Episode Nine-"Good Morrow! The Joker Is Riled"

A drama student runs for his life after he is knocked down by an unseen stalker. Sweating nervously, he throws chairs and other theatre props in the stalkers way to make his escape. The student then runs up the stairs of Astaire Auditorium to the top of the walkway stage. Thinking that he had gotten away from him, the man turns and sees the stalker in front of him.

"Thinkst thou, good man, my evil master's will to thwart?" the stranger spoke in broken Old English. "Thou fate shalt be sealed, with your own blood!"

"Get away from me! Leave me alone!" cried the student. He loses his footing on the narrow walkway, and falls 75 feet to the stage, killing him. The mysterious stalker laughs, with its eyes glowing blood red.

Three years later-present day at Astaire Auditorium

A director walks on the stage, near the very spot of the murdering, looking back as he holds the three year old article in his hand. 'CJU STUDENT FALLS TO DEATH ON STAGE'.

He then looks at a recent issue of the Crusader Chronicle and reads, 'STAGE MURDER STILL UNRESOLVED'..

"Despite brother's death, director will visit campus to prepare for Shakespeare Festival." read Vin as the Scanranger crew sit around the cafeteria.

"This is interesting.." said Mikey. "I've even heard that many theatre group had declined to come touring on campus because of that incident..as if there was some curse on that stage..

"Well.." said B.C. "In spite of all that has happened in the past, at least this guy has decided to go against what people think..We're talking about a bold guy here.."

"Check it out, guys.." said Toni. "They've got auditions for actors, dancers and other volunteers for the festival!"

"Coolness!" said B.C. "This will finally give me a chance to practice my acting skills and my endless jocularity.."

"Jocul- what?" said Nick.

"He meant sense of humor, Nick.." said Vin. "I say, we should all give it a shot.. It can help us to get a little taste of culture, class, comedy, and romance.."

And meanwhile, up above the Earth.. Anark Key is being hurled to the wall by one of Blackorg's electron bolts. "KEY! What happened? You failed me again!!" said Blackorg. Vixen, Ug, and Byte witness their master grabbing the punk rock dressed lieutenant.

"It..It wasn't my fault, m-my lord.. Scanranger got in the way and messed things up! Otherwise, e-everything would have been perfect!"

"Enough, fool! I want this planet! I do not want your excuses!" continued Blackorg. "I'll give you another chance to redeem yourself, otherwise, I shall get in the way and truly mess things up, more than you can expect!" The overlord releases Key and walks away.

"More than I can expect?" mumbled Key to himself. "Someday, Blackorg..someday you're going to push yourself too far..

Vixen and Ug approach Key. "Making more excuses again, sweetheart?" said Vixen.

"I don't need to hear anything from you, woman! You've never fared any better against those meddling Scanrangers!"

"Ah, but like Lord Blackorg, as a woman, there are ways to get into their minds.. For all their bravado, except for the lone female, they still have a weakness for the opposite sex..like myself.." Vixen replied.

"Blackorg's giving you a break because you're a woman!" said Key. "Why else he would favor you over me?" As Key argues with Vixen, Ug and Byte get in their way.

"Enough!" said Ug. "We're here to destroy Scanranger, not ourselves!" "Yeah! The big guys right! You have something in mind to do them in, right?" said Byte.

"As a matter of fact, I do!" said Key. "There's an android that was missing while we prepared for the invasion years ago. It's probably wandering about right now.."

Back on the campus, our five intrepid heroes meet up with the director as they prepare for the auditions.

"What I require for you to be part of this festival is to do your favorite Shakespearean scene.." said the director. "You can go ahead and start..."

Various students one by one quote from different plays. One student performs, "To be, or not to be.. That is the question.."

"Forget it..Everyone knows that one.." said the director. "Next!"

Another one comes and quotes,"Friends! Romans! Countrymen! Lend me your ears!"

The director replied, "Been there, done that..Next!"

B.C., the accurate theatre major he was, breaks his audition down as follows:

The four rangers applaud and woof it up for B.C. As B.C. bows, the director is amazed and impressed

"What can I say?" said the director, applauding B.C. as well. "You're in! And so are the rest of your friends...Meet with me in about another half hour for your assignments.."

Later, the five soon to be stars get their positions and compare to each other. "Looks like you and I are going after the main part, Nick.." said B.C.

"Why are you making this such a big deal, B.C.?" replied Nick. "It's only going to be for a few hours this weekend.."

"I'm the theatre major, you're just a computer major.." said B.C.

"And your point?" replied Nick. "Are you insinuating that you're the better star? Get a grip, man.. For a comedian, you are taking this way too seriously..

"Come on guys.." said Vin. "The fact that we all was successful is enough to get more exposure on campus.. besides saving the world and all that, but think how great it'll look on our resumes.."

"So what part are you playing, fearless leader?" asked Mikey.

"Yes..my part..I play a dashing debonair role.. a role that provides intensity and a lot of action.."

"You're playing a mere palace guard?" laughed Toni, looking at Vin's card.

"Ex-squeeze me, Vin Man, but does that episode from The Brady Bunch ring a bell? You know,'Halt! Who goes there?'" said B.C.

"Perhaps to you it's a very small part, how do you think Harrison Ford got his big break?"

The director gets B.C. and Nick prepared for their parts. As he hands them the scripts, he warns them, "I just want to let you know that I appreciate you helping me out on this project. As you may or may not know,everytime the main star tires out for these performances, someone gets injured, or worse, my brother killed.. One guy, who performed as Romeo the year before, started babbling about some fool stalking the Romeo and Juilet performance.."

"MAYHEM perhaps,B.C.?" asked Nick.

"It's a possibility.. but let's listen on.."

"Tell us what we need to do, and we'll make sure that there isn't any trouble." said B.C.

In a dark corner, the mysterious murderer, hidden in the shadows, watches the three. "Report back to me after your classes tomorrow, and we'll get things started." continued the director.

Back up at MAYHEM's flying fortress, the mysterious being reports back to Anark Key. "Mine Lord..what is thy bidding?" "Continue to terrorize the future actors as you have done so before three years ago..The so-called curse of the campus will never be resolved, and not even those vaunted Scanrangers will even solve this mystery!"

Nick returns back to his dorm room, and relaxes on the couch, while the being, sneaking in earlier, slips a mickey into his orange juice. Nick gets up, pours himself a glass, and takes a sip. He later tries to get back to the couch, but starts to get groggy.."Wh-What's going on?" Nick said to himself. "I don't feel too good.."

The next morning, before rehearsal, the others ponder on where Nick is. "What happened to Nick? He's 30 minutes late.." asked Mikey. "Well, the director had a brief meeting, so he told us that we can go over our assignments for the festival..B.C., take Nick's part for now.. I'm going to check his dorm room to see if he overslept.." said Vin.

"Hey, Nick! Wake up!" shouted Vin as he bangs on Nick's door. Noticing that it was open, he goes in and suddenly discovers the fourth in command rendered unconscious.

"NICK!"

Act two

"Nick! Nick! Wake up, man!" Vin shouted. Nick slowly opens his eyes,and instead of seeing his friend he sees some skull-faced creature out to take him out. "AAAGGGHH!" Nick screamed. "It was you! Don't come near me! Nick punches Vin in the stomach and tries to run.

"Nick! What's the matter with you? Snap out of it!"

"So! It was you all along! Trying to kill me, you cybercreature, you! I'm going to get you! I'll kill you! Kill you!!" cried Nick franticly. He then pins Vin down on the ground and attempts to strangle him. "Nick! Stop it! Right now!" Vin cried, trying not to hurt his friend, but he goes to his last resort. "I really don't want to do this, but like they say, it's for your own good!" Vin punches Nick in the stomach, rendering him out cold for a few moments. B.C., Toni, and Kunio rush up to the dorm room.

"Hey, Vin Man!" asked B.C. "Are you all right?" "I am," replied Vin. ..but Nick isn't..let's get him back to Cape Paramount before he comes to.." The Scanranger team then all teleport back to headquarters.

"It seems as if Nick's been drugged.." said Alex. "I remember the director mentioning about some guy auditioning for Romeo and Juliet two years ago, and some guy was mentioning about some creature terrorizing the set. In fact," said B.C. "There is a MAYHEM connection after all. Now we have to expose that cybercreature and stop it..

Nick wakes up, back to normal. "What happened? Where am I?"

"Back at the base.." said Alex. "I'll give you three guesses on who was responsible.."

"You don't have to tell me twice, Professor.. Let me at 'em!" said Nick.

"Wait!" said Toni. Keep in mind that in order to flush out this bad guy, we have to go back to the scene of the crime. And the only way we can stop this villain is to return to rehearsal. The director's expecting us right now.." "In this case, guys," replied Vin. ...let's go! The rangers return back to Astaire Auditorium.

"There you are!" said the director, turning around but not noticing them behind him. "Time's a wasting..Nick, pick up that skull and recite the next line.."

Nick picks up the skull, reciting Hamlet. "Alas, poor Yorick-Huh?"

The skull begins to glow and attempted to bite Nick. He kicks it towards the amplifier. As it explodes, the skull finally reveals itself as KuroJoker, the one responsible for the CJU murdering. This newest cybercreature was dressed in Shakespeare gear, with a court jester type hat on. The director, in total shock, runs frantically to call the police.

"Friends! Romans! Countrymen! Lend me your doom!" cried KuroJoker. He throws exploding skulls at Nick as he dodges them.

"Need a hand, Nick?" said Vin as the other rangers gather to his side.

"What fools these mortals be, attempting to take on me!" said the cybercreature.

"We know who you are now,creature!" said Vin. "Get ready for your curtain call! Let's do this!" The gang summon their Film Braces and VCP's. LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION! SCANRANGER!" They all transform into the Movie Task Force once more for battle.

KuroJoker attacks with his skulls again, but the rangers dodge them. GreenScanner gets the jump on the monster, but it tosses some type of gold dust in Nick's face.

Thou art an amusing person.." said KuroJoker. "Thou needest to lighten up!" It was a hallucinating dust that made Green see the other Scanrangers as skull-faced minions. He then attacks them.

"What? More skull faces?" said Green. "You can't escape me! Out of my way!"

"Not again!" said Blue as he is knocked aside by Green's FilmBlade. Pink and Yellow follow as well.

"Here I go again.." said Red. Taking Blue's Speed-Bo Staff, he fans off the dust off Green. "You all right, Green?"

"Thanks, Red.." said Nick. "The monster wants to play, huh? Well then, foul creature, Have at thee!!" Green runs towards KuroJoker. The monster tries to zap him with his skull staff, but as soon as it gets rid of Green, another one comes. Using the staff again, another pops up, and so on, and so on.

When the Holo-clones surround and pummel KuroJoker, the real GreenScanner punches him out of Astaire Auditorium, and on the grass. "Disc Launcher!" cries Green, zapping the monster, with its staff destroyed.

"All right, let's smite this CyberCreature, guys!" said Red. "Cinemasher!"

"Film Splicer!" said Pink.

"Disc Launcher!" said Green.

"Valkyrie Vancer!" said Yellow.

"Swashbuckler!" shouted Red.

"Speed-Bo Staff!" shouted Blue, using his weapon as a propeller.

The rangers combine their specialty weapons once more into one powerful weapon. Launching it, it runs through KuroJoker. The monster cries, "Foul! Foul! I am defeated!! AAARRGHH!!" The CyberCreature then explodes.

"I don't believe this! I don't flaming believe this!" cried Key as he snatches Byte off Ug's shoulder. "BYTE! Make it big!" Byte fills the cybercreature's remains with Kuronium, enlarging it to about 200 feet tall. The monster then attempted to crush the rangers under foot, but they dodge out of the way.

"Roll 'em out! Hollywood Vehicles!" shouted Red.

As Pegasus,Seahorse, Lion, Peacock, and Sphinx roll onto the battle scene, the rangers fade in their mecha, and load in their DVD disc. "Let's put 'em together, guys!" said Red. "SUPERIMPOSE! THUNDER DOLBY THX!" The mecha merge, and the invincible robot goes into battle mode.

The titans grapple each other, as KuroJoker pummels Dolby back with its skull staff. "Dolby Beam!" shouted Yellow. However, the monster's staff puts up a force field, reflecting the beam back at Dolby. KuroJoker laughs, "HAHAHAHA! Cry havoc! And let slip the dogs of war!!"

"Are we going to let Mr, Bones get the best of us?" said Blue. "It seems that he has a counterattack move for everything we throw at him."

"That monster relies so much on that staff." said Pink. "Once we find a way to destroy that staff.."

"..Then it will be without any type of defense.." said Red. "Yellow! We need a distraction!"

"One distraction, coming up! Sphinx Knuckle!"

The flying fists rocket towards KuroJoker, and as the monster puts up its force field again, they zoom over its head. As the cybercreature lowers its shield, then..

"NOW! GATLING REEL GUNNER! FIRE!" shouted the rangers. The machine guns fire away, blasting the cybercreature. Dolby swiftly jumps in the air towards KuroJoker, landing a 'Dolby Sonic Smash!' into its face, knocking it to the ground.

"All right! Great Editor Sword!" shouted Red. Dolby wields its mighty weapon, chopping KuroJoker's staff in two. The robot goes into its final attack. "Heavy Edit Slash! Final Cut!" shouted the rangers. KuroJoker is sliced in half as it mutters its last words. "Et tu, Brute? Then fall KuroJokkeerarggh!" The creature falls and explodes.

The next day, with the Shakespeare festival out in full force, the students and faculty read an article about '3 YEAR MURDER SOLVED-KILLER DESTROYED IN FREAK ACCIDENT'..

"Hmmm..I wonder how that happened?" replied Professor Alex.

"Search me, teach.." said Vin jokingly. He, Alex, and Toni wre about to witness Nick about to perform in Hamlet.

"Well, it actually worked out that B.C. decided to give Nick the main part.." said the director. "He took it rather well.."

"You guys ready for a great performance?" said Nick as he gets ready to go backstage. "We sure are.." said Vin. "I know that Toni will be dancing in the other play, and Mikey is out hawking fliers for the activites..

"So what will B.C. be doing? I'm curious..." said Alex.

"You'll find out soon enough.." Nick secretly snickers, heading backstage.

As the play begins, the director decided to add a twist to the performance. He added a chorus to get things started. There were B.C.,trying to hide his embarrassment, with three other men dancing on the stage, singing.."Oh, we are the chorus/We hope you like our play/We know you're rooting for us/But we must now go awaaaay!"(Think of the final scene of Bugs Bunny's classic cartoon,'What's Up, Doc?')

"Like they say," said Alex. "All the world's a stage.."

"As you like it.. Professor.." replied Vin, laughing along with the audience.

To be continued..

In our next Scanranger adventure, Toni falls in love.. Yet for some reason, the new CJU student is not whom he seems.. Meanwhile, Vixen plots a deadly revenge, namely on Nick after he thwarted her evil plot long ago What sinister plan does the evil villainess have?

Next-Movie Task Force Scanranger-Episode Ten

"Revenge of the CyberCreature"

Roll that Film!