Kanto Sentai Pokéranger

(a.k.a. Power Rangers: Pocket Monsters)

It’s back for another chapter. This time, expect to see more action than before.

Usual disclaimers apply. These characters do no belong to me.

“Ash!”

“Hey, Ash! Wait up!”

“Slow down, man!”

For about the hundredth time, Ash’s friends called out to him, urging him to slow down as they raced out of the laboratory and out of the Oak estate, bound for the Ketchum residence. Moments ago, the newly-inducted Power Rangers learned of an attack by strange creatures on the sleepy little burg. None were sure why they were attacking Delia Ketchum, of all people, but that didn’t faze Ash Ketchum one bit. All he knew was his mom’s life was in danger, and if he and his friends didn’t stop them, no one would.

Ash always was a bit of a mama’s boy.

“We can’t slow down now!” Ash argued, glancing over his shoulder, “We gotta help my mom!” He turned his head forward and picked up the pace. A few steps later he tripped over something sticking out of the road, but as he hit the ground he rolled forward, got back to his feet and kept running at the same pace.

“I’ve never seen Ash act like this before,” May said between breaths.

“This is typical Ash,” Brock stated, “whenever Ash’s mom is involved he doesn’t screw around.”

“No,” she argued, “I mean I’ve never seen him move this fast before.” Even as they spoke, Ash was slowly pulling away from them.

“Well, what can you say?” Tracey added. “From what I’ve known, Ash’s mom is all he has. He doesn’t have any other family besides her.”

“Not even a father?”

Misty scoffed. “Yeah, good luck trying to get Ash to talk about that,” Misty said, rolling her eyes. She nearly fell over herself as Ash’s hat flew in her face, it being blown off as Ash was running.

Moments later, the Ketchum house came into view. The brown, soldier-like creatures – ten in all – were circling around the house, their limbs flailing and bodies shaking in a threatening matter. They weren’t making any advances into the house, but the five Rangers didn’t bother trying to figure that out. All they knew is that they had to be stopped, and fast!

Ash skidded to a halt and flung his arms straight out to his sides, and the other four stopped behind him. They were breathing heavy in anticipation, staring at the scene before them. “What are those things?” Brock asked.

“I don’t know…but we’ve got to stop it!” Ash looked at his surroundings, and grabbed a chunk of rock the size of a baseball. He lobbed it in his hand a few times before making his move. “Hey you!” he shouted.

All of the creatures froze in unison, and turned their heads toward the strange noise. The White Ranger whipped the rock as hard as he could at the one in front of the white picket fence’s gate. The rock struck the being right in its head, and it tumbled backward and over the gate. It looked like it was overselling a move in a professional wrestling match.

“Somehow I think a Power Ranger would have more at his or her disposal than just rocks,” Misty chided.

“I know that,” Ash argued, “but I just need to get that out of my system.”

The strange creatures stopped their siege on the house and began to circle the group of teenagers. Ash, Brock, Misty, May and Tracey stayed close to one another as the strange aliens repeated their actions from before. Even the one who took the rock to the skull was back in line.

A mixture of shock, fear and anxiety was felt by the five humans who had suddenly become prey for these things. Ash’s veins pumped battery acid in his legs and adrenaline through everything else. The run had tired him, that was for sure, but he wasn’t about to give into fatigue. Not when his mother’s safety was on the line.

“Ash!” Misty shouted. She saw him advanced towards those…things…and her shout made him take his attention off his intended targets. “Your hat!”

She tossed his hat his way, and he caught it. Just as he was about to put it on, the monsters struck. Misty shrieked in surprise, causing Ash to whirl around and narrowly avoid an overhead punch from the first of the creatures. Ash stepped to the side and lashed out with his hat still in his hand, bitch-slapping the first of them twice with the same hat he wore during his Hoenn journey. His hand was up at his face next, but only to try and put his hat back on. One came at him from behind, and Ash responded by thrusting his leg out behind him in a side kick that landed in its gut. He turned to face it, lobbed his hat at it and – as expected, it caught it – decked him again and caught his hat with the same hand.

“Nice,” Brock said.

“No it’s not,” Tracey complained, “I want in on some of that action!”

“Well what’re we waiting for?!” Brock shouted. “Let’s get in there and bust some skulls!” Brock and Tracey dashed towards the nearest alien goons. Misty and May exchanged glances, then took fighting stances of their own, more content to let them attack first.

Tracey was the first to turn heads, as his aforementioned dash was three striding steps followed by a huge vertical leap, forward flipping all the way, all while trilling his tongue in an Aiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyi! fashion. He landed with both feet in the chest of one of the assailants, sending it crashing into the fence, and upon impact, flipped backward and fell into a relaxed stance that made others think he was going to beat these things by dancing them to death. Deep down, Tracey didn’t expect anyone to recognize the fighting style of Capoeira, which was the Orange Island equivalent to baseball. And to be honest, since living at the Oak lab, he hasn’t had much time to practice.

What they would find out is that he was just as good with Capoeira as he was with a pencil.

Another attacked, and Tracey got down and whipped his legs out in front of him in a textbook windmill (which actually was a break dancing move). As Tracey landed, he landed flat on his back. He pushed himself back until he was standing on his hands. The creature pulled itself up, but it wasn’t his concern anymore. Still in a handstand, Tracey shot his legs backward like he was on a bicycle, landing six clean shots into the torso of another demon.

Ash was starting to get into fighting, and was shouting kiays with each punch and kick he was throwing. He would throw a punch or a kick with a shout, knocking one of these goons away only for another one to step up and get the same. The late one in the current attack pattern didn’t get the same treatment, however. It threw a punch; Ash blocked, and threw three hard punches to its chest, then jumped and side-kicked it in the chin, flooring it.

May and Misty were still content on letting these things attack first, not knowing how to really fight. At least, that’s what one thought about the other. But after seeing the others fight back on their own, they went on their own attacks. May’s claim to fame? Incredible flexibility…almost to the point of it being sick to watch. Before becoming involved in the Pokémon world, she took gymnastics from about the time she was able to walk. Only her family knew about her talents in this respect.

She busied herself blocking and dodging the attacks of one of these things before making her move. May blocked one right hook with her left arm, and a left cross with her right. Unfortunately, physical strength wasn’t her best aspect. Their hands entwined and May was slowly pushed back in this test of strength. Pain started to run through her arms, but she wasn’t about to be beaten. Her right leg snapped straight up and clipped her assailant in the jaw, breaking the hold. As she regained her footing, she dashed forward and slammed her elbow into its gut.

Another one tried to rush her from behind. She glanced behind her and saw it charging, about to tackle her. She jumped and effortlessly back flipped over the charging demon, landing in a full forward split. As May landed, she fired her fist outward, slamming it into what was supposed to be its nuts.

Unfortunately, since it had no nuts to speak of, her attack only made it mad. May didn’t have time to recover from her split to get out of the way, but thankfully, she didn’t have to. A shadow passed over her. She looked up just in time to watch Misty dive at it, slamming her fist in a wicket straight right into its skull. It spun away, overselling the attack before collapsing. Misty let two more of them have it, punching both of them in the stomach before smashing their heads together when they were doubled over.

May was back on her feet. She glanced at Misty. Misty glanced at her. They both nodded, and then slammed their fists into the face of the one May kicked in the jaw earlier.

Of all the Rangers fighting this hoard of demons, Brock seemed to be having the most fun. Brock didn’t bring a lot of technical prowess to the table, but his strength more than made up for it. He was tossing them around like they weighed nothing. Even better, it only took one or two attacks to level one if Brock really put his weight behind them.

“Come on!” Brock roared. All but four were now surrounding him. When one ran at him, Brock easily scooped him up and gorilla pressed him above his head. “Is that all you’ve got?!” he shouted. He would’ve used it as a projectile if the others hadn’t knocked him over from behind and dog piled on him. Those who weren’t holding him down were stomping on and punching him.

“Brock!” May shouted, seeing her friend struggling to get up.

“Oh, no! Brock!” Ash yelled. He abandoned his current fight and tried to help his best friend out. Help would not come in time.

Brock didn’t need it, really.

With a loud shout, Brock suddenly emerged from the pile, back arched, both fists in the air, head back, and the demons being blown away like leaves. Even Ash had to pause at such an unusual display of strength from the Pewter gym leader.

After the rubbish landed, Brock turned his attention to those who were still on their feet. He threw his arms around the waist of the nearest one, straightened up for a second, and then slammed it onto its back with enough force to make the ground shake. He left it twitching. He turned to face the other one (the last one wanted nothing to do with Brock, and instead picked a fight with Tracey), shouted loudly and charged it, leveling the poor bastard with a spear tackle.

Tracey was toying with his food as well, staying in his ginga (basic Capoeira stance) letting the strange creature guess his next move…and usually guess wrong. Tracey whipped his leg around in a full circle, landing on his extended hand, the bridge of his foot clipping the side of his enemy’s head. When it threw a straight punch, Tracey stepped in and landed several spinning punches in rapid succession. He suddenly snapped down into a full straddle split when he sensed another one of those things try and get him from behind. Instead, it tripped clumsily into his first opponent, sending it crashing into the fence, its head bouncing off the Ketchum’s mailbox.

Now he could attend to the ambusher. He leapt at it when it looked at him, twisting his body in mid air until he landed standing on its shoulders. Tracey was there for but a second when he tightened his ankles around its head and jumped forward, tucking his body into a ball as he flipped. He landed on his back, but since he had his feet wrapped around its neck, so did it. It convulsed for a second before slumping against the ground. Tracey kipped up easily and smiled at his handiwork.

Ash, meanwhile, was standing sidelong to a fiend he had beaten almost into complete submission. He hopped forward, and threw a high side kick right at its nose. Ash could feel the tendons in his thighs and groin tense up and moan in protest, but it was worth it. When it hit the ground, it didn’t get back up. All ten of the fiends were out cold.

Ash and the others huddled close together in defensive stances, ready to strike back in case one got back up. A gust of wind swept over the battlefield, and the demons blew away like the dust they turned into.

“Is that all of them?” Brock asked.

“I think so,” Tracey answered. Everyone relaxed by now. “Man, what were those things? And why did they just…blow away like that?”

“I don’t know,” Ash said. Just then, the front door opened slightly, and Mrs. Ketchum’s form slowly made her way out. Ash hopped the fence and ran over to her. “Mom, are you alright?” he asked as his mom.

“I’m fine,” she breathed, clutching her only son tight against her body. “Aside from the damage you kids did to the fence…”

“Mom, that wasn’t our fault!” Ash turned to the battlefield. “Didn’t you see us fighting—” Ash would’ve been grateful to be attacked by more of those orange guys. This new guy who popped up was even worse, judging by how it looked.

It looked like an animated suit of samurai armor, black with silver and red trim throughout. It had no helmet, but had a wide-brimmed straw hat that sat atop a head with four faces—one white, one blue, one red and one black. Right now its white face – which was a mask with an indifferent facial expression – was in front. Its laugh drove needles through the minds of everyone who heard it.

“What in the—?” Mrs. Ketchum tried to ask. She was cut off by her son forcefully shoving her back in the house.

“Let us take care of this! Stay inside!” he told her. Ash ran down the path to join the others. “Who are you?”

“I am a servant of Pandion,” it started. “My name is Melkid.”

“Pandion?”

“That is correct. I am quite impressed, to tell you the truth. Not many normal people of this world would’ve done half as well against the Fossiloids as you did.”

“What’s a Fossiloid?” May asked.

“Those foot soldiers you just did battle with? The orange-ish guys made of dust and bone?” The Rangers “Oh”ed in acknowledgement. “Yeah, those.” Melkid turned his head to the side. “But you…you are not ordinary people, this I can tell.”

“You got that right!” Ash shouted, his hand finding his Pokémorpher. He felt a hard hand fall on his shoulder.

“Wait, Ash,” Brock coaxed, “Remember what Degenhart said about our Ranger powers!”

Ash paused. Degenhart’s words replayed in his mind. Words that told them what their powers weren’t to be used for…Your powers are used for the protection of the world, first and foremost, not for petty, human gains. Three key things you must remember about having these powers: 1) you are not to use them for personal gain or convenience; 2) you do not escalate a battle unless your enemies do so first; and finally, 3) you must keep your identity as Power Rangers a secret from everyone.

“You’re right.” He looked back at his house. His mom could hear what they were saying, probably (he could picture his mom standing with his ear to the door), but he she couldn’t see him. Either way, he didn’t want her to interrupt them while they were in the middle of a morphing sequence.

To say he would have a lot of explaining to do would be to say Team Rocket is a nuisance.

“What should we do then?” Ash asked.

“I say we lure this guy away from anyone in town, that’s what I say,” Brock answered. That was all Ash needed.

“Hey, Melkid!” Ash shouted, grabbing the demon’s attention. “You want us?! Come and get us!” And he ran. The others were a half a step behind him, not expecting him to take off.

It wasn’t out of fear that Ash and his friend ran, but to protect their identity. Whether or not anyone would believe her, if his mom found out about his new double life, the whole town would know about it in about an hour. And he was certain his friends didn’t want to be exposed because he did something stupid.

“Ash!” Tracey shouted. “Man, we’re gonna be running down Route 1 if we don’t stop!”

Melkid suddenly appeared in front of them. “He’s right,” he declared, his black face with the sadistic smile in front. “You cannot run from death forever!” He laughed a sinister cackle, and everyone had to hold their ears, feeling the strength fleeting for a few moments.

“So be it,” Ash grumbled. “We make our stand here! Ready?!” He looked to his sides. Misty was to his left, with Brock to her left. May was to his right, and Tracey was to her right.

“Ready!” Misty, Brock, May and Tracey said at once.

“Oooh, this should be fun,” Melkid cackled.

Then, as one, they started the morphing sequence. They looked so flawless one would think they rehearsed it for hours on end. Following Ash’s lead, they grabbed the Pokémorpher on their left hip, then snapped their left arm straight out to the side. The Morpher looked like a collapsed Pokéball when not being used, but when it was ready to be triggered – like now – it grew to the size of a normal Pokéball. With the Morpher in hand, they each brought their fist up to their head, and then rapidly brought it behind their head. It was there for about half a second before each brought their arm back and thrust it out in front of them at eye level. As they ended this motion, they each called out the magic words, if you will…the words that triggered the morphing, that would turn them into Power Rangers. As they shouted them, the Pokémorphers snapped open, imitating the action and sound of a common Pokéball.

“POKÉRANGER! GO!”

Now while the manifestation of their Power Ranger uniforms, helmets and other gear was instantaneous, in their minds, each Ranger saw their power physically imprint itself on their person.

In their minds, they saw themselves with their arms out and eyes closed. A giant color-coordinated Pokéball closed around them for a few moments, and when it snapped open and disappeared, they were in their Ranger uniforms save their helmets. When they opened their eyes, energy in their individual color shot out and wrapped around their heads, forming the helmets. The helmet was a solid color except for the black part that made up the visor and a silver section that was molded to look like a nose and a mouth. Though they did not see or notice, the visor mimicked the shape of the individual Ranger’s eyes. Ash’s looked like an elongated “M” like on the side of a Pac-Man machine. Tracey’s was a very long, narrow diamond. Brock’s was just a simple horizontal strip an inch and a half wide. Misty’s looked like two elongated ovals joined at the sides, and May’s was a simple long, oval a little bit wider than two inches at its center.

“What?!” Melkid screeched. His blue masked face centered itself, the mask bearing a despondent frown. “But that’s impossible! You can’t be!”

“It most certainly is!” Ash shouted. They struck a fighting pose as they introduced themselves. “I’m Pokéranger White!”

“Pokéranger Green!” Brock roared.

“Pokéranger Blue!” Misty called.

“Pokéranger Red!” May shouted.

“Pokéranger Yellow!” Tracey added.

Ash brought the introduction all home. “But you can just call us…” They each struck a heroic pose befitting their nature.

“POWER RANGERS!”

“This is not good,” Melkid whimpered. His head spun so the red mask, which resembled an angry demon, was in front. “This is preposterous! The Power Rangers haven’t been around in

nearly 30,000 years! How did they awake in this day and age?!” The white mask centered itself. “Actually, the same can be asked about Lord Pandion and ourselves, you know. And no, I’m not trying to change the subject.”

The Rangers felt a bit sheepish as they still held their poses while Melkid went off on his little tirade. They stood normally, watching the scene, confused.

“Wow,” Tracey said, “this guy’s got some serious bipolar disorders.”

Melkid’s blue face was in front. “How can you be so calm? It’s five on one! Don’t you see that?!”

“Alright, I’ve heard enough,” Ash said. He stepped forward and drew his Ranger Blaster. “Rangers, lock and load!” The others looked at him. Though he couldn’t tell beyond their helmets, he knew they were giving him odd looks. “That means this!” he said, brandishing his gun.

They quickly caught on, and drew their individual blasters. The twin barrels were silver and the butts and finish were all color-matched. As one, they pumped the pump handle and aimed at Melkid. The guns hummed, indicating they were fully charged and ready to fire.

“You expect to destroy me with those air guns?” Melkid taunted, his black face at the forefront.

“Something like that! Rangers, FIRE!” They did so, and the five Ranger Blasters fired a colored sphere of energy the size of a basketball at their target. Two of them were dead-on, while the others hit the ground by Melkid. Melkid was blown back, and landed face down about a yard away.

The Rangers had to wait a second and steady themselves, as the Blasters gave off a little bit of recoil. “Man, these things sure do pack a punch,” said May. “It nearly knocked me off my feet!”

Meanwhile, Melkid got back to his feet, his red face in front. “That’s it!” he shouted. “The time for games is over, Power Rangers! Now you shall feel our wrath!” His hat flew off and his head spun, his colored masks giving off a nice color show in the process. There was an explosion, and all the masks flew off, floating above the group. Each formed a separate body, each wearing armored that was highly contrasted with its face. Each wielded a long pike menacingly.

This brought the total to five Power Rangers against four Melkids. The red one swung his weapon around like a barbarian, the blue one looked like he was about to have a tantrum, the black one was laughing maniacally, and the white one spun his weapon in a figure 8 pattern and calculated his moves in his head.

“Rangers! Attack!” the White Ranger shouted. With a battle cry, they dashed forward towards the Melkid copies. Said copies did the same, engaging the Rangers.

As they tangled, they eventually broke down into three one-on-one battles and one two-on-one fight. Despite the slight numbers advantage, things were not very good for the Rangers early on.

The Green and Red Rangers fought with the red-masked Melkid. This Melkid had no trouble fending off Brock’s high powered yet minimally skilled punches and kicks, and May’s attacks did little to faze him. Brock tried a lot of the unbridled moves that worked against the Fossiloids, but those were merely throwaway creatures, a diversion. Many a hand or foot was blocked by Melkid-red’s pike, counterattacking with a slash from it on occasion. At one point, he stopped a jumping double axe handle attack from the Green Ranger by catching him and flinging him at the Red Ranger.

The Blue Ranger squared off with the blue-masked Melkid. Much to Misty’s surprise, he seemed to sob and whine while keeping Misty at bay. He repeatedly took out his frustrations (with splitting up into four parts, with being outnumbered to begin with and having to deal with the Blue Ranger’s “attacks”) on the girl in the blue uniform. As much as it acted like a baby, he was still very lethal. After countering a haphazardly-thrown kick, this Melkid attacked with several slashes that caused a small explosion with each impact on Misty’s chest. The final blow, a wild upward swing, sent Misty sprawling away.

“Oooooh, I’m having so much fun!” the black-masked Melkid shouted. This one was merely toying with his opponent – the Yellow Ranger – taking pride in stopping his elaborate combinations with nothing more than a well-placed poke or parry. He couldn’t see Tracey’s face, but the frustration was clear. And the more frustrated Tracey got, the harder it was for him to do anything right. “Aren’t you, Yellow Ranger?”

Tracey growled and jumped high at Melkid, who was more than happy to meet him in midair. This shocked Tracey, and he was unprepared for the slash from Melkid’s pike that sent him sprawling back to Earth.

“Most impressive,” the white-faced Melkid crowed as he battled the White Ranger. Ash battled evenly with this version of Melkid…at least in his mind. Melkid was toying with Ash, taunting him every now and then when an attack was blocked or parried. Ash pressed on nonetheless, noticing the slight pains he was feeling from his fight with the Fossiloids nonexistent when he morphed. At one point, Ash even managed to turn things around by getting control of Melkid’s pike. But hell if he knew how to use the thing. The first time he swung it, Melkid hopped up and stood on the end of the outstretched blade. “Good, but not good enough!” He hopped forward and kicked Ash right in his helmet-covered head, knocking him back.

The other Rangers slowly got to their feet and regrouped behind their leader. “Man, this sucks!” Brock shouted. “What about us? Do we get weapons?!”

The words weren’t even out of his mouth when the information on weapons dawned on the Rangers. Almost as soon as Pokéranger Green formulated the thought, the information seeped into their heads. With this new info, they summoned their weapons.

All the Rangers had to do was hold their hands out, picture the weapon in their hands in their mind (despite not having ever seen it before), and will it into existence. Energy flowed from their hands and rapidly manifested itself into the Rangers’ individual weapons. The White Ranger wielded a katana blade with a white handle, while the Green Ranger has a nasty looking war hammer on a green handle. It was as long as a baseball bat and had a large, flat striking surface and a conic spike on the opposite side. The Yellow Ranger was unique in that he had two weapons, two yellow kamas with curved, reflective blades. The Red Ranger wielded a scythe with a red handle as long as she was tall, while the Blue Ranger had a spear with a diamond-shaped blade that was just as long.

“Sweet!” Tracey shouted, inspecting his PokéKamas.

Brock hefted his PokéHammer with an elated glee. “Awww, yeah,” he crooned.

Each ranger inspected their weapons carefully. They were not of this world, and they were perfectly crafted and weighted, feeling like they were forged specifically for them.

“Yeah, like those will make a difference!” the red-faced Melkid shouted.

“You’re all going to die a tragic death nonetheless!” the blue-faced Melkid groaned.

“We’ll see about that! Let’s get ‘em!” Ash shouted. Once again, the two groups charged at each other, but the results would prove to be different.

The pairings were still the same, as each had unfinished business with the other. Brock and May again tag-teamed red-Melkid, with May taking point. She drew back her PokéScythe and just before she attacked, jumped straight up into the air. With the enemy’s attention diverted, Brock got a free shot with his PokéHammer. Focusing his energy into his weapon, Brock struck the ground at his feet, sending a green shockwave straight at Melkid. It knocked him to his back, allowing May a clean slash with her scythe as she came down.

Tracey ditched trying to show off with his Capoeira prowess, instead concentrating on attacking with his new weapons. Each movement of his arm brought another slash at black-Melkid’s body with a PokéKama. After leaving Melkid dizzy and worn out, Tracey leveled him with a high drop kick.

Had Misty not been tangled with blue-Melkid, she would’ve been very surprised with how proficient she was with her PokéSpear. Her fight was much more even than her previous encounter, and she had little trouble fending off the attacks from Melkid’s pike. She reacted with quickness she never thought she had, and got in some good shots of her own. At a critical moment, blue-Melkid’s guard was broken. Misty seized this opportunity, and whipped her spear in an overhead strike at the demon, knocking him away with a small explosion upon impact.

Ash and his Pokétana moved a mile a minute, the White Ranger slashing repeatedly at white-Melkid, connecting with his pike each time. It was always overhead slash, cross slash, overhead slash, cross slash over and over until one well-placed swing knocked the pike from Melkid’s hand. Ash grabbed the hilt with both hands, shouted, and brought his sword down for one more slash, flooring that Melkid.

As the defeated Melkid copies fell over, they began to glow. They recombined, forming the original four-faced Melkid.

“What?” the red-faced Melkid shouted. His red face shifted forward. “Oh, no!”

The Rangers grouped together, their weapons at the ready. “We’ve got him now!” Ash shouted.

“AYAAAAAAAAAH!” Ash ran and jumped at Melkid, slashing him across the chest with his Pokétana.

“HYAAAAAAAAAH!” Brock and Tracey attacked next, Brock with an overhead strike from his PokéHammer and Tracey with an X-slash with his PokéKamas.

“KYAAAAAAAAAH!” Finally Misty and May struck, Misty with a diving lunge with her PokeSpear, and May with a spinning swing of her PokeScythe. Wounded, Melkid struggled to his feet, clutching his chest. His white face was forward.

“Round one to you, Power Rangers,” he grumbled, “but we will meet again. Savor this victory while you can!” He flung one hand down hard, pointing at the ground. A fissure opened under his feet, and his form was quickly sucked in.

“Hey!” Ash shouted. “Where’d he go?”

“He’s disappeared,” Brock said.

“I can see that, but where?”

“Probably back to Pandion’s lair, wherever that is,” Misty said.

“Bah…” Tracey held out his hand with his thumb and index finger about an inch apart. “We were this close, too!”

“Well, look on the bright side,” Ash said, “we’ve just scored our first victory as Power Rangers!” Cheers and celebratory complements towards one another went out for a few seconds. “Of course…we should head back to the lab.”

“Yeah, but…” Tracey looked around. They were still battling on the side of Route 1, and while there weren’t any cars in sight, the sight of five people in pallet-swapped superhero costumes would be a little out of place in Pallet Town. “How?”

“You mean after a long day of fighting evil the Power Rangers have to walk home?” May grumbled.

“Well, let’s at least power down before he hit the road,” Ash commanded. They all spoke (or at least tried to) the command for reverting to normal form. “Power Rangers, power—whoooa!” Instead of reverting to normal, the five Rangers disappeared in color-specific bursts of light that resembled lensflares.

* * * * *

“So, how’d it go?” Max asked as the Rangers regained their bearings. They were standing around in Prof. Oak’s lab, helmets in their hands.

“It…went alright,” May stated. She didn’t have any previous Power Ranger experience, so it was difficult to gauge. “Who was that?”

“That,” Degenhart explained, “was Melkid, a dangerous warrior demon and a loyal servant of Pandion. We don’t know what kind of creatures Pandion is capable of creating, but rest assured, should Melkid accompany it into battle, the battles will only be that much more difficult.”

“And how come we didn’t find out about the weapons and such until later?” Tracey asked.

“There are many aspects of your powers that you have not realized yet. I was worried that your first experience would turn out much worse than it did. But I am pleased with the method in which you handled the situation. I did not expect you to adjust as well as you did. I can see that the Power has chosen wisely this generation of Power Rangers.”

“The powers and weapons and all are nice,” Misty interrupted, “but do we have to hoof it everywhere we go? I know trainers out on a journey do that all the time, but are we really going to have to walk if…oh, say, one of the Orange Islands is under attack?”

“Way ahead of you, Misty,” Max said. He got up from his work station with five small gadgets in his hands. “I’ve been working on these since you left the lab. Check ‘em out!” They were disc-like objects the size of saucers, each shaped like the sigil on each of the Rangers’ uniforms. “They’re combination Pokédex/communicator/teleporters, the very latest in trainer/Ranger technology!”

“Wait, Pokédex?” Ash asked.

“Yep. Gotta keep up the lie that you’re just ordinary Pokémon trainers, right?”

“I…guess. Let’s test it out. How do you open it?”

“Press the middle button.” He did so, and aimed it at Pikachu, who was sitting on the table.

“Pikachu, the electric mouse Pokémon,” the new Pokédex said, “The small, red cheeks on this Pokémon are electrical sacs, which unleash electrical energy when they feel threatened.” When it was opened, there were five smaller buttons under the small LCD screen.

“Those other buttons open up a link with the other Rangers,” Max explained. “It’s as easy as pressing the appropriate color. And there’s a button on the side that activates the teleportation. Just imagine where you want to go, hit that button, and there you are!”

“But how did you…” May started.

“I had a hand in this,” Degenhart confessed. “I have a bit of sorcery that helped accelerate the development process.”

Brock nodded, looking over his green handheld sigil. “Looks like we have something good going here, don’t we?” he said, smiling.

“I agree, Green Ranger,” Degenhart said. “In the past, every good Power Ranger team has had an intricate support network backing them up. I believe with such a talented group of Rangers, the resources of the Oak estate, as well as Max’s ingenuity, there is no evil you are capable of overcoming.”

Everyone glanced at one another, each smiling except for Ash. He had an inquisitive look on his face.

“So, now that we’ll be doing this full time,” Ash started, “does this mean we’re going to have to color coordinate our wardrobes to match what color Ranger we are?”

Everyone else in the room facevaulted.

TO BE CONTINUED……………