Specium Ranger
12-13-2005, 10:26 AM
This is a revised version of the now abandoned Mighty Gamin' Geek Rangers. The costumes and mecha are a little more cyberpunk'd and the main villain has been changed to be an intergalactic equivalent of the biggest dick in history. That's right, Jack Thompson. So enjoy the first episode and tell me what you think. A word of warning, this is something I do when I'm not in the mood for my other stuff so the updates will hardly be frequent. Oh yeah, this is set in England, just so you know since it won't really come up in the series. Now that's out of the way...let's do it!
Warning: The following programme contains scenes of intense parody action and comedy! If you are too young, too old or too damn grouchy to view such content, please piss off now!
MIGHTY CYBER
GAME RANGERS
File 01: DAY OF THE NES
By Scott D. Harris
[Opening sequence – ‘Mighty Cyber Game Rangers’]
THE MOON
Two brave yet somewhat naïve astronauts hopped along the surface of the grey planetoid, rapidly moving away from their shuttle – the Novice Padawan. The astronauts came to a halt upon seeing something sticking out of the ground. It was a black-and-grey, box-shaped item with ‘Nintendo,’ written on the front.
“Holy crap!” exclaimed the first astronaut, “It’s a NES!”
“You’re kidding!” cried the second astronaut, “A NES!”
“Let’s open it!” the first popped open the flap. Immediately, a white blast of light shot out of the entry port and incinerated both of them. The NES landed on the ground and white light blasted out of the top. Three figures emerged as the light faded into a single line that shrank back into the NES.
The first figure was a tall man with grey, wavy hair and a chiselled face. He was dressed in a navy blue business suit with a red tie and spiky black armour on his shoulders. His eyes were covered by a pair of red sunglasses. This was the evil Banninator.
The second figure was a shapely female with long, black hair and green eyes. She was dressed in a golden suit of armour that seemed disturbingly like a bikini albeit it covered her forearms, hands, legs and feet. She also wore a helmet that resembled something along the lines of the Gundam Heavyarms except it was all gold and the face was missing. Her name was Bronzelle.
The third figure was a short man with blue skin and no hair. He had pointed ears and dark eyes behind a pair of large glasses. He had the attire of a stereotypical mad scientist and his coat was very oversized. He was known, rather ironically, as Coats.
“We’re free!” the Banninator bellowed and raised his fists in the air, “After bazillions of years we’re free! It’s time to conquer Earth and forbid their greatest joys forever! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! But first…we must recreate our castle.”
Coats reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a vial of green liquid. He poured it on the grey ground and the moon seemed to crack beneath them. A black-and-red castle, rather Gothic in taste, emerged from beneath them and the evil trio teleported inside.
Inside the new throne room, the Banninator sat down as Bronzelle and Coats stood on either side of him. In front of them was a massive balcony that showed the Earth directly in front of them.
The Banninator’s eyes glowed behind his glasses, causing the eyepieces to light up as well. Visions of various teenagers revelling in the joy of computer games flashed over his eyes. The glow ceased, halting the telescopic vision. He slammed his fist on the arm of his throne and boomed, “Computer games?! How dare they have computer games! Computer games are bad because I said so!” He looked at Coats, “Create a batch of Jocks!”
He then looked at Bronzelle, “Lead the Jocks and conquer the Earth! Earth…will…” He stood up and clenched his fist, “…Be ours!”
<><><>
BRAD’S HOUSE, LEETINGTON
The room was a mess but it was very obvious that the owner enjoyed anime, movies and computer games. The bed had an Outlaw Star quilt that showed Aisha Clan-Clan smiling mischievously as Gene Starwind, Melfina and Jim Hawking watched worriedly. The digital R2-D2 clock on the bedside cabinet showed the time was 8:00 PM and through the window, the sky was indeed darkening.
Two boys, Brad and Freddy, were occupying the room. Freddy sat on the small two-seater sofa as Brad fiddled with some cables behind the X-Box. Finally, Brad stood up and took a seat, “Ok Freddy, I’ve got the LAN set up, let’s kick some arse!”
Brad was a relatively skinny figure with wavy brown hair streaked with red and brown eyes. He was dressed in a black Cannibal Corpse t-shirt, jeans and white socks. Freddy was just slightly wider than him with black hair in a quiff and green eyes behind square glasses. His attire was a blue button-up t-shirt, combat trousers and black socks. The two grabbed their X-Box controllers as the DOOM 3 logo appeared on the screen.
“Let’s do this like Duke Nukem,” smirked Freddy.
“I came t’ kick ass an’ chew bubblegum,” quoted Brad in a poorly imitated impression of Duke Nukem, “An’ I’m all outta gum.”
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Brad growled and muttered, “Dang and blast that evil sound…I need to answer it, don’t kill me or I’ll unleash my Jedi Master wrath on you.” Freddy chuckled to himself as his friend got up and left the room, making his way downstairs.
Brad pulled open the door and came face-to-face with a girl of around the same age as himself and Freddy. She was relatively pretty with pink hair down to her shoulders and green eyes. She was dressed in a pink-and-purple tie-dye t-shirt, denim shorts and black Nikes.
“Oh, hey Ginny,” Brad smiled.
“How do,” Ginny responded, “Can I come in? I finally got my hands on Condemned and well…the guy on Ctrl+Alt+Del said it was too scary to play alone.”
“Holy crap!” Brad gasped as his jaw almost literally hit the floor, “Did you say Condemned?! Get in here now, woman!” He grabbed her by the collar and pulled her into the house, slamming the door shut behind her. He pulled her quickly up the stairs and into the bedroom, frightening Freddy.
“What?!” Freddy looked around in a panic, “Is it a Dalek invasion?!”
“Even better!” Brad exclaimed, “Ginny’s here and she’s brought a copy of Condemned! Shut off the LAN Freddy, it’s ‘beat-up-on-evil-homeless-people’ time!”
Freddy quickly went about his task as Brad pushed Ginny onto the settee, drew the curtains and shut off the light. The television was the only thing preventing absolute darkness and the sound of the ceiling fan was now almost eerie to them.
<><><>
COMMAND CENTRE
The command centre was a large, perfectly round room. A pair of heavy sliding doors led onto a triangular platform, which in turn led onto a bridge, which in turn led onto the main section which was encircled with monitors, buttons and all other sorts of gadgetry. A crystal sphere sat on one computer and diamond-shaped alarms were placed in regular intervals along the dark walls. At the far end was a green, glowing tube.
A blue-eyed, otherwise faceless robot that looked like the humanoid representation of a Game Cube ran around, “Oi, oi, oi! What do we do?! A massive surge of evil energy is overloading the sensors! Oi, oi, oi!”
The green column crackled with electricity for several seconds and a spiky-haired green head appeared within its depths. “Spex, the Banninator’s escaped,” he stated in a voice that was filled with false urgency, “Teleport to us three socially-challenged teenagers.”
“I’m on it Dex,” the android known as Spex-4 nodded. He pressed a button on a console and three lights flashed above it: red, blue and pink.
<><><>
BRAD’S HOUSE, LEETINGTON
Brad looked at Ginny, “Damn, Tim Buckley was right, this game really is scary! Uh…does anyone else suddenly feel very light-headed and tingly?”
Freddy and Ginny screamed as Brad was engulfed in a beam of red light and disappeared. Freddy screamed as Ginny disappeared in a similar fashion albeit in pink. Nobody screamed as Freddy disappeared in blue.
<><><>
COMMAND CENTRE
The three beams of light reappeared then faded, leaving the teens who, despite having just been ripped from seating positions and tossed through a thousand miles of air, were standing.
“Look at this place,” Freddy gasped in awe, “Where are we?”
“Let’s push random buttons and see if we find out,” replied Brad.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Freddy nodded.
“NO! Don’t touch anything!” a mechanical voice cried. The trio spun around to see the robotic form of Spex-4 heading for them. Freddy placed a hand on each side of the living console’s head and gasped in astonishment, “Whoa. A talking Game Cube. I’ve never seen anything like it!”
“My name is Spex-4!” the robot swatted the hands away, “A highly advanced sentient automaton…”
“How is that possible?” Ginny asked.
“Shut up! That’s how!” Spex-4 shot back.
The green column crackled with electricity once more and all four individuals turned their attention to it. The green head appeared again and said in a voice of false cheer, “Greetings! I’m Dex Digital, interdimensional warrior of truth, justice and the gamer way. Observe the Looking Ball.”
The three teens looked at the crystal sphere, which showed the Banninator spray painting rude words on the windows of a GAME outlet.
“This is the Banninator,” Dex Digital explained, “He is an evil alien lawyer hell-bent on ruining all things good and joyful in the universe.”
The image changed to show four people in disturbingly mixed sportswear. Their bodies could not be seen and they were dressed in grey jumpers, black jogging trousers, white Nikes, black goalie gloves, black ski masks and hockey masks.
“These are the Jocks, his henchpersons.”
Brad raised an eyebrow at Dex Digital, “And where do we fit into all this?”
“You have been chosen to form an elite fighting force to battle the Banninator,” replied the floating head, “Each of you will be given access to the Gamin’ Grid, which will empower you with the strength to combat this evil.”
In a brief flash, three devices appeared on the waists of the teens. For the most part, they were simple silver rectangles with coloured squares in the centre.
“Behold,” said Dex Digital, “Your Game Morphers and Memory Cards! When in danger, raise them to the sky and call out your codename. This will transform you into Game Rangers! As Rangers, you will command a fleet of fighting machines known as Modders.
“Brad, for your determination, you will be granted the strength of the Crimson Game Ranger and pilot the FPS Modder.
“Freddy, for your imagination, you will become the Indigo Game Ranger and pilot the Platform Modder.
“And Ginny, for being both sickeningly cute and a girl gamer, you will become the Magenta Game Ranger and pilot the RPG Modder.
“Each of you will be armed with a Laser Sword and Laser Pistol plus your skills at gaming will manifest themselves as physical power.”
The Looking Ball showed three humanoid robots. The first was a crimson soldier reminiscent of famed Halo hero Master Chief, the second was an indigo samurai and the third was a magenta elf in Warcraft-stylised armour.
“Just as the three of you work together on Co-op mode, so do your Modders. When you are in dire need, you need only to call upon their power and they shall merge to form the mighty Mega-Modder!”
The Looking Ball now showed faded image of a heavily armoured warrior with a crimson torso and head, magenta arms and indigo legs. The glowing sphere then fizzed and returned to its former blankness.
“Hax!” Spex-4 swore, “The damn thing’s on the blink again. Oi, oi, oi!”
“Sounds like a waste of energy,” Brad shrugged, “Energy I could use to become the supreme master of Warcraft.”
“Yeah, what he said,” Freddy nodded. Ginny just sighed and all three disappeared in the same beams of coloured light.
“Very well,” Dex nodded begrudgingly, “May the LAN protect you.”
<><><>
OWNAGE WOODS
Now outside the command centre, the three saw that it resembled a large, stone SNES. Ginny grumbled, “Great, now we have to walk all the way back to Leetington, great work boys.”
“You could do with the exercise,” Freddy responded, “You’re getting a little flabby.” Ginny gritted her teeth and growled through them, “Girls are supposed to have that ‘flab,’ you virgin moron.”
A loud mix of incoherent warbling filled the air as four of the Jock warriors descended from above. The three teens stood back-to-back-to-back, taking combat positions despite not having much martial arts experience outside fighting games.
“It’s those Jock freaks,” Brad frowned, “Stand ready guys.”
The Jocks danced around the teens then charged. One of them dropkicked Ginny in the back, two more punched Freddy in the gut and the fourth elbowed Brad in the side.
Brad held his ribs and got up shakily, “Let’s give these Game Morphers a go! It’s Login Time!”
[Brad is surrounded by a crimson energy as he holds out his empty Game Morpher. He places the crimson Memory Card in the middle and shouts, “Crimson Ranger Power!” A white wire frame appears over his body.]
[Freddy is surrounded by indigo energy as he holds out his empty Game Morpher. He places the indigo Memory Card in the middle and shouts, “Indigo Ranger Power!” A white wire frame appears over his body.]
[Ginny is surrounded by magenta energy as she holds out her empty Game Morpher. She places the magenta Memory Card in the middle and shouts, “Magenta Ranger Power!” A white wire frame appears over her body.]
A dome of white light washed over Ownage Woods and faded to reveal the teens now clad in hi-tech battle suits.
Brad, now the Crimson Ranger, stood with his legs and arms spread apart. The costume was a black jumpsuit that covered all but his head, hands and feet. The Game Morpher (with Memory Card attached) was part of a white belt wrapped around his waist. A crimson line traced down the outer sides of each arm and leg and two more lines moved down from the shoulders and met at the diaphragm. Over his hands and feet were white gloves lined with crimson. Completing the costume was a crimson helmet with two black eyepieces designed like a pair of glasses. Freddy and Ginny, now the Indigo and Magenta Rangers, wore costumes that were very similar aside from obvious colour changes.
“Ok Game Rangers,” announced Crimson Ranger, “Let’s do it! Laser Pistol!”
He held out his right hand as if holding a gun and a white wire frame formed, solidifying into a silver firearm with flashing lights on the side.
“Laser Sword!” Indigo and Magenta Rangers called together. They held out both hands as if holding a sword and two white wire frames appeared, becoming silver batons with black grips and more flashing lights around the tops. Colour-coded blades emerged, completing the weapons.
Crimson Ranger aimed at one of the Jocks and squeezed the trigger of his Laser Pistol. Several bursts of red light fired from the gun and shot the villain to pieces. The Jock’s body fell to the ground and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Indigo Ranger flipped over an oncoming Jock and stabbed his Laser Sword into it’s back, pulling to the left so the blade sliced the monster completely open. Magenta Ranger swung wildly, decapitating the third Jock and cutting off the arm of the fourth. The dismembered parts fell to the ground and disappeared the same way as the first.
The trio stood together with their weapons at the ready as Bronzelle descended from above. “You may have defeated the Jocks!” she screeched, “But you are no match for Bronzelle!”
“Bring it on you…gold…bimbo…thing,” Crimson Ranger dared while shaking his fist at her. Bronzelle leapt into the air as a gold battleaxe with black blades appeared in her hands. She came down with the weapon and the Game Rangers dodged just in time.
“Plagiarist!” Indigo Ranger scowled, “That’s a cheap copy of the Master Great Axe and you know it, sadist!” Dex Digital’s voice suddenly spoke, “Rangers, you can defeat this devious diva with the Game Blaster.”
“Dex Digital?!” Magenta Ranger looked around, “Where are you?”
“I am communicating with you through-,” Dex Digital began but Crimson Ranger interrupted. “Yeah that’s nice,” the leader stated, “Send us this Game Blaster so we can deal with this bi-atch and go back to playing Condemned.”
“Very well then Crimson Ranger,” said Dex Digital’s voice, “Hold out your hands as if holding a rifle.”
Crimson Ranger did as he was told and a white wire frame appeared. It solidified into a silver rifle with three small, square ports on the side of the main body. “Must be for the Memory Cards,” Indigo Ranger deduced, “The Game Blaster needs their power to work.” He removed the Memory Card from his Game Morpher and popped it into the middle port. Magenta Ranger placed hers in the furthest one and Crimson Ranger’s went into the closest. With his male team mate on his right and his female team mate on his left, the leader took aim.
“FIRE!” all three proclaimed and a multi-coloured ball of energy fired from the end of the Game Blaster. The ball struck Bronzelle and she collapsed.
<><><>
MOON CASTLE
Banninator watched the scene with his telescopic vision. “Time to make Bronzelle grow!” he declared and held out both hands. White lightning shot from his fingertips and headed towards the battlefield.
<><><>
OWNAGE WOODS
Streams of lightning flowed onto Bronzelle’s smoking body and moments later, she was standing again. Rings of blue energy formed around her and she began to grow quickly until she stood towering over the treetops of Ownage Woods.
“Whoa!” Crimson Ranger stepped back, “This’d be a good time to summon those Modders. Let’s do it!” The three Rangers crossed their right arms over their chests and raised their left hands to the skies, palms open, “We need Modder power! Now!”
[The ground surrounding the command centre shakes and a giant PC hard drive tower emerges in front of it. Three compartments open up on the front and the crimson soldier FPS Modder, indigo samurai Platform Modder and magenta elf RPG Modder fly out.]
“OMG!” Indigo Ranger exclaimed, “Those kick arse!”
“Let’s do it!” Crimson Ranger cried and jumped into the air, landing in the cockpit inside the FPS Modder’s head. Indigo and Magenta Rangers did the same, landing in cockpits inside the heads of the Platform and RPG Modders.
“FPS Modder online!”
“Platform Modder powered up!”
“RPG Modder ready to go!”
Crimson Ranger removed the Memory Card from his Game Morpher and commanded, “Rangers, maximum power!” He popped the square device into a slot in the console. Indigo and Magenta Rangers did the same.
“So the Modders have awakened,” Bronzelle fumed, “No matter…you’ll all die here today!” She summoned her battleaxe once more and charged forward. FPS-Modder’s shoulders opened and two black cannons emerged, taking aim at the alien woman.
“FPS Cannons fire!” Crimson Ranger shouted and two beams of laser energy launched from the cannons, striking Bronzelle and sending her crashing to the ground. Platform Modder slashed her several times with it’s two samurai swords. Finally RPG Modder held out a large, pink bow. It pulled back the string and an energy arrow fired out, hitting Bronzelle in the gut.
To the surprise of the three heroes, Bronzelle stood up with a grin on her face. “I’m not so easily defeated,” she chuckled, “The Modders are useless against me!” “Let’s see how you like it when they combine then,” Crimson Ranger sneered, “We need Mega-Modder power!”
[FPS Modder rockets into the air and curls into a foetal position. It spins around, reshaping itself into a crimson torso component with a black upside-down triangle spanning the chest and three black lines on either side of the stomach. A stylised red ‘G’ appears in the middle of the triangle. The FPS Modder’s shoulder cannons now rest on it’s back.
Platform Modder crosses it’s arms over it’s chest and compresses into blue lower leg components with silver armour on the outer sides and silver feet. Two black thighs extend from the bottom of the FPS Modder torso, connecting the converted machines together.
RPG Modder somersaults into the air and spins around, splitting into two pieces which reshape themselves into arm components. A red ‘M’ is imprinted on each shoulder and the biceps are silver. The arms connect to the torso and silver hands extend. Finally, a square panel opens on top and a crimson head appears. It is reminiscent of Samus Aran albeit it has a silver antenna on each side and the visor is blue. The Mega-Modder pumps it’s arms as an explosion erupts behind it.]
Three black swivel chairs carrying the Rangers popped up in a new, larger cockpit with a silver ‘G’ on the back wall. Crimson Ranger is in the middle, Indigo Ranger is on his left and Magenta Ranger sits to his right.
“Mega-Modder power up!” the heroes announced, “Game Sabre!”
The Mega-Modder raised it’s hands as if holding a sword and a white wire frame appeared, becoming a giant gunblade with a silver blade, a black guard/loading gear and a black grip.
Bronzelle ran at the Mega-Modder with her battleaxe held at arm’s length. The giant robot blocked with the Game Sabre and then kicked her in the stomach. Bronzelle stumbled back and fired a beam from her weapon. The Mega-Modder deflected the attack with the blade of the Game Sabre. Bronzelle growled, “This isn’t the end Game Rangers! I’ll be back!” She raised her battleaxe and disappeared in a flash of gold light. The Mega-Modder lowered the Game Sabre, looking up at the moon.
<><><>
MOON CASTLE
Banninator clenched his fist angrily, glaring at the Earth.
“This is not the end Game Rangers!” he snarled, “One day, I will be victorious!”
<><><>
COMMAND CENTRE
Brad, Freddy, Ginny and Spex-4 all stood before a smiling Dex Digital.
“Good work kids,” the floating head said in his usual false tones, “You’ve saved your planet and showed the Banninator that he shouldn’t mess with you. The danger has passed for now, so will you stay on as Game Rangers and protect your homeworld?”
Brad looked at Freddy, Freddy looked at Ginny and Ginny looked back at both of them. They gave a united nod. The first placed his hand in the middle of the group, the second placed his on top and the third followed suit. They then jumped, throwing their hands into the air
“GAME RANGERS!” they cried.
END EPISODE
[Closing sequence – ‘Mighty Cyber Game Rangers (instrumental)’]
Warning: The following programme contains scenes of intense parody action and comedy! If you are too young, too old or too damn grouchy to view such content, please piss off now!
MIGHTY CYBER
GAME RANGERS
File 01: DAY OF THE NES
By Scott D. Harris
[Opening sequence – ‘Mighty Cyber Game Rangers’]
THE MOON
Two brave yet somewhat naïve astronauts hopped along the surface of the grey planetoid, rapidly moving away from their shuttle – the Novice Padawan. The astronauts came to a halt upon seeing something sticking out of the ground. It was a black-and-grey, box-shaped item with ‘Nintendo,’ written on the front.
“Holy crap!” exclaimed the first astronaut, “It’s a NES!”
“You’re kidding!” cried the second astronaut, “A NES!”
“Let’s open it!” the first popped open the flap. Immediately, a white blast of light shot out of the entry port and incinerated both of them. The NES landed on the ground and white light blasted out of the top. Three figures emerged as the light faded into a single line that shrank back into the NES.
The first figure was a tall man with grey, wavy hair and a chiselled face. He was dressed in a navy blue business suit with a red tie and spiky black armour on his shoulders. His eyes were covered by a pair of red sunglasses. This was the evil Banninator.
The second figure was a shapely female with long, black hair and green eyes. She was dressed in a golden suit of armour that seemed disturbingly like a bikini albeit it covered her forearms, hands, legs and feet. She also wore a helmet that resembled something along the lines of the Gundam Heavyarms except it was all gold and the face was missing. Her name was Bronzelle.
The third figure was a short man with blue skin and no hair. He had pointed ears and dark eyes behind a pair of large glasses. He had the attire of a stereotypical mad scientist and his coat was very oversized. He was known, rather ironically, as Coats.
“We’re free!” the Banninator bellowed and raised his fists in the air, “After bazillions of years we’re free! It’s time to conquer Earth and forbid their greatest joys forever! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! But first…we must recreate our castle.”
Coats reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a vial of green liquid. He poured it on the grey ground and the moon seemed to crack beneath them. A black-and-red castle, rather Gothic in taste, emerged from beneath them and the evil trio teleported inside.
Inside the new throne room, the Banninator sat down as Bronzelle and Coats stood on either side of him. In front of them was a massive balcony that showed the Earth directly in front of them.
The Banninator’s eyes glowed behind his glasses, causing the eyepieces to light up as well. Visions of various teenagers revelling in the joy of computer games flashed over his eyes. The glow ceased, halting the telescopic vision. He slammed his fist on the arm of his throne and boomed, “Computer games?! How dare they have computer games! Computer games are bad because I said so!” He looked at Coats, “Create a batch of Jocks!”
He then looked at Bronzelle, “Lead the Jocks and conquer the Earth! Earth…will…” He stood up and clenched his fist, “…Be ours!”
<><><>
BRAD’S HOUSE, LEETINGTON
The room was a mess but it was very obvious that the owner enjoyed anime, movies and computer games. The bed had an Outlaw Star quilt that showed Aisha Clan-Clan smiling mischievously as Gene Starwind, Melfina and Jim Hawking watched worriedly. The digital R2-D2 clock on the bedside cabinet showed the time was 8:00 PM and through the window, the sky was indeed darkening.
Two boys, Brad and Freddy, were occupying the room. Freddy sat on the small two-seater sofa as Brad fiddled with some cables behind the X-Box. Finally, Brad stood up and took a seat, “Ok Freddy, I’ve got the LAN set up, let’s kick some arse!”
Brad was a relatively skinny figure with wavy brown hair streaked with red and brown eyes. He was dressed in a black Cannibal Corpse t-shirt, jeans and white socks. Freddy was just slightly wider than him with black hair in a quiff and green eyes behind square glasses. His attire was a blue button-up t-shirt, combat trousers and black socks. The two grabbed their X-Box controllers as the DOOM 3 logo appeared on the screen.
“Let’s do this like Duke Nukem,” smirked Freddy.
“I came t’ kick ass an’ chew bubblegum,” quoted Brad in a poorly imitated impression of Duke Nukem, “An’ I’m all outta gum.”
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Brad growled and muttered, “Dang and blast that evil sound…I need to answer it, don’t kill me or I’ll unleash my Jedi Master wrath on you.” Freddy chuckled to himself as his friend got up and left the room, making his way downstairs.
Brad pulled open the door and came face-to-face with a girl of around the same age as himself and Freddy. She was relatively pretty with pink hair down to her shoulders and green eyes. She was dressed in a pink-and-purple tie-dye t-shirt, denim shorts and black Nikes.
“Oh, hey Ginny,” Brad smiled.
“How do,” Ginny responded, “Can I come in? I finally got my hands on Condemned and well…the guy on Ctrl+Alt+Del said it was too scary to play alone.”
“Holy crap!” Brad gasped as his jaw almost literally hit the floor, “Did you say Condemned?! Get in here now, woman!” He grabbed her by the collar and pulled her into the house, slamming the door shut behind her. He pulled her quickly up the stairs and into the bedroom, frightening Freddy.
“What?!” Freddy looked around in a panic, “Is it a Dalek invasion?!”
“Even better!” Brad exclaimed, “Ginny’s here and she’s brought a copy of Condemned! Shut off the LAN Freddy, it’s ‘beat-up-on-evil-homeless-people’ time!”
Freddy quickly went about his task as Brad pushed Ginny onto the settee, drew the curtains and shut off the light. The television was the only thing preventing absolute darkness and the sound of the ceiling fan was now almost eerie to them.
<><><>
COMMAND CENTRE
The command centre was a large, perfectly round room. A pair of heavy sliding doors led onto a triangular platform, which in turn led onto a bridge, which in turn led onto the main section which was encircled with monitors, buttons and all other sorts of gadgetry. A crystal sphere sat on one computer and diamond-shaped alarms were placed in regular intervals along the dark walls. At the far end was a green, glowing tube.
A blue-eyed, otherwise faceless robot that looked like the humanoid representation of a Game Cube ran around, “Oi, oi, oi! What do we do?! A massive surge of evil energy is overloading the sensors! Oi, oi, oi!”
The green column crackled with electricity for several seconds and a spiky-haired green head appeared within its depths. “Spex, the Banninator’s escaped,” he stated in a voice that was filled with false urgency, “Teleport to us three socially-challenged teenagers.”
“I’m on it Dex,” the android known as Spex-4 nodded. He pressed a button on a console and three lights flashed above it: red, blue and pink.
<><><>
BRAD’S HOUSE, LEETINGTON
Brad looked at Ginny, “Damn, Tim Buckley was right, this game really is scary! Uh…does anyone else suddenly feel very light-headed and tingly?”
Freddy and Ginny screamed as Brad was engulfed in a beam of red light and disappeared. Freddy screamed as Ginny disappeared in a similar fashion albeit in pink. Nobody screamed as Freddy disappeared in blue.
<><><>
COMMAND CENTRE
The three beams of light reappeared then faded, leaving the teens who, despite having just been ripped from seating positions and tossed through a thousand miles of air, were standing.
“Look at this place,” Freddy gasped in awe, “Where are we?”
“Let’s push random buttons and see if we find out,” replied Brad.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Freddy nodded.
“NO! Don’t touch anything!” a mechanical voice cried. The trio spun around to see the robotic form of Spex-4 heading for them. Freddy placed a hand on each side of the living console’s head and gasped in astonishment, “Whoa. A talking Game Cube. I’ve never seen anything like it!”
“My name is Spex-4!” the robot swatted the hands away, “A highly advanced sentient automaton…”
“How is that possible?” Ginny asked.
“Shut up! That’s how!” Spex-4 shot back.
The green column crackled with electricity once more and all four individuals turned their attention to it. The green head appeared again and said in a voice of false cheer, “Greetings! I’m Dex Digital, interdimensional warrior of truth, justice and the gamer way. Observe the Looking Ball.”
The three teens looked at the crystal sphere, which showed the Banninator spray painting rude words on the windows of a GAME outlet.
“This is the Banninator,” Dex Digital explained, “He is an evil alien lawyer hell-bent on ruining all things good and joyful in the universe.”
The image changed to show four people in disturbingly mixed sportswear. Their bodies could not be seen and they were dressed in grey jumpers, black jogging trousers, white Nikes, black goalie gloves, black ski masks and hockey masks.
“These are the Jocks, his henchpersons.”
Brad raised an eyebrow at Dex Digital, “And where do we fit into all this?”
“You have been chosen to form an elite fighting force to battle the Banninator,” replied the floating head, “Each of you will be given access to the Gamin’ Grid, which will empower you with the strength to combat this evil.”
In a brief flash, three devices appeared on the waists of the teens. For the most part, they were simple silver rectangles with coloured squares in the centre.
“Behold,” said Dex Digital, “Your Game Morphers and Memory Cards! When in danger, raise them to the sky and call out your codename. This will transform you into Game Rangers! As Rangers, you will command a fleet of fighting machines known as Modders.
“Brad, for your determination, you will be granted the strength of the Crimson Game Ranger and pilot the FPS Modder.
“Freddy, for your imagination, you will become the Indigo Game Ranger and pilot the Platform Modder.
“And Ginny, for being both sickeningly cute and a girl gamer, you will become the Magenta Game Ranger and pilot the RPG Modder.
“Each of you will be armed with a Laser Sword and Laser Pistol plus your skills at gaming will manifest themselves as physical power.”
The Looking Ball showed three humanoid robots. The first was a crimson soldier reminiscent of famed Halo hero Master Chief, the second was an indigo samurai and the third was a magenta elf in Warcraft-stylised armour.
“Just as the three of you work together on Co-op mode, so do your Modders. When you are in dire need, you need only to call upon their power and they shall merge to form the mighty Mega-Modder!”
The Looking Ball now showed faded image of a heavily armoured warrior with a crimson torso and head, magenta arms and indigo legs. The glowing sphere then fizzed and returned to its former blankness.
“Hax!” Spex-4 swore, “The damn thing’s on the blink again. Oi, oi, oi!”
“Sounds like a waste of energy,” Brad shrugged, “Energy I could use to become the supreme master of Warcraft.”
“Yeah, what he said,” Freddy nodded. Ginny just sighed and all three disappeared in the same beams of coloured light.
“Very well,” Dex nodded begrudgingly, “May the LAN protect you.”
<><><>
OWNAGE WOODS
Now outside the command centre, the three saw that it resembled a large, stone SNES. Ginny grumbled, “Great, now we have to walk all the way back to Leetington, great work boys.”
“You could do with the exercise,” Freddy responded, “You’re getting a little flabby.” Ginny gritted her teeth and growled through them, “Girls are supposed to have that ‘flab,’ you virgin moron.”
A loud mix of incoherent warbling filled the air as four of the Jock warriors descended from above. The three teens stood back-to-back-to-back, taking combat positions despite not having much martial arts experience outside fighting games.
“It’s those Jock freaks,” Brad frowned, “Stand ready guys.”
The Jocks danced around the teens then charged. One of them dropkicked Ginny in the back, two more punched Freddy in the gut and the fourth elbowed Brad in the side.
Brad held his ribs and got up shakily, “Let’s give these Game Morphers a go! It’s Login Time!”
[Brad is surrounded by a crimson energy as he holds out his empty Game Morpher. He places the crimson Memory Card in the middle and shouts, “Crimson Ranger Power!” A white wire frame appears over his body.]
[Freddy is surrounded by indigo energy as he holds out his empty Game Morpher. He places the indigo Memory Card in the middle and shouts, “Indigo Ranger Power!” A white wire frame appears over his body.]
[Ginny is surrounded by magenta energy as she holds out her empty Game Morpher. She places the magenta Memory Card in the middle and shouts, “Magenta Ranger Power!” A white wire frame appears over her body.]
A dome of white light washed over Ownage Woods and faded to reveal the teens now clad in hi-tech battle suits.
Brad, now the Crimson Ranger, stood with his legs and arms spread apart. The costume was a black jumpsuit that covered all but his head, hands and feet. The Game Morpher (with Memory Card attached) was part of a white belt wrapped around his waist. A crimson line traced down the outer sides of each arm and leg and two more lines moved down from the shoulders and met at the diaphragm. Over his hands and feet were white gloves lined with crimson. Completing the costume was a crimson helmet with two black eyepieces designed like a pair of glasses. Freddy and Ginny, now the Indigo and Magenta Rangers, wore costumes that were very similar aside from obvious colour changes.
“Ok Game Rangers,” announced Crimson Ranger, “Let’s do it! Laser Pistol!”
He held out his right hand as if holding a gun and a white wire frame formed, solidifying into a silver firearm with flashing lights on the side.
“Laser Sword!” Indigo and Magenta Rangers called together. They held out both hands as if holding a sword and two white wire frames appeared, becoming silver batons with black grips and more flashing lights around the tops. Colour-coded blades emerged, completing the weapons.
Crimson Ranger aimed at one of the Jocks and squeezed the trigger of his Laser Pistol. Several bursts of red light fired from the gun and shot the villain to pieces. The Jock’s body fell to the ground and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Indigo Ranger flipped over an oncoming Jock and stabbed his Laser Sword into it’s back, pulling to the left so the blade sliced the monster completely open. Magenta Ranger swung wildly, decapitating the third Jock and cutting off the arm of the fourth. The dismembered parts fell to the ground and disappeared the same way as the first.
The trio stood together with their weapons at the ready as Bronzelle descended from above. “You may have defeated the Jocks!” she screeched, “But you are no match for Bronzelle!”
“Bring it on you…gold…bimbo…thing,” Crimson Ranger dared while shaking his fist at her. Bronzelle leapt into the air as a gold battleaxe with black blades appeared in her hands. She came down with the weapon and the Game Rangers dodged just in time.
“Plagiarist!” Indigo Ranger scowled, “That’s a cheap copy of the Master Great Axe and you know it, sadist!” Dex Digital’s voice suddenly spoke, “Rangers, you can defeat this devious diva with the Game Blaster.”
“Dex Digital?!” Magenta Ranger looked around, “Where are you?”
“I am communicating with you through-,” Dex Digital began but Crimson Ranger interrupted. “Yeah that’s nice,” the leader stated, “Send us this Game Blaster so we can deal with this bi-atch and go back to playing Condemned.”
“Very well then Crimson Ranger,” said Dex Digital’s voice, “Hold out your hands as if holding a rifle.”
Crimson Ranger did as he was told and a white wire frame appeared. It solidified into a silver rifle with three small, square ports on the side of the main body. “Must be for the Memory Cards,” Indigo Ranger deduced, “The Game Blaster needs their power to work.” He removed the Memory Card from his Game Morpher and popped it into the middle port. Magenta Ranger placed hers in the furthest one and Crimson Ranger’s went into the closest. With his male team mate on his right and his female team mate on his left, the leader took aim.
“FIRE!” all three proclaimed and a multi-coloured ball of energy fired from the end of the Game Blaster. The ball struck Bronzelle and she collapsed.
<><><>
MOON CASTLE
Banninator watched the scene with his telescopic vision. “Time to make Bronzelle grow!” he declared and held out both hands. White lightning shot from his fingertips and headed towards the battlefield.
<><><>
OWNAGE WOODS
Streams of lightning flowed onto Bronzelle’s smoking body and moments later, she was standing again. Rings of blue energy formed around her and she began to grow quickly until she stood towering over the treetops of Ownage Woods.
“Whoa!” Crimson Ranger stepped back, “This’d be a good time to summon those Modders. Let’s do it!” The three Rangers crossed their right arms over their chests and raised their left hands to the skies, palms open, “We need Modder power! Now!”
[The ground surrounding the command centre shakes and a giant PC hard drive tower emerges in front of it. Three compartments open up on the front and the crimson soldier FPS Modder, indigo samurai Platform Modder and magenta elf RPG Modder fly out.]
“OMG!” Indigo Ranger exclaimed, “Those kick arse!”
“Let’s do it!” Crimson Ranger cried and jumped into the air, landing in the cockpit inside the FPS Modder’s head. Indigo and Magenta Rangers did the same, landing in cockpits inside the heads of the Platform and RPG Modders.
“FPS Modder online!”
“Platform Modder powered up!”
“RPG Modder ready to go!”
Crimson Ranger removed the Memory Card from his Game Morpher and commanded, “Rangers, maximum power!” He popped the square device into a slot in the console. Indigo and Magenta Rangers did the same.
“So the Modders have awakened,” Bronzelle fumed, “No matter…you’ll all die here today!” She summoned her battleaxe once more and charged forward. FPS-Modder’s shoulders opened and two black cannons emerged, taking aim at the alien woman.
“FPS Cannons fire!” Crimson Ranger shouted and two beams of laser energy launched from the cannons, striking Bronzelle and sending her crashing to the ground. Platform Modder slashed her several times with it’s two samurai swords. Finally RPG Modder held out a large, pink bow. It pulled back the string and an energy arrow fired out, hitting Bronzelle in the gut.
To the surprise of the three heroes, Bronzelle stood up with a grin on her face. “I’m not so easily defeated,” she chuckled, “The Modders are useless against me!” “Let’s see how you like it when they combine then,” Crimson Ranger sneered, “We need Mega-Modder power!”
[FPS Modder rockets into the air and curls into a foetal position. It spins around, reshaping itself into a crimson torso component with a black upside-down triangle spanning the chest and three black lines on either side of the stomach. A stylised red ‘G’ appears in the middle of the triangle. The FPS Modder’s shoulder cannons now rest on it’s back.
Platform Modder crosses it’s arms over it’s chest and compresses into blue lower leg components with silver armour on the outer sides and silver feet. Two black thighs extend from the bottom of the FPS Modder torso, connecting the converted machines together.
RPG Modder somersaults into the air and spins around, splitting into two pieces which reshape themselves into arm components. A red ‘M’ is imprinted on each shoulder and the biceps are silver. The arms connect to the torso and silver hands extend. Finally, a square panel opens on top and a crimson head appears. It is reminiscent of Samus Aran albeit it has a silver antenna on each side and the visor is blue. The Mega-Modder pumps it’s arms as an explosion erupts behind it.]
Three black swivel chairs carrying the Rangers popped up in a new, larger cockpit with a silver ‘G’ on the back wall. Crimson Ranger is in the middle, Indigo Ranger is on his left and Magenta Ranger sits to his right.
“Mega-Modder power up!” the heroes announced, “Game Sabre!”
The Mega-Modder raised it’s hands as if holding a sword and a white wire frame appeared, becoming a giant gunblade with a silver blade, a black guard/loading gear and a black grip.
Bronzelle ran at the Mega-Modder with her battleaxe held at arm’s length. The giant robot blocked with the Game Sabre and then kicked her in the stomach. Bronzelle stumbled back and fired a beam from her weapon. The Mega-Modder deflected the attack with the blade of the Game Sabre. Bronzelle growled, “This isn’t the end Game Rangers! I’ll be back!” She raised her battleaxe and disappeared in a flash of gold light. The Mega-Modder lowered the Game Sabre, looking up at the moon.
<><><>
MOON CASTLE
Banninator clenched his fist angrily, glaring at the Earth.
“This is not the end Game Rangers!” he snarled, “One day, I will be victorious!”
<><><>
COMMAND CENTRE
Brad, Freddy, Ginny and Spex-4 all stood before a smiling Dex Digital.
“Good work kids,” the floating head said in his usual false tones, “You’ve saved your planet and showed the Banninator that he shouldn’t mess with you. The danger has passed for now, so will you stay on as Game Rangers and protect your homeworld?”
Brad looked at Freddy, Freddy looked at Ginny and Ginny looked back at both of them. They gave a united nod. The first placed his hand in the middle of the group, the second placed his on top and the third followed suit. They then jumped, throwing their hands into the air
“GAME RANGERS!” they cried.
END EPISODE
[Closing sequence – ‘Mighty Cyber Game Rangers (instrumental)’]