Note: The characters of Deshi and Denchu are the property of the Soldier page.
--
Chapter 3: Road to Cerulean, part 2
--
“I HATE ORCS!!!” Jimmy shouted as he dodged a round of machine gun fire. The orcs were driving heavily-modified Hummers, probably taken from the men at Area 51. Right now, Jimmy, Deshi and Denchu were trying to outrun the orcs and get to the Cerulean dome. Outrunning them is the hard part, though. Understandably, Jimmy was mad.
Deshi and Denchu, however, were more scared than mad, mostly because of Jimmy’s driving—even though he made them wear helmets and HANS devices. “You’re insane, you know that, Jimmy?” Denchu yelled.
“How am I insane!?” He shouted back. “I’m just trying to get us out of this mess! And how the hell is trying to avoid machine gun fire insanity!?”
“Just get us out of here!!!” Deshi
shouted. “I don’t want to arrive in
“You won’t!” Jimmy shouted as he pressed down on the accelerator again, giving the Mustang another burst of speed to avoid the orc Hummer H1s. As they raced—figuratively speaking—the orc Hummers, the grand Cerulean dome could be seen rising out of the ground like the sun—even though that’s already been mentioned.
The orc Hummers were like the combination between medieval armor and modern cars. There were spikes all over them, and one barely even resembled a Hummer. And one had a feature that just made Jimmy angrier. “Cow catcher? I don’t understand how in the world can they have a cow catcher attached to a fucking Hummer!?”
“It’s a crazy world, isn’t it?” Deshi asked.
“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic, you know!” He shouted back. He grabbed a grenade from Deshi and released it behind him. The grenade exploded, right underneath an orc Hummer, taking out the Hummer’s rear axle. Jimmy cackled to himself when this happened, only confirming the Deshi and Denchu that he was insane. But what he said next shocked them even more. “You know those cans I was talking about earlier?” He said.
“Um, yeah,” Denchu said nervously. “What about them?”
“They’re filled with Nitrous Oxide,” he said. Deshi and Denchu’s eyes widened at what he just said. “And I’m gonna use it!” He pressed a button, and suddenly the girls felt themselves being pushed against their seats as the Mustang surged ahead of the orc Hummers.
For some reason, Deshi and Denchu decided to tell Jimmy about their dreams. “Um, Jimmy,” Deshi said. “You know that dream we were talking about?”
“Yeah?” He replied.
“Well, in it, we’re standing in front of a building,” said Denchu. “On the moon. And some voice is calling us to come closer. I’ve actually answered it, but your alarm clock woke me up!”
“That’s nice,” Jimmy said. He wasn’t really paying attention; which was justified, since he was concentrating on the road right now and couldn’t really do much about the dream. Especially since he didn’t know what it meant.
Although they didn’t know it at the time, their chase was being monitored within the city.
--
“Colonel Ketchum, sir!” Sgt. Harry Upton called for his superior, Col. Jason Ketchum. The Colonel walked over to the screen where Sgt Upton was. He had short black hair, cut in a military style. The two were in the city’s central defense control room. It was a busy place, despite the Cerulean Defense Forces not really having any defense work to do lately.
“What is it,
“Sir, we’ve detected something coming in from the wastes,”
“How fast are they going?” Col. Ketchum asked in his steely voice.
“Close to 120 sir,” he replied. “They seem to be in a hurry. The computer is saying they’re human.” Colonel Ketchum’s eyes widened.
“Impossible!” He said. “I thought we were all that’s left!”
“Apparently not sir,” Sgt Upton replied. “The ones in the other targets, though, they appear to be orcs.”
--
Meanwhile, RPM Red Ranger Ash Ketchum was driving with his old friend May West. Yes, her name is West, and yes, she does get the occasional joke about the life jackets. Now focus! Anyway, why is he being focused on now? Well, you’re about to find out. “So Ash,” May said. “Have you talked with Brock lately?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “I hear his recovery is going well. He should be out of rehab soon.”
“That’s good,” May replied. “What about your mom, what’s she doing?”
“She’s helping out with the city’s eco roofs,” he replied. “She’s turned her own into a garden!”
“That does sound like her,” May said. This conversation would have continued, until Ash heard a report on the radio.
“This just in, the CDF has reported that they have picked up the bio-signals of three humans inbound from the Wastes…”
“Did you just hear that?” May said
in shock. Ash wasn’t paying attention to her; he was listening to the report to
find out where they were going. He really didn’t want to expose his secret to
May, but with the report of orcs following them, he
had no other choice. Suddenly, he stopped the car and turned around, much to
May’s displeasure. “Ash, what are you doing?” She asked. “Where are you going?”
“To
the East Gate!” He
replied. May just looked at him in shock. What in the hell was he thinking?
Meanwhile, Misty
was making lunch for herself when she heard the same report Ash was listening
to. “There’s people out there?” She said to herself.
“But that’s impossible! There’s no way any—oh, shoot!” Instinctively, she
bolted out the door, once she heard about the orcs
following the humans. She considered this would be the best time to reveal
--
“Thirty
miles!” Jimmy shouted.
He said that because the Mustang—and the orc
Hummers—were now ten miles from the dome. Deshi and Denchu reacted excitedly, knowing their journey was going
to come to an end soon. But there was one other thing about the dream they
needed to share.
“Jimmy?” Deshi asked. “There is one more thing about the dream we
must tell you.”
“Not now!” Jimmy
shouted. “At the speed we’re going, we’ll reach the dome in way less than five
minutes, so it will have to wait for now!” He turned the steering wheel to
avoid a harpoon from one orc Hummer. “How did they
get those things?” He said to himself before focusing back on the dome. Soon,
the dome began to get closer, and Jimmy smiled to himself. Deshi
and Denchu worriedly thought they would not get a
chance to tell him that the dream told them to go to
--
Little did they
know, someone else was watching them. And they were
not the CDF. “I’m lowering the barrier,” said a voice.
“But you can’t!”
Another voice replied. “If you do, the orcs will—”
“Let them come,”
the voice replied. “The others must prove themselves.”
--
“Ten
miles!” Jimmy shouted.
Five more minutes, and they would be at the city gates. Jimmy clenched his
teeth, determined to get to the city gates. Fearing the orcs
might catch them, he pressed the N2O button again, getting a burst of speed to
reach the city. Once again, the three occupants of the Mustang were pushed back
in their seats by the sudden acceleration and g-forces. Deshi
and Denchu held on tightly as possible, and Jimmy
kept his grip on the steering wheel, turning his knuckles white. The car slowly
began to outrun the orcs, gaining five seconds over
the orc Hummers.
--
Back in the CDF
central command, Col. Ketchum began preparing a team for then arrivals. “Lower
the shields and open the gates!” He shouted. “The orcs
might get in, but we and the Red Ranger will take care of them! Once they’re
in, raise the shields and lower the gates to the orcs
can’t escape. Let’s go!”
--
“Come on, comeonecomeoncomeon,” Jimmy said, nervously. Deshi and Denchu were equally
nervous. They were now only two miles from the dome, and they feared the gates
would not open. But, the gates began to open, and the three all had excited
looks on their faces.
“We’re gonna make it!” Denchu said.
“We’re gonna make it to Cerulean!”
“We’re not done
yet, though!” Jimmy said. Soon, they felt themselves passing through something,
like water. They were unsure of it at first, but they ignored it for now. All
they worried about was getting into the city gates.
The gates rose like
a garage door. Inside, the CDF prepared for the orcs
and the incoming humans. The Mustang, meanwhile, sped forward, trying to put
some distance between it and the orc Hummers. Soon,
the gates were in sight. “This is it!” Jimmy shouted. “
Finally, the Mustang
sped through the gate at 130 MPH. The orc Hummers
followed shortly, at 100 MPH. Once inside the gate, Jimmy took his foot off the
accelerator and stomped down on the brake pedal. The car’s tires stopped, and
they began to screech loudly. At the same time, the car began to slide. Jimmy
frantically tried to keep the car in control, while Deshi
and Denchu held on once again for dear life. Jimmy
could feel the brake pedal vibrating, as if it didn’t want to stop. Soon,
though, the car spun, leaving tire marks, before coming to a sudden stop in the
middle of the road. The HANS devices did their job, and Jimmy, Deshi and Denchu escaped without
any whiplash. With the car stopped, the adrenaline rush they had been feeling
for so long began to dim, and a new feeling of relief came over them.
“We made it,” Denchu said quietly before shouting, “WE MADE IT!!!” But
another sound alerted them that they weren’t quite done yet.
“Not yet,” said
Jimmy. Sure enough, the car was now facing the 7 orc
Hummers that had chased them for 60 miles. The orcs
had gotten out, and were ready to attack. The trio was in big trouble.
Ash, meanwhile, saw
this and brought his car screeching to a halt. May, who had essentially been
taken along for the ride, hung on to her seat as best she could. “Jeez, Ash,
what are you doing?” She asked. The car soon came to a stop behind the Mustang
and Ash got out. “Ash, where are you going?” She said as he got out of the car.
“To help them,” he
replied. May watched her old friend run in front of the Mustang. Sure, he could
be a hero, but this was just ridiculous! It brought her back to the old days
when he would put his body on the line to save someone else.
Jimmy, Deshi and Denchu, however, were
still in their little predicament. And taking off their helmets and HANS
devices was not so easy. Although Jimmy, having done this before, had gotten
them off in time and was ready to get the car out of there when someone stepped
in between the car and the orcs. “Hey buddy, get outta here!” He called. The person stayed still, as if he
was serious. “GET OUTTA HERE, NOW!!!”
Ash ignored the guy
calling him to leave and focused on the orcs. His
face was one of pure determination as he stared the orcs
down. “Leave, boy!” The lead orc called. “Or we won’t
go easy on ya!”
“Then bring it on!”
Ash called as he produced his Cell Shift morpher. He
took out his engine cell, flipped open the top of the cell phone-like morpher and inserted inside before closing the top again.
In the Mustang,
Jimmy watched with a surprised look on his face. May had gotten out of her car
and Jimmy and May watched in amazement what happened next when Ash called,
“RPM! Get in gear!” A red light engulfed Ash and the next thing they saw was
Ash wearing red spandex and helmet. Their faces were ones of stunned
amazement—both at the same time—at what they had just saw.
“HO-LEE SHIT!!!”
Jimmy shouted.
“Oh,
my god!” May said to
herself as she held her hands up to her mouth.
“So you changed
costumes!” The head orc said. “ATTACK!!!”
“Let’s go!!!” Ash
shouted back and charged the orcs. “Engine cell,
activate!” He inserted his red engine cell into his Nitro Blaster, and then
changed it into a sword. “Nitro sword!” An orc brought its sword down upon him, but he blocked the
sword with his Nitro sword. With a swift move, he slashed the same orc with his Nitro sword.
“Whoa!” Jimmy said
as he watched the Red dude fight. He thought all the guy did was change
costumes, but he was fighting like a man possessed.
“What’s going on?” Denchu asked.
“Weren’t you watching!?”
He shouted.
“Um, what are you
talking about?” Deshi asked. Jimmy groaned at the
girls.
“You mean you
weren’t paying attention!?” Jimmy said.
“Um, no,” Deshi replied. “What’s going—wow!”
At that moment, she got a good look at the guy wearing the red spandex fighting
the orcs.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Jimmy said, pointing at the red guy.
May, meanwhile,
just looked on in disbelief. There was no way Ash could be the Red Ranger. It
just wasn’t in him. But there he was, fighting the orcs
as the Red Ranger. And yet, the other thing she was thinking is what other
secrets are he keeping?
Misty, meanwhile,
arrived just after Ash morphed, so she missed him, well, morph. Oh, well. But
she was disappointed when she noticed that the fight had already begun. But she
smiled anyway, knowing she was fashionably late. She grabbed her transformation
pen, held it up above her head and shouted, “Water elemental power… Make,
UP!!!”
Meanwhile, Ash
continued fighting the orcs, grunting and letting out
powerful kiais all
the while. An orc tried to come up from behind him,
but he side kicked the orc, sending it back at a
group of orcs, knocking them over like bowling pins.
He turned around and in a fantastic move, butterfly
kicked an orc with a chainsaw. Let that be repeated:
He butterfly kicked an orc that was holding a
chainsaw and knocked it out of said orc’s hands!
“Whoa,
ho ho ho!” Jimmy shouted as he watched Ash’s little
performance. “This is just like those Bruce Lee movies my dad liked!” Suddenly—
“Hold it right
there, orcs!” The call of a voice suddenly made the
whole scene stop right where they were.
“Who said that!?”
The lead orc called out. “Show your self!”
“Gladly!” The voice called back. “Right
here!” The orcs, the Red Ranger, Jimmy, Deshi, Denchu and May looked
behind the action to see a Sailor Warrior standing on top of and orc Hummer. Well, the Red Ranger knew who she was.
“You
again!?” He called out.
“This city is our
last refuge from the likes of you creeps!” She called out. The Red Ranger
groaned once she said this. “I am the Soldier of love water,
“I told you to drop
the intro!” The Red Ranger called out before going back to fighting the orcs.
“Well I just
couldn’t resist, alright?” She called back before jumping into the crowd and
began fighting the orcs herself.
“Jeez!” Jimmy said.
“Have you ever seen anything more ridiculous than that?” He said even though
She suspected the orcs may have underestimated her after her little speech,
because she was fighting better than them. She dodged an orc
blade and side kicked him out of the way and into the Red Ranger’s back. Even
though she couldn’t see his face she could tell he wasn’t happy. “Sorry!” She
said before grabbing and orc arm--and ended up
dealing with the face of an orc. “Ugh, you need to
brush more!” She said before punching him in the face.
Ash, meanwhile, put
his Nitro blaster on his belt and summoned his main weapon. “Street saber!” he
called out before slashing at a few orcs. He blocked
an orc sword before throwing the orc
off of him and slashing the orc that had just attacked
him. He pivoted and slashed at another orc before
slashing at another one with a one-handed backhand.
While Misty/Sailor
Ocean and Ash/the Red Ranger fought, Jimmy, Deshi Denchu and May watched with interest. However, the look on
Jimmy’s face began to change, as if he couldn’t stand sitting there watching
while the other two could possibly get overwhelmed by the orcs.
He had to do something. “Fuck this,” he said as he unbuckled his seatbelt. “I’m
going out there.”
“Jimmy, what are
you doing?” Deshi asked. “Those are orcs! We can’t fight them!”
“Well I’m sick of
running!” Jimmy shouted as he grabbed his colt. “I say we help these guys out
and FIGHT!!!”
“Jimmy—” Deshi began to say, but she was stopped by Denchu’s hand.
“No,” she said
softly, yet firmly. “I agree with Jimmy. Let’s fight!”
“Now that’s what
I’m talking about!” Jimmy said as both he and Denchu
got out of the car to confront the orcs. Deshi sighed, shook her head and unbuckled her seatbelt and
got out of the car. May, meanwhile, saw this happening and noticed they were
going to fight the orcs. Well, she did think about it
and decided she didn’t want to be left out of the fun and ran to fight the orcs.
Meanwhile, the
numbers of the orcs began to catch up with the Red
Ranger and
One orc felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned around
and saw—Jimmy. “Excuse me,” he said before punching the orc
in the face. Red and Ocean looked to see Jimmy, Deshi,
Denchu and May all standing
in front of the orcs. “We felt you needed a little
help,” Jimmy said. “LET’S GO!!!” And without transforming, all four attacked
the orcs.
Jimmy blocked an orc kick with his right leg, then
spun around and reverse roundhouse kicked the same orc
with his left leg. It was a little sloppy, but still well-executed. What wasn’t
sloppy, though, was when he punched another orc in
the face and no doubt knocked a few teeth out.
Denchu, however, was more effective, as if she did
have martial arts training. And it was much more elegant, when she back flipped
to dodge and orc punch and then kicked the same orc under the chin. “Take that!” She shouted before going
back to finish the job by roundhouse kicking it.
Deshi also was more elegant, executing a
roundhouse kick on an orc as
if she was a gymnast. She then spun around and hook kicked another orc, knocking its sword out of its hands. She then took her
knee and struck the orc’s stomach with said knee,
making the monster double over in pain.
May, meanwhile,
ducked to avoid an orc sword, then side-kicked the
same orc before jump-kicking a nearby orc. With another move, she
roundhouse kicked an orc armed with a pistol,
knocking it out of its hands as well. She punched another orc
in the stomach, and another, the latter on the face. She wiped her brow,
impressed at herself.
Ash and Misty could
not believe what they were seeing. These guys were holding their own against
the orcs! And not only that, where did May learn to
fight like that? But, then they remembering that they needed to get to work
themselves and went back to fighting the orcs and
didn’t want to be outdone by these newbies. But
Misty/Sailor Ocean could feel something about the two blonde girls that she
couldn’t quite put her finger on. Of course, she had to focus on beating the orcs now.
“Human
scum!” The head orc shouted once all six had gathered in front of them.
“So, you think you can stop us from destroying your kind, eh?”
“That’s the plan!”
“I suggest you
leave now!” Ash shouted.
“Before
what?” The lead orc said. At that point, the Red Ranger and
“Tidal… WAVE!!!”
“Take this!” The
Red Ranger shouted. “Nitro blaster!” He fired his
primary sidearm at the orcs. Somehow, this combined
with the water attack
“You scum!” The
lead orc said from the ground.
“Keep talking,”
“Or
what?” The lead orc said with venom.
“Or we’ll make you
leave,” the Red Ranger said with equal amount of venom on his tone. The orcs growled and got up before—
Suddenly, the sound
of machine gun fire could be heard and the orcs were
hit with goodness-knows how many rounds of ammo. The 6 who had just fought them
watched in shock as the orcs were reduced to a heap
of bloodied, twitching corpses. Not only were they shocked at the slaughter,
they weren’t too happy with it one bit.
“Well that was
disappointing,” Jimmy said. Suddenly, he found the black, opaque facemask of
the Red Ranger in his face. Needless to say, he was surprised. “Jeez! Don’t get
so close like that!” He shouted.
“You fought well,”
the Red guy said. “For a rookie.”
“Hey!” Jimmy
shouted back. But the Red guy continued.
“But really, I want
to thank you for helping me,” he said. Jimmy couldn’t see his face behind that
visor of his, but what he didn’t know was that Ash had a smile on his face. Of
course, he did notice the extended hand, which Jimmy took and shook.
“No problem,” Jimmy
replied. “Of course, I should be thanking you for saving my skin, as well.”
“Don’t mention it,”
Ash said before looking at May. He wasn’t sure if she had seen him morph, so
all he said was, “You fought well.”
“Um, thank you,”
she said nervously.
“Oh, um, thanks,” Deshi said.
“Yeah, thanks,” Denchu replied. For some reason—like
For now reason,
they felt their arms being pulled back and twisted. From what it seemed,
Jimmy, meanwhile,
found himself eating a face full of asphalt. “Hey, what gives!?” He shouted. “What’d I do!?”
“Officer, wait!”
The Red Ranger shouted. “This is unnecessary!”
“We need to detain
these people,” the soldier said. “They might be infiltrators!
“Really?”
“Yeah, man, where
the hell are my Miranda rights?” Jimmy shouted as the soldiers cuffed him.
“You want your
Miranda rights?” The officer said. “Okay then. You have the right to remain
silent and that’s it!”
“You know, if you guys
want to be democratic, acting like fascists isn’t exactly going to work!” Jimmy
said as he was pulled up from the ground and lead to a military van. It was
obvious that the CDF had shot up the orcs. But was
arresting them really that necessary? “Hey, don’t touch the car!” He shouted as
a soldier got inside his Mustang and prepared to impound it.
“What are they
doing?” May said to both
“Neither have we,”
Ash replied. This made his attempt to
recruit the new guy a little more difficult. As for
--
Col. Ketchum shook
his head as he looked over some reports. Due to a gross neglect of CDF policy,
the soldiers had arrested the newcomers and placed them in jail without an
arrest warrant and approval from him. Heads were gonna
roll once he found out who approved their arrest. But right now, he had a
suspect—one of the people arrested—that he had to question. After that, he
would most likely let him go. He found the room where the interrogation was and
from what it sounded like the interrogators were trying to get a confession out
of him. They may have had good intentions, but their heads were a little loose.
So, to stop them, he opened the door.
“I’m telling you,
I’m not an orc!” The suspect shouted. He seemed to be
getting hysterical, partially because he was handcuffed, and apparently, he was
offended by the thought.
“Just admit it!”
The officer questioning shouted. Now would be a good time to interrupt.
“Lieutenant!” He shouted, announcing his presence. The
man interrogating the suspect stood rigid and saluted.
“Col. Ketchum,
sir!” He said nervously. “I was just—”
“Trying to extract
a false confession out of him?” The
“Y-y-yes sir,” the
lieutenant said before he left the room, leaving Col. Ketchum and the suspect
alone. From his appearance, he certainly had been out in the Wastes some time,
mainly due to the fact that his hair was kind of messy. And that he smelled as
if he hadn’t showered in days.
“I smell bad, don’t
I?” The suspect asked. “You got any deodorant?”
“Unfortunately,
no,” the Colonel replied as he sat down. “Okay, then,” he said. “Now, just so
you know. I’m only going to ask you some questions. I’m not going to accuse you
of being an infiltrator or a spy or anything like that. I just need some
information on yourself.”
“Fair enough,” the
suspect replied. ‘But first,” he showed him the handcuffs. “Can you get this things off of me?”
“Very well,” Col.
Ketchum said. “You’re not going anywhere anyway.”
“Don’t plan too,”
the suspect replied as an officer unlocked and removed his handcuffs.
Outside the
interrogation room, Ash, in his Ranger suit, listened into the interrogation
take place.
“So then,” Col.
Ketchum said. “Who are you?”
“Me?” The suspect
asked. “Ah, I’m sorta like the Man With
No Name from those Clint Eastwood films, you know--except I have a name.”
“That’s what we want
to know,” Col. Ketchum said. “What your name is.”
“Oh, so that’s what
you want to know,” the suspect said. “My name’s Jimmy McAndrew.”
“Uh-uh,
and where are you from?” He asked.
“
“And how did you
live outside the dome for so long?” Col. Ketchum asked.
“Well, first off,
we lived in Amish country,” Jimmy replied. “Now before the orcs
came, the Amish were simply looked at as an oddity, you know? Like a time
capsule to another age, if you will. They were more renowned more for quilts
than surviving the apocalypse.”
“Let me guess, your
town learned some tips from them?”
“Exactly,” Jimmy
replied. “They had some very good advice. And we had a guy there who knew how
to build solar panels.”
“But what I don’t
understand is, how did your town escape orc attacks for nearly two years?” Col. Ketchum asked.
“We were lucky, I
guess,” Jimmy replied, shrugging. “I don’t know why we weren’t attacked—well,
we were attacked, five months ago.”
“Five
months!?” Col. Ketchum
said in surprise. Outside the room, and under his visor, Ash’s eyes widened
slightly at how long the suspect had been out in the Wastes for.
“Yep,” said Jimmy.
“That’s why I compared myself to the Man With No Name.
I was a drifter for five months.”
“So how did you
survive?” Col. Ketchum asked.
“By living like a
scavenger and a hunter,” he replied. “I took from places where I could find
food and I hunted whatever I could.”
“So you’re a
thief,” Col. Ketchum said.
“Not exactly,”
Jimmy replied. “Technically, laws do not exist outside the dome. And that is
were you get road pirates.”
“Road
pirates!?” Col. Ketchum
said. “What are they?”
“Well, first off,
they’re the worst Mad Max rip-offs you’ll ever see,” Jimmy said. “I
mean, good god! You have never seen anything more blatant!”
“Anything
else?” Col. Ketchum
asked.
“Yeah, they’re
pirates,” Jimmy said. “That should tell you something. And they’re not
pleasant, not one bit.”
“Okay then,” Col.
Ketchum said. “Now your two female companions are being questioned in another
room. But since they’re not here, I suppose you’ll tell me where they came
from?”
“They said they
lived with a nomadic group for two years,” Jimmy said. “They’re from LA, but
they were on a train ride when the orcs attacked, so
they were not hit by them. The implication is that the train passengers were
the other members of said nomadic group.”
“So what you’re
saying is, there are still people outside the dome?”
Col. Ketchum said. “Of course, you’re an example.”
“Correct,” Jimmy
replied. “The only actual remnants of civilization are small towns that are
just barely surviving. A lot of the towns I came across were destroyed by orc attacks.”
“So how did you
drive around for five months without running out of gas?” Col. Ketchum asked.
“I scavenged from
abandoned gas stations,” he replied. “It’s real easy once you learn how.”
“And who taught you
that?” Col. Ketchum asked with interest.
“My dad,” Jimmy
replied. Ash chuckled to himself when he heard Jimmy’s factoid. Col. Ketchum,
on the other hand, shook his head.
“So are you going
to tell us?” He asked.
“Nope,” said Jimmy.
“Because I clearly can’t do it here.”
“Excactly,” Col. Kecthum replied.
“You won’t be stealing anything here.”
“I don’t plan to,”
said Jimmy. “I came here because my dad told me to come here. I’m not going to
blow my chances.”
“You’d better not,”
said Col. Ketchum. “So I assume you’re not an infiltrator?”
“I just spent the
past hour denying it,” Jimmy replied. “Hook me up to a lie detector if you have
to, because like I said, I’m not!”
“Okay, calm down,”
Col. Ketchum said. “I’ll get a lie detector in here if you want it, is that
okay?”
“Fine with me,”
Jimmy replied. “Just as long as I don’t need a trial.”
“You won’t,” he
said. “You were wrongly arrested anyway. The judge would most likely throw the
case out after he heard what happened.”
“Okay, then.” Col.
Ketchum called for a lie detector, which took about 2 minutes before a man
carrying something that did not look like a polygraph at all. But it was smaller
and shaped like a box. “This device will tell if you’re lying,” he said. “It
will record your voice and your body signs.”
“Doesn’t a
polygraph do that already?” Jimmy asked.
“This is more
accurate than a polygraph,” said Col. Ketchum. “In case that doesn’t work, we
have a body language expert here to determine if you’re acting.”
“That shouldn’t be
necessary,” said Jimmy. “I’m a bad actor anyway.”
“This is just to be
sure,” Col. Ketchum said as Jimmy was hooked up. Outside, Ash in his Ranger
suit watched with interest. It was then he decided to make his move. “Now
then,” Said Col. Ketchum “Now that you’re hooked up—oh, put your finger on that
little screen there.” Jimmy did as Col. Ketchum requested and put his finger on
the screen. “Now, then. Are you an infiltrator?”
“No,” Jimmy
replied. There were a few beeps and buzzes before a green light came on. Col.
Ketchum smiled and looked at the body language expert, who nodded, also
smiling.
“Well, Mr. McAndrew, you’re cleared,” he said.
“Oh, thank you!”
Jimmy said. Now he could go free! But, there was one other thing. At that
point, an officer walked in and whispered in Col. Ketchum’s ear. The Colonel
listened, and his face changed to one of surprise and then made an annoyed face
before saying,
“Alright, let him
in. I’ll show myself out.” At that point, Jimmy was unhooked from the lie
detector and the Colonel and the body language expert left the room before
someone else came in.
At that point,
Jimmy’s eyes widened in realization at who his visitor was. “You?”
He said in surprise.
“Who’d you expect?”
the Red guy replied. “Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m the RPM Red
Ranger.”
“Good for you,”
Jimmy replied. “So what do you want?”
“Such defiance,”
the Ranger said. “You seem to remind me of myself.”
“Whaddya mean?” Jimmy replied. It was then that the Red
Ranger removed his helmet, revealing his face. Jimmy’s eyes widened again, as
if he knew who he was. “Hey, I know who you are!” He said. “Aren’t you Ash
Ketchum, the promising Pokemon trainer?”
“Was,” Ash replied as he sat down. “That changed after the orc attacks. Now well, you see what I do.”
“You seem different,” said Jimmy. “Did you get a haircut or did your attitude change, because from what I remember, you used to be a cocky son-of-a-gun who would charge into bad situations without thinking.”
“Those days are gone,” Ash said as he laughed a little. “The orc attack changed everything.”
“And now you’re a superhero,” said Jimmy. “Very well, then. So what is it you want with me?” He asked as he leaned back in his chair.
Ash leaned forward, as if he wanted to tell Jimmy something secret. Jimmy, too, leaned in. Then, Ash said in a half-whisper, “I want to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
Jimmy sniggered, as if something was funny. “Now are you giving me a mafia deal that I cannot refuse because if I don’t I’ll be sleeping with the fishes,” he said as he leaned back again. “Or is it a deal that’s so good I don’t want to turn it down?”
Ash leaned in again and said, “It’s the latter.” Jimmy raised his right eyebrow a la Stephen Colbert. Jimmy was clearly interested.
It was then that he leaned in and said with a cocky smile, “I’m listening.” Ash smiled again. This was going well.
--
Meanwhile, Deshi and Denchu were released from police custody themselves, after Col. Ketchum cleared them. And unlike Jimmy, they were already out of the interrogation room they were being kept in for now and were leaving the CDF building when they were confronted by an orange-haired girl with her hair in a side ponytail. Needless to say, they had no idea who she was—until she spoke.
“Hello,” she said. “Do you two mind if I join you for a walk?”
“Sure,” said Deshi as she and Denchu reached the street level. “But who are you, anyway?”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” the orange-haired girl said. “I must apologize. My name’s Misty Waterflower.”
“Misty Waterflower?” Denchu said excitedly. “You mean the famous Cerulean gym leader and the younger sister fo the sensational Cerulean sisters?” Misty’s face changed to an annoyed one when Denchu mentioned her sisters. “Oh, I’m sorry,” Denchu said. “I hope I didn’t offend you.”
“No, it’s fine,” Misty replied. “So there’s a park around here, it should be a good place to walk.”
“I like that idea!” Deshi said.
“So do I,” replied Denchu. “Where is it?”
“It’s not too far,” said Misty. “This building used to be the Cerulean police headquarters—well, technically, it still is—and there’s a park near here.”
“Sounds good,” said Deshi.
So a few minutes later, Deshi, Denchu and Misty were taking a walk in a civic park. It was like any park in the world. People were relaxing; there was the sound of a football game being played, kids playing tag, all that stuff. The smell of hot dogs was in the air, making Deshi hungry. The leaves were blooming, and the birds sang their songs. It seemed like a happy place. But Misty didn’t look happy one bit. “Don’t be fooled by this,” she said.
“Why?” Denchu asked.
“Because this is only part of the city,” Misty replied. “The city is heavily crowded, thanks to the massive amount of refugees. And what’s worse is, about half the city has no hope.”
“What do you mean?” Deshi asked.
“First off, we are the last city on Earth,” Misty said. “Second, the barrier that Sailor Moon set up, and is supposed to protect us, has been known to weaken on occasion.”
“But how is that possible?” Deshi
asked. “If it was set up by Sailor Moon, then how does it fail on occasion?”
“I’m not sure,” Misty replied. “But these people are in desperate need of hope.” It was then that she pointed to a family sitting on a park bench. They all wore ragged clothes, making it clear that they were refugees—or just homeless. Their faces showed a deep despair that clearly was not there yesterday. It seemed as though they had been living with it for the two years under the dome. Deshi and Denchu could barely stand to keep looking at them. It was just so powerful—for them, at least. “They’re just a small sample,” she said. “You should see the worst parts of the city.”
“That’s so sad,” said Deshi. “Is there anything that can be done to help?”
“First off, there is charity,” Misty said. “Second, there is another thing that can be done?”
”What is that?” Deshi asked. Misty turned around—as
she was not facing the two girls at the time and said,
“From what I hear, you two had a little tussle with some orcs,” she said.
“Yes, we did,” said Denchu. “We beat ‘em.”
“Did you see that guy in red?” She asked.
“You mean the guy in the spandex?” Deshi asked. “Yeah, we saw him. He wasn’t hard to miss.”
“He calls himself the ‘RPM Red Ranger’,” Misty said. “He’s been fighting the orcs on the occasion they get in for about a month now.”
“Oh really,” said Denchu. She was interested.
“But even he’s not enough,” Misty said. “He’s only one person. But from what I hear, there was someone fighting with him.”
“You mean the guy in the rocker jacket?” Deshi asked. “His name’s Jimmy. He’s nuts.”
“That’s not what I meant,” said Misty with an annoyed tone on her voice. “Was there a girl fighting?”
“Yes, there was,” Denchu said. “There were two. One who was brown-haired, and I didn’t get her name. The other one, though, was different.”
“How so?” Misty said.
“Well, first off, she had this
introduction that made the orcs and our driver crack
up.” Denchu said. Misty had an annoyed look on her
face at that. “But after that, she fought hard. Now Misty was smiling, but it
was subtle enough that neither Deshi nor Denchu noticed. “And she called herself ‘
“So she’s a Sailor Warrior?” Misty said.
“I guess so,” said Deshi. “But I thought they were gone.”
“Not exactly,” said Misty. Now Deshi and Denchu were starting to get the hint. And Misty’s next words confirmed it. “So have you two had any strange dreams, lately?”
--
To be continued