with a strange medal in its mouth. It moved and spat out the medal while saying, "I can help you show them the true meaning of thirst. Just take the charm." Assuming this was some hallucination born of stress, the boy did so and was suddenly imbued with corrupted power, becoming a Marchen Beast.
As Arthur and Sunny tried to help Sunny prepare for his science test, Alice had fallen asleep with a book on her head. Of course, Arthur had not let her sleep until she had proven she knew the content of the exam, which she did. Despite her thought process being so odd as to be hard to recognize as a thought process, Alice was very smart. Her weirdness made people underestimate her of course, but no one really minded that. Suddenly a massive bang was heard, startling all three rangers. Sleepily Alice asked, "Is it the end of the world?" Looking outside to see marching Tin Troopers Arthur replied, "It might be if we don't stop those Tin Troopers."
The three quickly ran out of the library, morphing quickly while doing so. Just as it had always been, there helmets had details which represented the tales from which they drew there power, Arthur's resembling a wolf, Alice having rabbit ears in a bow like format, and Sunny's helmet having a monkey theme. The three rangers found the latest Marchen Beast attacking a store. The creature resembled a cane toad in appearance, and bore a staff topped with a head shaped like an eel. It opened it's maw wide and suddenly all of the water bottles in the store emptied of there contents. All of the water merged into a small floating ball of blue, which flew into its mouth.
Arthur's eyes widened under his helmet as he realized the one tale that could be powering this corrupted creature, while Sunny merely bellowed a wordless battle cry to gets its attention. The beast turned around and said, "Greetings rangers, I am the Tiddalik Marchen Beast. I am the savage tale of the ever thirsty frog." Arthur quickly realized the threat this being posed and drew the Whirlwind Blade.
Sunny and Alice were just confused by the creatures name, with Alice asking, "Tiddlywinks Marchen?" Arthur sternly told his friends, "Just trust me guys. This Marchen Beast is a big threat to the earth. We must stop him now!" Sunny shrugged and Alice responded, "Don't have to tell me twice." The Tin Troopers charged, and the rangers fought them.
The Tin Troopers fell quickly leaving only the Tiddalik Marchen, which began to assault them with the Nabunum Eel Staff. The staff extended and twisted into many shapes, hitting the rangers many times. Alice got the worst of it as the staff bit her. Alice could only mutter a small, "Uh oh." Suddenly Alice was shocked with a massive amount of electricity surged through her, and her own unlogic caused her skeleton to be visible much like in an old cartoon.
The sight of this caused the Marchen Beast to snerk, with a very small orb of water to escape before the beast reabsorbed it. Arthur's eyes widened as a plan formed in his head. But before he could tell Alice and Sunny his plan, a bolt of ice struck the Marchen Beast as Snow and Jack both rushed onto the scene. The Marchen Beast roared out, "I'm still thirsty!" It then ran off insanely fast, so fast that none of the rangers could do anything about it.
All five rangers demorphed, with Alice being lightly charred from the electrical attack. Jack asked the question he and Snow had, "So, who was that guy?" Alice cheerfully said, "He was the Skiddly Wiffers Marchen." Sunny frowned and said, "That's not even close. He was Twinkie Marchen, or something." Arthur spoke with a dread seriousness, "That was the Tiddalik Marchen. I'll explain at the Johnson House as to why this beast is such a threat." Then smiling Arthur said, "As well as how we can stop him."
Back at the Dark Keep Grizzle was throwing a temper tantrum, ""IT'S NOT FAIR! I SHOULD BE MAKING THE NEXT BEAST ON EARTH! I'M THE BESTEST GENERAL IN THE EMPIRE! I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU!" General Crusher struck him with the Hull Crushing Saber and said, "This is not a game Grizzle. This is war!" Grizzle pouted and grumbled, "I'm still the best general."
Ignoring Grizzle, Crusher and Trample quickly bowed to Madame Oshka and Crusher explained the plan, "The Tiddalik Marchen Beasts relentless thirst will cause him to drink the earth dry. Without water, humanity is doomed. In the short time before there other beverages run out, the mayhem energy we shall reap from the waterless world will more than be enough for our ultimate goals!" Fracture let out a mirthless laugh, "I must admit, for such an ugly monster it makes such beautiful mayhem." Madame Oshka smiled cruelly and said, "If all goes according to plan then we shall be victorious!"
Crusher had a strange look on his face and all of the other Marchens saw this. Trample said what they were all thinking, "You're gonna tell us something that will take all the joy out of our impending victory, aren't you?" Crusher nodded, "Despite your question being rhetorical, I am sad to report that there is indeed one possible flaw. Namely one of the Rangers could discover the Tiddalik Marchen's one weakness."
Trample glared at Crusher and Crusher hastily replied, "It's very unlikely that this will happen. The dreamtime is a relatively unknown corner of Ever After, and Tiddalik does not laugh easily." Madame Oshka imperiously declared, "Slim though it may be, we must ensure that does not happen. Trample, Crusher, since this is your plan, it's your duty to ensure that it is successful."
Grizzle smirked and said, "Well, Crusher is the best being for the job. He can suck the fun and humor out of anything." Crusher sputtered and said, "I am plenty fun, and I can crack a mean joke. You're just not smart enough to appreciate my brand of recreation and comedy." He then said, "here, I'll show you." He cleared his throat and said, "A neutron walks into a bar, the bartender says he'll have no charge." Crusher chuckled a bit at the rather lame scientific pun but soon realized that the only reaction he got from the other generals was dead silence.
Ever After's own narrative based reality punctuated the joke falling flat by having a cricket chirp and a tumbleweed roll by. Crusher scoffed and stormed off muttering, "Philistines."
At the old Johnson House Dorothy, Gary, and Merlin were giving Mr. Toad a questioning look. Merlin spoke first, "Forgive an old man his questions, but what exactly is this stuff you are selling now?" Mr. Toad didn't lose his smile and said, "It's vitamin water, and it's the newest crazy sweeping the nation!" Gary didn't have the heart to tell Mr. Toad that vitamin water had been around for a while. At least, not now that he was changing his ways.
Dorothy just said, "I'm sticking with coffee, thanks." Mr. Toad let out a little scoff and said, "I was once like you, drinking that bitter bean brew. But I have a new favorite beverage!" Dorothy sipped her coffee, knowing that by this time next week he would have a new passion. Maybe boba tea or something. Then the rangers entered, an uncharacteristically grim look on Arthurs face.
Alice saw the two cups of coffee on Dorothy's desk and said, "Ooh, coffee. Don't mind if I do." Everyone except Mr. Toad yelled out "No!" and tackled Alice before she could even come close to the beverage. Mr. Toad was just confused, "Why are you so dead set on ensuring Alice does not have any coffee?" Sunny glared at Mr. Toad and said, "It's because we know what happens when Alice drinks coffee."
Alice got out of the dog pile and said, "Ah, I remember it like it was yesterday. It was three days ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday." Suddenly the world began to ripple, and Gary cried out, "What's happening, everything's getting all rippley!" Arthur calmly noted, "Its just a flashback Gary, roll with it."
Soon enough the flashback began, as three days ago Gary entered the Johnson home carrying coffee. Arthur smiled as he saw his new friend approach and then upon noticing the coffee he said, "Hey, you didn't have to get anyone anything." Gary smiled and said, "I wanted to though. The expresso is mine, yours is black with three sugars, no milk."
Arthur took the offered beverage and Alice came by. Gary decided to try another nice thing, "Hey Alice, want a sip of my drink?" Alice smiled widely and said, "Sure" before taking the sip. Arthur raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Then Alice started to vibrate.
Merlin entered the room and noticed this, merely asking, "Is Alice vibrating for any particular reason?" Arthur blithely sated, "She had a sip of expresso." Merlin's eyes widened and he ran panicking, yelling to everyone, "Take cover, Alice has had coffee." The panic in the normally stoic wizard convinced all to take cover. It was a good thing too, as Alice started to literally bounce off the walls. After a few minutes the caffeine wore off and Alice landed, slumped with her legs over her head. Her only response was to say, "I wanna do that again!" Everyone else yelled, "No!"
The world started to ripple again, and Gary yelled out, "What's happening now? Everything's getting rippley-er!" Arthur calmly replied, "The flashback is ending Gary." As the world returned to the present Alice cheerfully said, "Yeah, that's why I'm not allowed to have coffee, despite the fact that I want some really bad." Meanwhile,, Gary's face was turning various colors, going from orange to blue before settling on a sickly green. The former bully moaned, "I think I have flashback sickness. Anyone have a ginger ale, or some saltines, or something?" Mr. Toad helped Gary to the kitchen to find something to settle his stomach.
Merlin turned to face Arthur as the other rangers looked at him expectantly, with Merlin noting, "I must admit Arthur, the Dreamtime is one of the few areas in which I am not very knowledgeable. So please, tell us all what you know about this Marchen's tale." Arthur nodded and launched into the tale. He told them of how the frog Tiddalik drained the world dry, and they all understood the threat. Even Alice lost her normal happy go lucky energy.
As Arthur finished the tale, including the original ending of a massive flood, Jack asked the question that was running through the ranger's heads since the beginning of the tale, "How do we get the town's water out of this guy?" Arthur smiled, "Simple, we make him laugh." Alice perked up, "Oh yeah, that bit of water almost escaped when I made him chuckle." Arthur nodded, "Yes, we just gotta make him laugh, and all the water he stole will be returned. Then we can take care of him like any other monster."
Jack was about to ask the question that occurred to him when Arthur interrupted, "Don't worry about any flood, the water will go back to its starting location by magic, we saw it almost happen." Jack was not comforted by this, but joined the rangers in there charge, if only because he was much more afraid of what would happen should this latest Marchen Beast be left unchecked.
The forces of the Marchen army were marching across the city of Red Brook, making there way to the city reservoir, where most of Red Brooks drinking water came from. If Tiddalik Marchen could absorb that, then the city was well and truly doomed. Crusher triumphantly crowed, "Today Red Brook, tommorow the world!"
Then the rangers approached, and the Tin Troopers tensed for a fight. But then suddenly Alice built a stage using her own unlogic, and she and Snow were onstage. Confusion caused the Marchen forces to watch as Alice was in casual clothing while Snow was dressed in a business suit. They appeared to be in an office setting and Alice entered the stage waving and saying, "Hey Snow, I'm ready for the presentation." Snow did a wild take and said, "Your supposed to be wearing a suit." Alice shrugged, "Hey, I thought I'd dress causal for the presentation on casual Fridays." Snow responded by whacking Alice with a paper fan.
It continued on much like this, until the generals and beast grew tired of Boke and Tsukkomi Routine, with Crusher using his blade to smash the stage to bits while Alice and Snow dodged out of the way. Alice commented, "Welp, I'm outta ideas. Who wants to try next?"
It continued much like this, the rangers attempting to make the Tiddalik Marchen laugh and failing badly. Arthur attempted to use his father's big book of puns, Jack used plant based humor, Alice had her wonderland unlogic working overtime for cartoony antics, and Sunny just tripped on banana peels. None of these attempts worked, but the worst had to be Snows interpretive puppet show. The Marchens did not even let a few jokes play out, just attacking before Snow could even start her first skit.
It seemed hopeless, as the rangers were now truly out of ideas. Arthur gloomily looked at the team, and then he had a truly horrible idea. Under any other circumstance, his mind would shut down this plan as soon as it started to percolate in his head. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and the prospect of a waterless world was among the most desperate of times. He spoke aloud, "Guys, I have an idea, but I don't think you're gonna like it." He described what his plan, and all the others faces adopted a look that screamed 'this is going to suck', except for Alice who smiled very wide.
The Marchen forces had arrived at the Red Brook Reservoir and the Tiddalik Marchen noted, "Water, water everywhere; and all for me to drink!" He then used his power on the Reservoir, greedily gulping all the water from the lake sized man made construction. All of the water vanished just as the rangers rushed in. Arthur made a simple statement, "Give back the water, or you will be sorry." Crusher and Trample both maliciously laughed, and Arthur merely said, "Welp, I tried. You can drink it now Alice."
Alice pulled out a coffee cup and started to chug, with the other rangers backing away slowly. She then finished, and nothing seemed to happen. Then Alice started to vibrate and then twirling while yelling out, "Coffee, yeah baby! Woo!" The other rangers pulled out there charms and morphers, crying out in unison, "It's morphin time!"
Alice meanwhile pulled out a TV remote and yelled, "You're too slow!" She pressed the fast forward button and reality started to fast forward like a tv show. It got to the point that end credits started to roll before Alice said, "Woops, too far." She then rewound to right after the roll call had been done with the explosion. Everyone except for Alice was now extremely dizzy, with Jack letting out a woozy, "Bejabbers." Snow only asked, "What just happened?"
Alice just charged forwards at super speed, intending to destroy the forces of the Marchen Army in a whirlwind of chaos and pain. What actually happened was Alice essentially becoming the ball in a giant game of pin ball, with the Tin Troopers, Marchen Generals, and anything else unlucky enough to be nearby fulfilled the role of the bumpers. Alice let out repeated "ows" as she hit the bumpers, with her unlogic causing lights reading "bonus" or numbers that would be points in a normal pinball game to flash. Eventually she came to rest upon a pile of defeated Tin Troopers, with Crusher and Trample having found themselves in the pile as well.
Alice attempted to speak, "I think". That was as far as she got, for the Tin Troopers exploded, causing Alice to fly back to the other rangers while covered in ash. Crusher was sent flying into the empty reservoir, hitting the bottom with enough force to crack it. It would not be enough to damage the reservoir in any meaningful way but was more than enough to hurt like the dickens. Meanwhile Trample was sent careening into the skies, hitting building sides like a super ball before landing in a billboard, his face now sticking out of a laxative add in a rather crass place.
This was all too much for even the stoic Tiddalik Marchen to handle. He let out a massive belly laugh, causing all of the water he had stolen to return to where it had been taken from. The Reservoir refilled, causing Crusher to let out a burbling scream. This caused the Marchen to laugh harder, leaving him defenseless.
The rangers then capitalized upon the beasts weakness, shouting in unison, "The Rangers shouted in unison, "Wonder Force Blaster!" The Rangers combined there weapons, the Beanzooka formed the main barrel, the As-You-Will Staff and the Whirlwind Blade form the stand and trigger respectively, and the Mirror Shield and Clock Buster Hammer form the outer casing.
The blaster charged up, the Mirror Shield glowing a brilliant gold and the clock faces upon the Clock Buster Hammer ticked until both hands reached the twelve, which on both were replaced with the phrase "Times up." Arthur shouted, "End the tale!" as he pulled the trigger.
A massive beam of golden energy was sent forth and a golden wolf collided with the laughing Marchen Beast. An explosion sent the beast onto its back, the great pain finally killing it's laughing fit. It was then that Crusher managed to dredge himself up from the reservoir and Trample extricated himself from the billboard.
A portal to the Dark Forest opened up and Baba skipped through it, while Crusher and Trample slunk back to the Dark Keep. Cheerfully she said, "You've been getting a lot of hydration, but you've been neglecting your food intake. Have a cookie." The beast ate the cookie, and steam poured from its mouth as it grew giant. It bellowed out, "I will drink this world dry!" Baba cheerfully skipped through the portal, closing it behind her.
In response to the giant Marchen Beast the rangers called out, "Summon the Zords!" Arthur called out, "Red Wolf Zord!" An armored red wolf manifested, Arthur jumping into its cockpit. Alice called out, "Blue Rabbit Zord!" A blue rabbit with a clock upon its back and its floppy ears being slightly reminiscing of a bulldozer, Alice jumping into its cockpit. Sunny called out, "Yellow Monkey Zord!" A yellow monkey with a strange head reminiscent of a UFO manifested, and Sunny jumped into its cockpit. Snow yelled out, "Apple Dwarf Zord!" A mechanical apple upon tank treads with a turret protruding from it manifested, and Snow jumped into the cockpit. Finally Jack yelled out, "Cloud Giant Zord!" A black ogre manifested and charged forward in a manner reminiscent of the Red Ape Ninja Zord made by Ninjor in times long past.
All the Rangers shouted, "Zords combine!" The Cloud Giant Zord formed the legs and lower torso, while the Red Wolf Zord formed the upper torso, the tail detaching and becoming a sword. The Yellow Monkey Zord became the upper arms while the UFO head became the helmet, now more like the helm of a knight. The Blue Rabbit Zord formed the right forearm, the clock face detaching to become a shield while the arm grabbed the sword. The Apple Dwarf Zord formed the left forearm, the tanks turrets becoming wrist mounted while the shield rested upon it. The Rangers shouted in unison, "Wonder Force Megazord!"
The Tiddalik Marchen beast attacked with the Nabunum Eel Staff, but after a few exchanging of blows the Megazord grabbed the staff and tied it into a knot. Due to this having been an outside force and not the staff knotting itself it would take a few seconds to untangle itself. Seconds that the Tiddalik Marchen Beast did not have, as the Wonder Force Megazord charged up its final strike., with Arthur and the rangers crying out, "End the tale!" The energy slash destroyed the monster and sent the innocent back to there bed, to chalk the whole experience up to a bad dream.
With the water restored, life returned to normal in Red Brook, and it also meant that Sunny's test was not postponed. The other rangers, alongside Dorothy and Gary, all waited with worry as Sunny worked hard on his test concerning the water cycle.
Sunny exited the class, proudly bearing his test, "Guys, I got a D-! I passed the test!" Alice cheered while the others sighed. Arthur just wryly noted, "With my help, hopefully we can see you pass the year with a stellar D average." Alice and Sunny just continued to celebrate.
Author notes
Thanks again to Krockman18 for both letting me use his content and for beta reading. Go give him some love.
The Tiddalik Marchen is my own creation. Krockman18 approved it of course.
I intentionally did not give Gary's old cronies any real lines.
I gave the details of what the rangers looked like in there morphed forms here because I now know what they look like. I really should have asked Krockman18 from the get-go, but hindsight is 20-20.
Not much else to say, except consider this a Christmas present from me to you. It would be a better present if it were a Christmas episode, but, eh, what are you gonna do.
Next up is star strikers.
