Episode 1 Part 1: Once Upon A Time Part 1
Arthur Paperink was where he usually was during his free time, buried nose deep in a book. Ever since he could read Arthur had been an absolute bookworm, loving all stories. However, his absolute favorites had to be myths and legends. He loved the old tales of Jack and the Beanstalk and Red Riding Hood, as well as more modern fairy tales like Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz. This sadly made him a target for many bullies throughout his life, Gary Hiddleson and his gang of cronies merely being the latest in a long line. However, he refused to let it get him down, always being a rather happy person. Arthur was a rather bookish young man with striking blue eyes and raven black hair.
He was currently rereading the story of Sun Wukong, having finished his rereading of Snow White. He was in his own little world, so absorbed that only the school librarian would be able to get him to notice it was time to go to class. However, a strange girl wearing a red hood looked at Arthur and seemed to decide something. She walked towards him with purpose and tapped his shoulder. Normally this would be ignored, but this girl was not normal. He put down the book and turned around, to see her present him a wristband and a medal that had a red wolf picture on it.
The girl spoke, "These are yours now. When the time comes, you will know what to do with them." The red hooded girl then left, Arthur shook of his shock and rushed after her, but she turned a corner and was gone. Arthur was puzzled over the girl's disappearance but heard the bell ring and realized he had to go to class.
Far away from the human world that Artur Paperink inhabits, there lay a forest with a grand castle at its center. This castle was the Dark Keep, and it was the archetypical castle of fairy tale villains. Surrounding it was the Dark Forest, the place that the tales of the Grimm Brothers warned to never enter.
In the Dark Keep rested the leader of the dark Marchen Army, Madame Oshka. She did not sit upon a throne, for she was the throne. Her appearance would make a human think of a Russian nesting doll, and her bulk was equal to that of a wall. She imperiously ordered, "Report, my generals!"
The first of the Marchen Generals was the most intimidating of them, a massive monster resembling a bear but having deceptively plushy qualities. In his claws rested his weapon, the Home Run Blood Bat, and from his bear like head grew a single horn. This was General Grizzle, and he growled out his status report, "The resistance continues to falter, the Marchen Army marches practically unopposed across the Everafter. Only those refugees led by Merlin could pose a problem to us." A dismissive scoff could be heard and Oshka said, "I guess you have a differing opinion General Crusher."
Out of the shadows marched a rather distinguished figure, a scholarly monster with the wings of a crow and a rather long nose. His clothing and face were of a manner akin to an old fashion nutcracker, and in his hands was the Hull Crushing Saber. He was General Crusher, the tactician of the Marchen Army, and he spoke out once more against his rival, "The refugees will prove no problem my lady. Yes Merlin is a powerful magician, but we have him on the run. The realm he and his refugees have fled to is one that has no naturally occurring magic sources or magic users. All that is necessary to stop them is a few platoons of Tin Troopers. Then we will be unopposed!"
A haughty laugh echoed out, and an equally haughty voice stated, "Well Crusher, if that is the case, then maybe you can finally make that spa treatment I wanted." The voice's owner was General Fracture, the most beautiful of the Marchen army. Her beauty was a haunting one, like the snow of a barren tundra. Beautiful yes, but deadly in most circumstances. Her body, face and fancy dress were all comprised of what a human would mistake for porcelain, but despite her beauty and apparent fragility she was still a Marchen General and thus a deadly force on the battlefield. In her hands was her weapon, the Cockle Shell Comb Sword. When her words alone were not enough to cow her fellows into doing her bidding, the threat of her blade was usually enough to get her way.
General Crusher responded, "No! If it weren't for your beauty treatments, our conquest of Everafter would have given us enough Mayhem Energy to fulfil our goals!" Fracture let out a scoff, "Oh please. If anything it's your experiments that are a drain on the Mayhem Energy we gather."
Crusher and Fracture started to bicker but were interrupted by a harsh whinny. The fourth Marchen General stomped in. This was General Trample, a large beast of a man with the head of a horse.. His armor was a deep red, and this matched his violent and savage personality. Whilst Grizzle was a beast in body and the most physically intimidating of them, it was Trample who was feared even by his fellow generals. This was because of his fits of rage, where he would smash everything in sight with his Misfortune Shoe Hammer. The other Marchen generals were not exempt from his wraith.
Trample spoke in a harsh and rough way, slightly reminiscent of a horse, "Why do you fight over Mayhem Energy. It's important, but we just have to cause mayhem to gather it. And that's so dang easy!" Crusher raised a finger and said, "Actually, it's not that simple. You see…" He got no farther in his explanation than that, as Tramples Hammer came down hard on his head. Trample then said, "Do you want your face caved in? Because if you keep boring me that is what will happen!"
"Enough!" roared Madame Oshka. The four generals all stopped talking and listened to their boss. She decided and ordered, "We shall send a force of tin troopers to this new realm. If Crusher is correct, then we shall easily conquer this new place. If not, we will have not lost anything that is irreplaceable." The four generals spoke in union as they bowed, "As you command my lady."
Arthur was walking home from school, still looking at the two items the mystery girl had given him. His thoughts were interrupted by screaming and the sounds of mayhem. Arthur ran towards the sounds and saw a sight he would have only seen in a dream or a book (mostly because he knew next to nothing about the power rangers despite their large presence on the news).
Marching in lock step were unnatural creatures, a host of skeleton like beings garbed in the clothing of the old British redcoats and carrying swords. This by itself would be scary and unnatural, the fear factor and obvious monstrosity of these beings was the fact that they were completely composed of tin. There coats were tin, there blades were tin, their bodies were tin. But the way they moved proved they were not robots, for they moved in a way that was not robotic. There marching was that of living beings, an army trained rigorously and competently. These were living breathing creatures that were made of tin, and that combined with their surprisingly human movements and undead appearance automatically put them in the uncanny valley.
The fact that they were attacking the city and causing as much destruction as possible pushed them from scary to absolutely terrifying. And as Arthur hid behind some debris he saw four people standing against these things. They were roughly his age, and he had a weird case of déjà vu, as if he had seen them before.
The first was a blond girl who was wearing a blue dress with a bow in her hair and strange leggings. The way she jumped up and down seemed to project an energy of joy, but also an oddness that suggested she saw the world as if through a funhouse mirror. The second was a Chinese boy wearing the sort of clothing that one would find on a martial arts master. He should look distinguished, but his black hair was matted and untamed, his whole body radiating an aura of savagery. It was if he were a monkey, instead of a man. The third was a girl wearing a white dress who had a supremely regal air. Everything about her screamed royalty, and Arthur wouldn't be overtly surprised if woodland creatures did her hair every morning like Cinderella. The last was a rather humble looking man, better suited to a farmer than a fighter. But the way he held himself suggested someone seeking to make up for some past form of cowardice.
All four pulled out devices identical to the one Arthur had in his hands, and each inserted a different medal into it. Then they became Power Rangers, and Arthur was immediately impressed. Whilst he didn't pay attention to the news, one would have to live under a rock to not know what a power ranger was.
The White Ranger called out, "Lets destroy these fools!" Her voice was as regal as her civilian form, and the Blue Ranger cried out, "Yeah!" She charged forwards as time slowed down, and she hit many of the strange creatures. Time sped back up and both Arthur and the monsters were confused, there were no sparks or explosions. What had the Blue Ranger done?
The question was answered when the Black Ranger snapped his fingers and vines enveloped and destroyed the tin beings. Arthur realized that the Blue Ranger had used some form of temporal control to place seeds of some form of Kudzu like plant on the monsters, and the Black Ranger had used a form of plant control to cause them to grow insanely fast.
The Yellow Ranger also charged forwards, but unlike the Blue Ranger his blows actually damaged the creatures. Indeed, it was as if they were being hit by a much stronger metal. The Yellow Ranger spoke in an accented voice, but the accent seemed to be intentionally exaggerated. It was as if Yellow Ranger was mocking the way people expected him to speak, "Foolish trooper, don't you know that iron is stronger than tin?"
The White Ranger spoke, "Time to put you freaks on ice!" She waved her arms and the horde in front of her froze solid. The Yellow Ranger then threw one of his foes into the frozen monsters, shattering the frozen ones and destroying the makeshift projectile.
The fight was quickly over, the monsters completely outmatched by the Rangers. To call it a Curb stomp was giving the monsters far too much credit. The Rangers soon turned from the explosion in victory. They demorphed and Arthur realized the Blue Ranger was missing. "Hi!" Arthur screamed as the Blue Ranger was right next to him. The ranger started to talk, "My name is Alice Liddell, and I happen to see you have a morpher as well. And the Red Wolf Charm, that means you're the Red Ranger. We were wondering if Red was gonna be the Ranger, but obviously she's not gonna be. I'm the blue ranger cause I have the White Rabbit Charm, which when you think about it logically should make me the white ranger, but logic doesn't work so well in Wonderland ya know."
The Yellow Ranger yelled out, "Alice, where'd you get to?" The girl claiming to be the protagonist of the Alice in Wonderland books popped her head out from the rubble and replied, "Over here Sunny. And I found the guy whose gonna be the Red Ranger!" She dragged Arthur from his hiding spot and the other rangers saw the device and medal in his hands. The White Ranger nodded and said, "We had better take him to Merlin. We can make sure he is the right person and get him up to speed if he is." Sunny cracked his knuckles and said, "and if he isn't we can rough him up a bit and make sure he keeps his mouth shut."
From the scrying screen in the Dark Keep the rulers of the Marchen Army watched the conflict unfold. They all reacted differently, Trample was throwing a tantrum, breaking everything in sight while shouting "Rangers" at the top of his lungs. Fracture and Madame Oshka had no true reaction, and Grizzle was fuming, turning his ire to Crusher. "You said there would be no resistance! Now there are Power Rangers on that world! Rangers dedicated to stopping us!"
Crusher was unphased by Grizzles anger and responded, "I said there would most likely be no resistance. None of us do originate from the Human World after all. There might be magic there, and I suggested Tin Troopers because they are easily replaceable. After all, the despair of Everafter is in great supply."
He turned to Madame Oshka and said, "I suggest we destroy these rangers before they become a true threat. I shall take a force of Tin Troopers and create a Marchen Beast, and I shall destroy these refugees and there new ally." Grizzle shoved Crusher aside and said, "Oh no, I am not gonna let you get the glory of ensuring our victory! I will make a Marchen Beast and take a force of Tin Troopers and crush these rangers!"
Madame Oshka yelled out, "Enough!" Grizzle and Crusher stopped arguing and Oshka declared, "You shall both create a Marchen Beast and end this threat before it begins." Fracture decided to play devil's advocate, 'And if they fail?" Oshka glared at Fracture and responded, "Then we shall settle in for a long war. The Rangers are a threat yes, but the gathering of Mayhem Energy is the top priority." She turned back to Grizzle and Crusher, to whom she yelled, "GO!" Both fled the Dark Keep at a speed that would make the casual observer suspect that the Big Bad Wolf was on their tail.
On one side of the town Arthur lived in a nerd was wandering aimlessly. Like many of his classmates he was a victim of Gary Hiddleson's bullying. He spoke aloud, knowing he was alone, "I wish I could get my revenge on all those Bullies!"
A growling voice spoke out, "I can grant your wish." The boy turned around and saw a teddy bear, and in front of it was a strange medal emblazed with a fairy tale hunter. The growling voice came from the toy, "Take the charm, and you will have enough strength to get back at everyone who has ever wronged you. Just take the charm and your wish will come true."
The adolescent boy took the Huntsman Charm, and the growling voice spoke a single phrase, "The powerful tale of a crusading huntsman." The charm was absorbed into the boy's body and a transformation wracked him, making him a monster in body and in mind. His body became muscular and bestial, horns sprouting from his head and his feet becoming cloven hooves. Soon enough instead of a scrawny boy there was an elk like thing that walked upright in the garb of a hunter. Armed with massive physical strength, a multitude of traps and the Belly Buster Axe, Huntsman Marchen was ready to cause mayhem.
Grizzle assumed his real form and summoned forth a host of Tin Troopers. He spoke to his new minion, "Come on, we have to meet up with Crusher and stomp those rangers into the ground before we can cause some actual mayhem. And if it goes sideways, I can always blame Crusher." Huntsman Marchen nodded (not able to speak due to the virtue of quiet during a successful hunt) and followed Grizzle whilst the Tin Troopers marched in lockstep.
On the other end of town a different nerd lamenting his own lot in life. He spoke aloud, knowing he was alone, "I wish I could get back at those bullies!" A distinguished voice spoke out, "I can grant your wish."
The nerd whirled around and saw an old toy nutcracker with a strange medal at its base. The voice spoke, and the nutcracker's jaw moved in time with the voice, revealing that it was in fact the toy speaking, "Take the charm and you can get back at everyone who has wronged you." The boy grabbed the Brave Little Tailor Charm and pain wracked his body as he became a Marchen Beast. The nutcracker spoke a single phrase as the nerd was transformed, "The brilliant tale of the brave little tailor."
No longer was a nervous and weak student in front of Crusher's disguised form, but a monster. The things head resembled that of one of the flies whose death started the tailor on his quest all that time ago, and he was garbed in the uniform of a tailor. Armed with the Seven-in-One Stroke Whip and able to repeat the long dead tailor favorite tactic of causing groups to fight within themselves, the Little Tailor Marchen had been created.
It spoke in a buzzing voice, as if seven flies were somehow working together to make a human voice, "Oh, I cant wait to cause some mayhem. All of the bonds of society are but ropes of sand against me!" Crusher assumed his true form and Tin Troopers manifested, "We can do that later. Our top priority right now is destroying the rangers." Little Tailor Marchen sighed and said, "Ok."
Crusher led his forces to the location they were to meet Grizzle and said, "And if things go south, I can always throw Grizzle under the bus."
The old Johnson house was a creepy gothic mansion, one avoided by all. Practically every town has a place like it, an old, abandoned place that was known to be haunted. It never gets torn down as few people like to acknowledge its existence, with the only true visitors being kids who dare each other to go into the place and teens going there for privacy and to scare each other. When Arthur was led to the Johnson house he didn't react, half convinced he had fallen asleep somewhere and was now dreaming about his favorite literary characters being power rangers, as the White, Yellow, and Black rangers revealed themselves to be Snow White, Sun Wukong, and Jack from the beanstalk tale respectively.
Inside they found two people instantly recognizable to a bibliophile like Arthur. The first was a young girl at a computer who wore a gingham dress colored blue and white and had both long brunette hair and the physical appearance who worked on a farm. This was obviously Dorothy Gale.
The second figure was instantly recognizable to a much wider audience, even if they might mistake him for Gandalf or Dumbledore. The long wizards robes, pointy hat, long white beard, and grand staff made Arthur think of one figure and one figure only, that of the court mage of Camelot, Merlin himself.
Merlin spoke, "Ah my friends, you are back. Who is this you have brought with you?" Snow answered, "This is Arthur Paperink, and he was given the Red Wolf Charm by Red Riding Hood. He is the new Red Ranger of our little team." Merlin smiled kindly and said to Arthur, "You must be so confused right now." Arthur nodded mutely, and Merlin said, "I will give you a summary of what's going on. To explain everything would take far too long and it might overload you with information."
Merlin waved his staff once to create a visual aid as he began his explanation, "Just beyond the human world, behind the veil of dreams and magic, lies the fairytale realm of Everafter." The screen Merlin had summoned showed a picturesque scene straight out of a fairy tale book or an old Disney movie. "In the Everafter, the fairy tales and legends of old were alive and well, and we lived in peace and harmony. Sure there were some problems, but all in all it was a very good place." The screen changed from a bright day upon a fairy tale kingdom to a dark night in the same kingdom, but now in ruins. "But everything changed when the Marchen Army came." The screen showed hordes of the monsters Arthur now knew were called Tin Troopers, being led by four monsters that Arthur could tell were the leaders of the Marchen Army. The screen showed the various lands of Everafter, all of which Arthur loved, being ravaged and conquered by these monsters, "They turned countless inhabitants of the Everafter into Wonder Charms and made the horrible Marchen Beasts from these charms. We still have no clue why they attacked us, but it has something to do with the collection of Mayhem Energy."
Arthur parroted the strange term, "Mayhem Energy?" Merlin nodded, "Yes, whenever havoc is wrought against a large number of beings they generate a special combination of various negative emotions, mostly fear but also some anger and despair, as well as other things. The psychic resonance of a large number of beings under attack by a monster, along with the energy released by things being destroyed, creates the energy known as Mayhem Energy."
Merlin shook his head, the screen now vanishing. "But back on topic, I opened a portal to the human realm, allowing refugees to escape. Once here, I connected to the Morphin Grid, thus making the Wonder Force Ranger powers. You have met the other members of the team." He pointed to the four others, and Alice waved animatedly. Merlin finished his speech, "Now that the Tin Troopers have started to manifest, Marchen Beasts and real attacks from the generals are not far behind. Arthur Paperink, you have been chosen to be the Red Ranger and save both the Everafter and the Human World from the Marchen Army."
Arthur was awed by these revelations and said, "Pinch me, I must be dreaming." Alice, having somehow managed to steal Merlin's staff without anyone noticing, proceeded to whack Arthur in the side. Arthur let out a loud "Ow!" and Merlin, slightly annoyed, took his staff back and said, "Arthur said pinch, not whack." Alice smiled and said, "Well, he knows he isn't dreaming."
Merlin shot Arthur a sympathetic look and said, "The Everafter doesn't follow the same rules as the human world, and Wonderland doesn't really follow the same rules as the rest of the Everafter. Wonderland has an unlogic all its own, and some of that unlogic followed Alice." Jack gave Arthur a friendly smack on the back and said, "That's Merlin speak for 'Alice can do things like that, don't try puzzling it out if you want to keep your sanity'."
Merlin nodded and said, "In any case, I believe Arthur would benefit from some time to process all of this. We will contact you if a Marchen attack requires your aid to stop." Arthur nodded, "Yeah, I need a bit to deal with my reality being so strange. But I will do everything I can to help stop the Marchen Army." Merlin smiled, and Dorothy spoke up, "Yeah, Red wouldn't have chosen you if you weren't up to the challenge." She then turned to Merlin, "And you know the algorithm to detect Marchen activity isn't finished yet. If I had a Wonder Charm used in the creation of a Marchen Beast I could make it as good as it could be. And even then, its mostly gonna rely on detecting spikes in Mayhem Energy." Merlin turned to her and gave a grandfatherly smile, "We always work with what we have." He then walked away while the other rangers walked Arthur home.
Dorothy groaned a bit and muttered, "What does a medieval wizard know about computers anyway." From about a room away Merlin responded, "I heard that." Dorothy let out an "eep" and went back to work.
The rangers decided to cut through the park, Arthur giving the others his contact information so they could meet without a ranger crisis bringing them together. Arthur was so excited, "I can believe I am a Power Ranger. And that my team is comprised of my favorite literary characters!" Jack nodded, "Yeah when I was chosen to be a ranger I was excited too. I finally have a chance to be a hero."
Arthur looked at Jack, "But didn't you slay a giant? That's pretty heroic." Jack shook his head, "Naw, I'm a coward. My success in the story you know was pure accident and dumb luck. But now, I can actually be a hero."
A distinguished voice spoke out, "Well, don't you know that heroes tend to die young?" Suddenly the rangers were surrounded by Tin Troopers, led by two generals and two beasts. Sunny spoke to Arthur with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, "Looks like this is your first trial my new friend."
Arthur nodded and said, "Ok team", under his breath whispering, "I always wanted to say this" before shouting out, "Its morphin time!" All five rangers inserted there charms into their morphers, activating the transformation sequence. They were in there ranger forms and began the roll call. Arthur shouted first, "The Keeper of the Tales, Wonder Ranger Red!" Alice went next, "The Monarch of Wonderland, Wonder Ranger Blue!" Sunny was next, "The Great Sage conquering the West, Wonder Ranger Yellow!" Snow White went then, "The Fairest Princess, Wonder Ranger White!" Last but not least was Jack, "The Slayer of Giants, Wonder Ranger Black!" All together they shouted, "Full steam ahead! Power Rangers Wonder Force!"
Grizzle roared a single command, "Attack!" The Tin Troopers and the Marchen Beasts charged, followed closely by the generals. Arthur and the rangers activated the charms again, summoning forth there weapons. Arthurs weapon was the Whirlwind Blade, a sword that emerged from what appeared to be a red wolfs jaw. Arthur quickly used this blade, alongside his newly enhanced reflexes and control of the winds to fight the Tin Troopers.
Alice produced a meteor hammer that, were it not for the bulk of the ends, could be mistaken for a pair of pocket watches on a single chain. This was the Clock Buster Hammer, and Alice swung one end whist the other defended her from the attacks of the Tin Troopers. Huntsman Marchen charged at the Blue Ranger with the Belly Burster Axe, obviously intending to take a Ranger out by surprise. The beast was stopped by the As You Will Staff, a size manipulating staff wielded by Sunny. The Yellow Ranger was soon engaged by Grizzle however, preventing him from doing much else as the Marchen General matched the lessened god blow for blow.
Snow and Jack worked together, Snow using her Mirror Shield to bash enemies and deflect there attacks with its apple shape and ensuring Jack had the space to use his weapon. For the Black Ranger wielded the Beanzooka, a mighty bazooka in the form of a bean stalk. It was a very effective battering ram, its true purpose was to fire explosive beans at range.
Hidden in the trees the Little Tailor Marchen stayed back and decided to target the White and Black Rangers. "So they work well together" his buzzing voice asked rhetorically, "well not for long!" From him emitted two flies made of dark energy flew towards the rangers and made contact. But nothing happened.
The Little Tailor Marchen was confused, "What? How did my powers not work on them?" Crusher appeared behind him and spoke, "Because they are heroes. Now into the fray!" Crusher and the Little Tailor Marchen both charged into the fight.
Alice looked to see the Huntsman Marchen and said, "Your going down!" She pushed a button on the Clock Buster Hammer and time froze to a stop. She charged forwards, as she was fully unaffected by the time stop (her fellow rangers were unaffected by the confusion it tended to afflict on all in its range). But she unfortunately caught her foot in a snare trap set up by the Huntsman Marchen before the ambush. Alice said, "Oh no" before being hoisted into the air. She dropped her weapon, unsummoning it and causing time to resume. The rangers used the temporary confusion of the Marchen Army members to get a reprieve. Sunny charged forwards to attack the Huntsman, only to get caught in a glue trap.
Sunny was untroubled and yelled to the beast, "My staff can still strike you!" Before he could a cage fell from the sky, enclosing the Yellow Ranger in two traps. Sunny just spoke to the beast in a surprising deadpan, "I bet you think this is really funny don't you?" The Huntsman Marchen nodded and grunted in agreement.
Snow saw that two of her friends were trapped and said, "We gotta help them!" Jack nodded and said, "Right behind you", wanting to keep close to Snow not only because it was tactically sound for a ranged fighter to stay close to a defender but also because he was still a bit of a coward. The White and Black rangers charged forwards, only for both of them to fall into a pit trap.
Whilst the Tin Troopers were gone the Marchen Army was confident that they had won. The Generals and Beast met up and Grizzle said, "Now we can easily destroy these rebels." However they had forgotten about Arthur, and the generals and the Little Tailor were blown away by gusts of wind from the Whirlwind Blade as he yelled, "Don't forget about me!"
He activated his charm again, and the Whirlwind Blade charged up with power. Arthur shouted out the name of his attack, "Maelstrom Slash!" He swung his sword, and a massive tornado of energy was summoned by the swing of the sword. As the Huntsman Marchen was hit, the head of a wolf formed from the energy and winds bit down on the beast, delivering the final blow.
The Huntsman exploded, and the nerd it was formed blew backwards and was teleported away to safety in the form of his home. Meanwhile the Huntsman Charm flew into Arthur's hand, which he instinctively teleported it back the base.
With the Huntsman destroyed his traps were undone, Snow and Jack found themselves back on the surface as if the pit had never been dug. Meanwhile the cage and glue trapping Sunny vanished. Alice was not so lucky, the rope merely breaking and causing her to land with an "ouch" coming from the girl.
The other rangers came next to Arthur and prepared to fight, Alice swinging the Clock Buster Hammer menacingly whilst the others also prepared to fight the threat. Crusher noted, "I think a strategic retreat is in order." Grizzle wanted to argue, but he was not so foolish to assume he could take on all five rangers at once. Instead he growled and opened a portal back to the dark woods. Crusher yelled defiantly, "You haven't seen the last of us Rangers!" The monsters fled back to there world whilst the rangers demorphed.
Arthur headed home, and he didn't even really say hi to his parents, merely going to his room and falling asleep.
Author notes
Not much to say here except thanks to Krockman18 for making Wonder Force and Star Strikers, for letting me make them into actual stories rather than just overviews and for beta reading the fics. Go check him out, he's great.