Kanto Sentai Pokéranger
(a.k.a. Power Rangers: Pocket Monsters)
Usual
disclaimers apply. These characters do
no belong to me.
“You disappoint me, Melkid,” a low,
but eerie voice uttered.
“I apologize, my lord,” Melkid said,
kneeling before his master, “but you have to understand…” His blue face spun to
the front. “Those Power Rangers came out
of nowhere, sir! We had no idea they
were going to show up!” The red face
took point. “You told us that we
wouldn’t have anything to worry about!
I’m pretty sure this new team of Rangers is indeed ‘something to worry
about’!”
“Enough!” the voice said again. Melkid’s head slowly craned upward, looking
over the form of his master. The being
had a head like a Marowak, with piercing eyes and a mouth that was barely
visible under the wide jutting skull.
His clothes made him look like an occult priest, and were dark brown and
covered in segmenting that resembled bone.
Lord Pandion looked down at his
subordinate with a mix of disgust and concern.
True, he failed to warn the loyal Melkid about the Power Rangers, but
then again, he didn’t believe them to be a problem. While his soul and the souls of his other
underlings were released when the Pokécrystals were discovered, he didn’t count
on the powers being awakened within the new Rangers. Perhaps he was a bit at fault for Melkid’s
defeat.
But he wasn’t about to tell
him. Yet.
“I was not counting on you having
any resistance, Melkid,” Pandion said.
“This complicates things.”
Melkid’s white face spun
forward. “Is this going to interfere
with your plans to conquer the world?” he asked.
“Very much so. I can’t offer up this miserable little rock
as a sacrifice until those miserable Power Rangers are out of my way. Once they are defeated, they will be the
first to be offered to the Elder Gods.”
“And once they are destroyed, none
of the armies of man will stand against you, Lord Pandion.”
“Precisely. And with any luck, I will have gained control
of the Pokécrystals, giving me an infinite source of power. I will own this world yet!”
* * * * *
Ash arrived back at his house a few
minutes later, once Degenhart dismissed them.
With the initial threat of Melkid and the Fossiloids subdued, there was
nothing left for them to do. It didn’t
make sense for them to hang around the new command center if there were no
threats to take care of, so they each went off to do their own thing for a
while. He kicked his shoes off and
flopped onto the couch. Pikachu sat in
his lap, staring up at his master.
“Guess you were worried about me out
there, weren’t you, Pikachu?” he asked, scratching behind the mouse Pokémon’s
ears.
“Pika,” {“A little,”} he answered.
“Well, I’m alright, just a little
tired. I can trust you with my little
secret, right?”
“Pika, pika!” {You can count on
me!”}
“Ash? Honey?”
Ash snapped straight upright and
nearly knocked Pikachu off his lap. This
he was not expecting. Did his mother
hear what he was saying to Pikachu? Was
she going to come out here and start asking eleventy billion questions about
what his “secret” was? For everyone’s
sake, she better not! He just got these
powers! He only had one victory under
his belt as a Ranger, and now he would be forced to tell all and probably lose
protection of The Power! This was not
good at all!
“Mom?” he forced himself to
ask. Had she found out?
She appeared in the doorway to the
kitchen, a worried look on her face. Her
eyes met her son’s for a second before she dashed towards him and snared him in
a tight hug. “Oh my god, I’m so glad
you’re alright!”
“M-mom…” Ash grunted, “…can’t
breathe…let…go…”
“You really scared me out there,
Ash!” she stated. “What were you
thinking, taking on…whatever that thing was?
And what happened to it, anyway?”
“Mom, don’t worry, we’re alright,”
he explained. “We lured him out to the
vacant lot by Route 1 and used our Pokémon to scare him off. Right, Pikachu?”
“Pika, pika chu!” {“We laid some
serious smack down!”} Pikachu said, smiling.
“Well…I’m glad you came home in one
piece, son,” Mrs. Ketchum breathed. She
hugged her son again. “My little boy…”
“Mom,” Ash protested, “I’m not a
little kid; you know I can take care of myself.”
“I know. But that doesn’t stop me from worrying, you
know.” She sat back on the couch,
looking up at the ceiling. Pikachu
crawled out of Ash’s lap and sat on Mrs. Ketchum’s. Pikachu didn’t like lying to the nice lady
(even if she couldn’t understand what he was saying), but he knew it was vital
if Ash was going to continue being the White Ranger.
Suddenly she snapped up to her
feet. Pikachu went sailing out of her
lap and onto the floor. “Hey, I’ve got
it!”
“Pi ka…” {“Please don’t do that,”}
Pikachu groaned.
“You need new clothes, son,” she
explained. “So you know what we’re gonna
do? You and I are heading out to the
Viridian mall and get you some new outfits.
I’ll buy you whatever you want; think of it as a little reward for
protecting mommy, alright?”
“Um, sure.” His mom didn’t wait for a real response, as
she joyously grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the house. “Hey!”
* * * * *
Of course, “whatever you want” soon
translated into “whatever you pick out that I don’t hate”.
Ash and his mother returned form the
mall several hours later with several bags full of new pants and shirts. Among the purchases were several pairs of
jeans, a few new khakis, and about a half a dozen shirts. Of course, the only ones Mrs. Ketchum really
liked were all the same color…
White.
Ash thought this was some sort of
joke. Sure, the shirts had different
designs on them, but they were all the same bright white color. Even the football jersey he picked out was
white. Even the new hat Ash’s mom
insisted he get was white. And it even
had a white Pokéball sigil embroidered on it!
It was weird beyond weird. Ash
was sure his mom didn’t have a clue he was Pokéranger White, and that every
last stitch of clothing could be chalked up to complete and total
coincidence. Hell, he could’ve told her
himself and she would’ve been like, “Poke-a-what?”
Ash settled in his room, his new
clothes put on hangers with the tags all removed. He had even changed into the new football
jersey and a pair of baggy blue jeans.
The hat, he discovered, was fitted and sat very comfortably on his
head. He smiled at his reflection. He liked the new clothes his mom brought for
him (despite having little say in what, in the end) despite the huge cosmic
coincidence that most of them were white.
A flash of pink light flared up in
the corner of his room, resembling a lens flare. He gasped in shock when the light hit and Max
– of all people – was standing in its place.
“What the—Max?” Ash asked. “Where did you come from? And how did you get in here?”
Max smiled a big toothy grin, and
flashed a pink version of the communicator he gave the other Rangers.
“…Pink?”
“Sure,” Max answered. “I’d use red, but that’s May’s color. And pink is a shade of red, right?”
“It doesn’t bother you that you, a
twelve-year-old boy, are going around flashing what looks like a pink compact?”
“Hey, it’s not a compact! And besides…pink if for pimps. Everyone knows that.”
“…Let me guess…Brock told you that?”
“Yep!” He adjusted his glasses. “Anyway, I’ve got something to tell you. I would’ve called you on the communicator,
but I wanted to test this one out.
Degenhart wants you over at the lab as soon as you can. He’s got a favor to ask of you and the other
Rangers.”
“Right, I’ll be right there.”
Max flashed his communicator
again. “Race ya!” And the boy disappeared in a pink lens flare
of light.
Ash stared at the spot where Max had
disappeared for a few moments.
Apparently they were expecting him to teleport over to the lab just as
he just did. He looked outside his
window. It’s too nice a day, Ash decided.
He fixed his new hat and walked out the door, Pikachu accompanying him
on his shoulder.
“I’m heading over to the lab, mom,”
Ash said as he slipped on his shoes.
“Okay,” she called back, “I’ll call
you when dinner’s ready.” And with that,
Ash left the house.
He took his time on the walk to
Professor Oak’s lab, enjoying the warm, sunny day in his hometown of
Pallet. The sleepy little burg had a
population that was only in triple digits, but that only added to the appeal,
in his eyes. He was proud to be from
this town, and nothing could take that from him. He walked a little faster, but not much. If he didn’t have to teleport, he wasn’t
about to.
Beep,
beep, bee-beep beep, beep! A strange
beeping hit his and Pikachu’s ears. Ash
froze in the middle of the street, thinking of what could’ve made that
sound. He thought for a moment…he didn’t
have a cell phone, or a pager, and his Pokédex didn’t beep like that if he paid
it…
Pokédex…of course! His new “Pokédex”!
Ash reached into his back pocket and
pulled out his new Ranger communicator.
It beeped again, the six-note beeping that would be known as the Ranger
klaxon. He flicked it open, and Max’s
face appeared on the screen.
“Ash!” Max moaned. “What’s taking you so long? You forget how to work that thing?”
“No, I know how to, Max,” Ash
argued, “I just didn’t feel like using it, is all. It’s too nice a day.”
“Well, we’re all waiting on
you!” The signal cut off, and the screen
went blank. Ash sighed, rolled his eyes,
and pressed the teleport button on his communicator. In a flash of white light, he disappeared.
* * * * *
Ash reappeared right outside the
back door to the lab. Max must’ve seen the
flash of light, as he was the first to go outside and get him. “It’s about time,” he chided. “I don’t know what kind of leader you’re
trying to be, Ash.”
“Come on, Max,” Ash said, “I’ve
walked to this lab from home more times than I can imagine. It’s just a habit, that’s all.”
“Well, come on in, we’ve got work to
do.” Ash shrugged, and followed the boy
genius into the lab. As expected, Brock,
Misty, May and Tracey were there, waiting for him, as was Degenhart.
“So what is it you guys needed me
to…” Ash got a disbelieving, what-the-fuck look on his face when he laid eyes
upon his fellow Rangers. They didn’t
return the look, though; rather, they were looking at him like nothing was
wrong. But then he saw what his friends
were wearing.
May was nothing too out of the
ordinary, for even though she was the Red Ranger, red seemed to be the only
color of clothing she had; the only main difference were the red-framed
sunglasses half-hanging off her nose.
The others, however, were another story.
Misty was wearing a pair of denim booty shorts he always remembered
seeing her in – which she did a excellent job of filling out – but now she was
wearing blue shoes, blue (appropriately placed) suspenders and a white halter
top. Tracey had on a yellow Hawaiian
shirt with a yellow sleeveless shirt underneath, cargo shorts and brown
sandals. His hair was now done up in
dreadlocks with two beads – one pink and one yellow – on the end. His new hairstyle was drawn back with a yellow
bandanna. Brock’s new look was the most
drastic, as all but a few items he wore were now green. Green hoodie with a silver Boulder Badge
design embroidered on the front, green sweatpants, green baseball cap tilted to
the side with a white wave cap underneath, and brown Timberland boots. He really did have the look of a “thug” about
him.
“You have got to be fucking kidding
me…” Ash groaned.
Degenhart chuckled at the
sight. Ash’s face was absolutely
priceless. “Is something the matter,
White Ranger?” he asked.
“Yeah, something’s the matter!” he
shouted. “What’s all this?” He continued anyway, not waiting for an
answer. “I wasn’t serious when I
suggested all our outfits be color-coordinated, you know!”
“Yeah, we know,” Brock answered,
“but that didn’t stop us.”
Misty walked up to her
boyfriend. “Don’t you like it, Ash?” she
asked. She spun slowly as she got near
him, and he looked her over. The outfit
made her look older, and more attractive.
Good thing the others knew they were an item. His eyes were drawn down to her hips,
especially her backside, where Ash could’ve sworn he saw part of her underwear
peeking out the side. All he saw were
two hints of spaghetti-thin straps, which was a pretty good indication of what
she was wearing underneath.
“No-no, it looks good, Misty,” he
explained. She smiled sweetly at the
compliment.
“If we could, Rangers,” Degenhart
said, “I would like to get down to business.”
Ash walked past Misty and over to
the others. The other Rangers seemed to
fall in place behind him. “What’s up,
Degenhart?” he asked.
“As you know, I’ve been sharing the
body of your Professor Oak for some time now,” he explained. “With your help, I would like to remove
myself from his body and into one of my own.”
“Um…how, exactly?” Tracey asked.
“By joining the powers of your
Pokécrystals, you will be able to remove my soul from the good Professor for
good. He will not have to worry about
his body being taken over for any reason.”
“We kinda figured that out already,”
Brock added, “but where will your soul go?
Without another body to transfer you to, you’ll just float around
aimlessly.”
“And I doubt rumors of Professor
Oak’s laboratory being haunted are something he wants to deal with,” May said.
“Your worries are understandable,
but unnecessary,” the spirit said. “I
have everything under control. Once your
powers meld with mine for this experiment, I will manifest a form suitable for
my needs. It will be as though I have
always existed as a being of flesh and blood.”
“And this won’t hurt the professor?”
Ash asked.
“It will give him some discomfort,
but only for a while. Now then, Rangers,
present your Pokécrystals.”
Ash was the first to comply,
unsnapping his Pokémorpher and holding it out straight in front of him. It snapped open, the jewel inside giving off
a piercing white light. The others followed
suit, and in a short time the room was aglow with unearthly white, blue, green,
red and yellow lights. Once their powers
were ready to be borrowed from, Degenhart chanted a spell. When the spell was completed, the body of
Professor began to shift. It looked like
it was on a TV screen with a scrambled reception. After a few moments of this, Professor Oak
began to split down the middle, like he was being ripped apart. The voices of both Degenhart and Professor
Oak wailed in agony as the two separated.
In a flash of light, the five Pokécrystals’ lights went out and two
bodies fell to the floor. Professor
Oak’s body fell to the right, while Degenhart’s new body fell to the left.
“Professor!” the teens shouted. Professor Oak slowly got himself to his feet,
while Degenhart used a table to pull himself up.
“Degenhart?” Max asked. The man standing before the others had a
gentle face, with long, narrow eyes and straight, gray hair going straight
back. He was a tall as the Professor and
roughly the same size, though a little bit bigger. He was dressed in all black, like a priest. He wore a chain around his neck with a gold
Pokéball sigil hanging from it.
“Indeed,” he said. His voice was the same. “It is I, Degenhart.”
Professor Oak looked more than a
little irritated. “So! It was you
who possessed me and commandeered control of my—wow, is that you?”
“It is, Samuel,” he said. “I deeply apologize for my actions, but they
were necessary to guide the Rangers in their first step.”
“I can understand, I guess…but are
you really going to use my lab as
your headquarters?”
“I believe we can make some sort of
compromise. Provided you give us enough
space to construct a proper command center, this lad and I…” he motioned to
Max, “…will take care of everything. But
I will be indebted to you for using your body for a time.”
Professor Oak thought for a
while. Then, he got an idea. “Well, I could use another set of hands here
at my laboratory. If you were to assist
me in my research, I’ll provide you and your Rangers with the space you need.”
“Done,” Degenhart said with a
smile. “I am very much interested in
what you are studying Professor.”
The professor raised an
eyebrow. “How much do you know of it?”
“Just what you know, nothing more,
nothing less. Remember, your mind was an
open book to me while I was joined with you.”
“I see.” Professor looked at the five teens in their
color-coordinated outfits. “So Ash,
you’re the leader of this team, correct?”
“That’s right,” Ash answered.
“I expected nothing less. I believe you’ll make a great leader. And hey, you’ve saved the world before,
right? This’ll be a piece of cake for
you, dear boy!”
“Aw…Professor…”
“Rangers!” Degenhart shouted. Everyone looked at him, startled. He looked like he was in a trance. When he didn’t answer right away, they
started to get worried. “Trouble! In
The vision ended, and the Rangers
looked around, making sure they were still in the lab. They needed to come up with a better way of
doing that. Those visions were giving
some of the Rangers a headache. “What
was that?” Brock asked.
“It name is Tempo,” Degenhart explained. “Tempo is a fiend created by Pandion. It has the power to change the temperature of
the entire city if it needed to, turning it into a frozen wasteland or a
roaring inferno. You must get to
“Of course, the whole city will be
burned or frozen if Ash decides to walk again!” Max blurted out. Ash growled at him.
“Go now, Power Rangers. And may The Power protect you!”
“You can count on us,” Ash
said. He looked over his shoulders. Everyone else was in place, awaiting the
command to morph. They grabbed their
Pokémorphers. They went through the
motions. And finally, they shouted the
“magic words”.
“POKÉRANGER! GO!”
* * * * *
Once the morphing sequence ended,
the Rangers were immediately spirited away to downtown Viridian. It wasn’t a very pleasant site. Parts of the city were so frozen over it was
difficult for them to stand up. Once
they regained their footing, they moved forward. A sudden shift in temperature indicated they
were close.
“Look! In that parking lot!” Pokéranger Green
shouted.
The parking lot attendant fled for
his life – and promptly slipped on some ice, landing flat on his face – as the
demon known as Tempo stormed into his parking lot and started melting
cars. Soon a river of molten steel
flowed, melting and destroying everything it touched.
“That’s enough out of you!” Ash
shouted.
“Oro?” Tempo squeaked. It turned to the source of the bold,
intrusive voice. “Ah, look! It’s the Power Rangers!” it shouted. Its voice was high and warbled. “Pandion will be so pleased once I’ve
destroyed you all!”
“That is not gonna happen! We’re here
to stop you!”
“What’s the point? How can you stop me if you can’t stop
them?” Tempo pointed behind them, and a
squad of eight Fossiloids surrounded them.
“Great, not more Fossiloids,” Misty
groaned. The Rangers took defensive
stances, waiting for them to strike.
“What are you waiting for you
fools? Get them!” Tempo shouted.
“You guys take care of these
creeps,” Pokéranger White directed, “I’ll take care of this pain in the ass.”
“Right!” the others shouted. As the battle began, Tempo let loose a chilly
blast that left everything within a yard of the parking lot frozen over. The chilly blast also stopped the molten mass
of metal, giving them a non-lethal, yet uneven, surface to fight on.
“Come and get me, White Ranger!”
Tempo taunted.
Ash summoned his Pokétana. “You want a fight? You got it!” he shouted.
The Fossiloids, the other Rangers
realized, were there mostly to stall for time.
In their morphed forms, Brock, Tracey, Misty and May had little trouble
fighting them off. Brock’s natural
strength was amplified by the Green Ranger’s powers, and he started to enjoy slamming
Fossiloids into walls and the pavement like ordinary jobbers. In fact, when he grabbed one by the ankle,
spun and flung him against the wall of a deli, he couldn’t help but laugh at
the indentation its body made.
The cold didn’t bother the Rangers
that much, as when they’re in their uniforms, their tolerance towards head and
cold were amplified. If Tracey wasn’t
morphed into Pokéranger Yellow, the cold would’ve been too much for him. Being from the
May didn’t bother with her weapon,
as she assumed it would be too cumbersome to get in a clean slash with her
PokéScythe. Instead she took delight in
flipping, jumping and occasionally cartwheeling her way around the squadron of
Fossiloids. A diving butterfly kick
here, a hammer fist here, an occasional somersault kick…May was adapting nicely
to her new powers.
Misty used her PokéSpear often, but
only because she wouldn’t allow one of these soulless demons the privilege of
being within arm’s reach of her. That
and the slashes from her weapon tore nice chunks out of the Fossiloids when the
got too close. She had the honor, it
would seem, of finishing off the final Fossiloid, as an upward slash with her
spear caused it to crumble into dust before the spear was fully extended.
Ash fought evenly with Tempo, but
didn’t rush into the battle with his sword swinging like last time. He had to endure sudden shifts of
temperature, which were really starting to screw with the White Ranger. The constant and very drastic shifts in
temperature started to make Ash shake under his suit.
At one point, his sword clashed with
Tempo’s weapon, a staff that was half red and half blue, and looked like a long
thermometer. The two weapons collided
with a loud clank, with both Ranger and demon vying for domination. Slowly, Ash began to gain the advantage.
“Sorry to disappoint you, White
Ranger,” Tempo cackled, “but I’m just too hot to handle!” The red section – the one that was pressing
against his Pokétana – began to glow a bright red. As it did, it began to grow hot. Very hot.
So hot that the heat transferred through the White Ranger’s weapon and
make it extremely hot…it almost burned a hole in his glove! Ash wailed in pain as the sword dropped from
his hand, the glove smoking and leaving a black imprint on the palm. He clutched his wounded hand and gritted his
teeth.
“And
too cold to hold!” This time, the blue side of the staff flared up until it
gave off a pale blue glow. He slashed
downward, and a blue-white wave of energy flew Ash’s way. Within seconds, Ash was encased in a block of
ice. Tempo cackled wildly.
Misty saw Ash get frozen, and forgot
about the Fossiloid she was battling.
“Ash!” she shouted. She got
kicked in the stomach by it, and she answered with a slash from her PokéSpear. It disintegrated into dust. She arrived first at her frozen leader and
boyfriend, with the other three Rangers hot on her heels.
“He’s frozen solid!” Brock shouted.
“How do we get him out?” Tracey
asked.
“Like this!” Brock didn’t think
twice as he readied his PokéHammer. His
intention was obvious—smash Ash out of that ice the hard way.
“Uh, uh, uh!” Tempo taunted, shaking his finger. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Green
Ranger.”
“And why not?” Brock shouted,
clenching his free fist.
“If you tried using force, the ice
wouldn’t be the only thing that gets shattered!” It laughed heartily as the others fell
silent.
“We have to find out how we’re gonna
get him out of here,” May said. “We
should try melting this ice somehow!”
“You should try melting yourselves!”
Tempo fire a torrent of fire at the other four Rangers. They grunted and covered their upper bodies
with their arms. The heat was intense,
immobilizing. The heat also transferred
to their weapons, and the metal sections began to glow bright red from the
exposure.
Brock casually hefted his PokéHammer
to the side, not noticing it touch Ash’s frozen form. “You won’t beat us that easily!” he
shouted. “Huh?”
A loud hissing caught his ears. He looked for the source of the noise and
again saw Ash, only with his hammer touching the frozen White Ranger. The red glow faded, but some of the ice
melted.
His mind started working in high
gear. “I got it,” he explained, “you
guys thaw Ash out; I’ll take care of Tempo!”
The others pressed the metal parts of their weapons into the Ash popsicle,
the heat melting the top half of Ash’s body.
As he thawed out, he regained control of his head, chest, and eventually
his arms.
Brock, meanwhile, focused his
strength into his hammer and slammed it hard against the ground, causing the
ground to split open and a green shockwave to travel right at Tempo. The force of the impact knocked his light,
nubile form into the air and onto his back.
“Ash, are you alright?” Misty asked
as he struggled out of the ice.
“I’m fine,” he said. Brock came over and struck the ice around his
legs – not full force – freeing Ash completely.
“Thanks, you guys. Now we can
finish this as a team!”
* * * * *
Meanwhile, in his underground cavern
in a distant, salt marsh, Pandion watched the battle with interest. It looked promising at first, when Pokéranger
White was frozen in ice, but once those other Rangers stalled Tempo and freed
their leader.
“Bah,” Pandion grumbled. “This is going to get worse before it gets
better…for the Power Rangers…” He laughed, a low chuckle that gradually grew in
volume. “Ready the Amber Prison!”
* * * * *
As Tempo rose to his feet, orange
energy swirled around him and formed a hard, amber shell. The Rangers looked with rapt interest as the
amber grew overtop of itself, layer upon layer, at a very rapid pace, until in
the middle of a city stood a spire of amber nearly a hundred feet tall. It didn’t stay stable for very long, and a
few second later, cracks began to appear and spread like wildfire. The amber shattered, the shards quickly
dissipating. But that wasn’t the problem
at hand. The problem was that a one
hundred foot tall Tempo emerged from the amber prison, cackling like a man
possessed.
The Rangers on the ground screamed
in shock. How were they to beat this
thing!
“Man! That thing’s huge!” May shouted.
“Rangers, fire at will!” Ash
called. They didn’t need any other
provocation. Each Ranger drew their
individual Ranger Blaster, and sent a volley of blaster fire at the giant
Tempo. Tempo laughed as the blows had
little to no effect.
“Shit! A total no-sell!” Tracey shouted.
“How do we stop this thing?”
TO
BE CONTINUED……………