Gourmet Night presents...

                         ALIEN TASK FORCE TOTANRANGER
                         ----------------------------

                                  Episode 1:
                             "Suddenly so Strong"

In a large government building off in the Californian desert, a slightly
elderly man in a white lab coat with a graphic star on it viewed several
monitors showing statistics, and a larger one revealing a large gray battle
ship with alien writing along the side.
   An assistant in a similar coat with another star on it came up to him.
"Professor Franklin?"  He asked.  "Do the visuals prove your theory?"
   "Indeed."  The professor said.  "I need you to begin the alien project."

-+-

High above the Earth in the gray warship, a plump white mutant named
Matchmorou began constructing monstermen on his computer.  They showed
statistics and armour and the abilities to control the four basic elements.
   "Matchmorou!"  A deep gruff voice came.  "Are the Vinadium armies completed
yet?"
   "Indeed."  Matchmorou replied.  "Are you prepared to lead them,
DragonDogi?"
   "Yes."  The voice said.  He stepped out of the shadows, revealing red
armour with a black hood and evil glowing eyes coming out.
   "And what's the word about our earthen spy?"  Matchmorou asked.
   "We are ready to learn all that she has to offer about this pathetic little
mud ball."  DragonDogi replied.  "She will give us all the information we need
to CRUSH their pathetic armies and easily conquer those disgusting mammals."

-+-

In the Crosspoint High School, a young girl in a pink tee shirt and light
brown pants began stuffing her physics books back in her locker in preparation
for her next class.
   "Is it just me, Matt, or do these books grow bigger throughout the school
year?"  She asked.
   A teenaged boy in a blue plaid shirt and dusty blue jeans leaned back on
his side against the next locker.  He had unusually messed black hair.  "I
dunno.  Hey, do you wanna catch that new GromFleek flick sometime this
weekend?"
   "I'd like that, Matt,"  Kary pimped her short black hair forward a bit,
"but I have to finish my stupid physics project this weekend.  Sorry."
   A shortish teenaged blonde girl wearing blue jeans and a yellow T-shirt
underneath her black jacket was taking out her stationary requirements for her
next class.  A teenaged male in a black tee and khaki shorts slid to the side
of the wall.  He brushed some of the light hair from the front of his face
back into the mushroom haircut he had.  "Hi, Jessica."  He said.
   "Hi, JT."  Jessica replied.
   "So..."  JT tried to make conversation,  "what's new?"
   "Just a test next period."  Jessica said.  She liked JT, but it was
beginning to grow hard to talk to each other.
   "Oh."  JT said, slumping back.  he liked Jessica, and it was pretty much
the same story there.  "Have you seen Drake anywhere?  He was supposed to give
me these notes I need for English."
   "He's over there talking to Erika."  Jessica said, pointing to an area
where a hispanic teenager wearing a red shirt and khaki jeans (yes, it's about
time they came up with those things) was talking to a viatnamese girl wearing
denim jeans and a denim jacket.
   "Thanks."  JT said.

-+-

An army of alien robots wearing gray spandex suits with large black eyes and
metallic features randomly throughout roared war cries loudly from the launch-
ing bay.
   "VINADIUMS!"  DragonDogi's loud and powerful voice came through the
intercomm.  "Your time has come!  Attack the planet!"
   The entire army simultaneously gave the salute and headed off to do battle.

-+-

At CrossPoint High, the alarms started clamouring uncontrollably.  What did
you expect?  they didn't have a set frequency for this thing, even though the
science club had suggested that they get one.  Students were screaming and
going crazy, running everywhere.
   In the middle of the mayhem were Drake and his friends.
   "What are we gonna do?"  Kary yelled.
   "I don't know!"  Matt said.  "Just hang on tight!  Don't get crushed from
all this!"
   "Hey, where's Erika?"  Drake asked.
   "I think she was outside."  JT said.
   "I'm going after her!"  Drake said as he began to wade through the large
sea of students.

-+-

Outside of CrossPoint High, Erika dashed past all the crazed students to the
abandoned side of a building.
   "My lord."  She said under her breath.  "This is Nikita.  I'm Back!"
   Erika shoved her arm into the air and instantly transported out in a bolt
of red lightning.

-+-

Drake dashed through the lawn of the High School, and headed in the direction
that Erika had.  Matt, Kary, Jessica, and JT followed him.
   "ERIKA!"  Drake called out.  "ERIKA, WHERE ARE YOU!"
   The others managed to catch up to him just as he began to lose his wind.
   "Drake.  Don't worry."  Matt comforted his friend.  "It's OK.  She'll be
OK."
   Drake rested on the sidewalk.  "I can't believe this.  I just feel so...
helpless.  I need to be there for her."
   "Don't worry, we'll try to find her."  Kary said.  "I know we will."
   A man in ablack suit, who was apparantly watching the whole thing, began
coming to them.
   "Are you Drake T. Swift?"  He asked.
   "Yeah."  Drake said, semi-choking on his tears.
   "Hold still."  The man said, and raised up a silver gun from his jacket.
   "Shit!"  JT yelled.  They began to run off, with a man in a black tuxedo
and ray-ban sunglasses chasing after them.  The teenagers ran outside, but the
man cut them off.
   "Hey, you kids, stop!"  He yelled.  "You're under arrest."  The man fired
the gun, but instead of a bullet coming out, a white blinding light was
emitted.  When it cleared, the five teenagers were lying unconscious the
ground.
   The man put the weapon back into his jacket and took out a cellular
phone-like mechanism out.  "NOVA, this is Agent Manhiem, I have the
objectives.  I'll need a cleanup crew here."

-+-

In the Shadow Empire ship, DraginDogi was polishing his sabre.  Just as he
was finishing, Erika stepped into the command chambre, dressed in Golden
armour and clutching a sabre of her own.
   "Ah, Nikita."  DragonDogi mused.  "You've decided to go back to your
traditional apparel."
   Erika took a few seconds to test how she moved in her armour.  "Yes, my
lord.  And I have information that you may need about the planet's defense
systems."
   "Excellent, Nikita."  DragonDogi said.  "But look at this."  DragonDogi
pressed a button on a console, and the main stats-screen showed the faces fo
Drake, Matt, Kary, Jessica, and JT.  "These five have just vanished.  This
might be important.  I feel NOVA may be involved."
   "...drake..."  Erika said quietly.

-+-

On some cushions that had been placed on the floor in a darkened laboratory-esque
room inside the NOVA building, the five teenagers lay unconscious.
   "Wake them."  A voice said.
   "Yes, sir."  Another voice said.
   The second figure held what appeared to be a type of chrome-plated pen in
one hand.  He touched a switch or something and a bright light popped out of
the side.  It instantly woke the five teenagers.
   "Where are we?"  Jessica asked groggily.
   The lights switched on, revealing a slightly elderly man with white hair
and a white lab coat, with a clipboard under his arm.  He took it out and
reviewed the evidence on it.
   "You must be... Ms. Jessica Howell."  The man said.
   "What's in it for you?"  Jessica asked.
   "My name is Professor Sherman Franklin."  The man said.  "I see that we
didn't waste our funding on obtaining the five of you."
   "Why exactly have you wanted to... ÔObtain' us?"  Kary asked.
   "I am quite glad you asked."  Franklin replied.  "Three weeks ago we
monitored an unregistered vessel entering our territory.  We view them as
'definitely hostile'."
   "Why?"  Drake asked sarcastically.  "Did they not ask your permission to
come in?"
   "You are quite correct."  Franklin said.  "NOVA has specific standards of
invitation and allowance of extraterrestrials into terran territory."
   "Kinda like 'Men in Black'?"  Matt asked.
   Franklin took a second to figure out what the hell 'Men in Black' is.
"Exactly.  Anyway, we have received reports that they are powering up combat
systems and they have us as their potential target.  They're a race of
unregistered warlocks, so they will send down combatants to fight our armies
instead of launching an all-out attack on our planet."
   "Why?"  Matt asked.
   "It's their way."  Franklin responded.
   "But what the hell does that have to do with us?"  Drake asked.
   "Your friend Drake's action for his friend couldn't have come at a better
time.  You see, we've had the five of you in our sights for quite a while.
The past five years of your lives were closely monitored and maintained by
NOVA officials."
   "You meant you were SPYING on us for FIVE years?"  Jessica burst out angry.
   "In a sense.  You see, we knew that this would come five years ago, so we
were secretly developing martial arts and combat skills from your brainwaves.
Even your DNA has been altered."
   "How did you do it?"  Matt asked.
   "Anytime you needed anything medical, even a cold, NOVA has managed to get
there first and manage to put specific alteration chemicals into your medical
requirements."  Franklin notice they looked both uneasy and upset.  "Don't
worry, there are no long-term effects.  Just your stamina, intelligence, and
reflexes have been increased."
   "I can't believe you DID that!"  Kary yelled at him.
   "It was a requirement for all Totan Warriors."  Franklin said.
   "Wait.  What's a Totan Warrior?"  JT asked.
   "Actually, the correct phrase is 'Totan Ranger'."  Franklin said.  "You're
an elite task force that we've selected to protect the Earth from the Virus
Warlocks."
   "'Virus warlocks'?"  Kary asked.  "You mean, the aliens."
   "Technically,"  Franklin said, "you're also the aliens now."
   "Wait."  Drake said.  "Don't we get some kind of CHOICE of whether or not
we have to take part of this?"
   "Of course, it's your decision."  Franklin said.  "But everything that's
happened since 11:05 this morning can get you jailed or deported.  So to
prevent THAT, I'd suggest you take your Alternater."
   On the table five electronic wristwatches came out of a hiding alcove.
Each beeped and had moving light display in the Ranger's individual colours.
   "These are your Alternaters."  Franklin said.  "Each one will be able to
call on your powers and transform you into the (how should I put this?)
Alien... Task Force... Totan... Rangers."

-+-

The five teenagers reached the construction site at about nighttime.  The
Vinadiums were just generally trashing the place, and the actual construction
workers in question were nowhere to be found.  The Vinadiums did not seem to
notice that the teenagers were there.
   "HEY!"  Drake said.  All the Vinadiums all stopped what they were doing and
looked in his direction.
   "Good move."  Matt muttered.
   "Look."  Drake adressed the Vinadiums, "What you are doing is wrong.  I
urge you to stop."
   "Good speech, Drake."  Matt said sarcastically.
   The Vinadiums all began coming in the Rangers' direction.
   "What now?"  Jessica asked.
   "Rangers,"  Sherman interrupted through their communicators.  "There's
something you must know.  Although your suits are highly woven metal, they
need time to adjust to your use of them.  They may not be able to protect you
from every enemy."
   "We'll be careful."  Drake said.
   "Totanranger!"  Franklin said.  "Alternate now!"
   "Become Alien!"  Drake said.  "Turn Totan!"
   The five took their left wrists (which had the Alternaters on them) and 
crossed their arms, then jammed their right wrist to the side and dialed in, 
the computer reading along with them.
   Two-Zero-Seven-Four.

 Drake was instantly sucked into a black void with a green background grid.  
 The red spandex suit appeared on him, and as the camera closed back, he X-ed 
 then released his arms, sending energy surges into the others, transforming 
 them into their costumes.  The battle team stepped out from their void back  
 into the battle site.
   "TotanRangers!"  They all called out, lightning bolting over them.
   They all observed their costumes.  They appeared to be a super-strong type
of spandex.  They were the rangers' individual colour, with a sideways-I bar
across the chest, and on the top of the arms, white bands.  On the back of
their fists was the sideways-I logo again, this time their colour against the
white gloves.  Their belts had a chrome-plated lightweight belt buckle
mechanism.  Their helmets had steel mouthguards with the lips molded on, and
their visors were individually designed.  Over the top of the visors were the
sideways-I logos, golden and gleaming bright.

-+-

"You see that?"  DragonDogi yelled, having observed the whole thing on his
monior.  "I KNEW NOVA had something to do with this.  Well, I hope you weren't
friends with any of these humans.  They won't be around much longer."
   Erika just lurked in the background.

-+-

"This is incredible!"  TotanYellow said.  "There's all this power inside me."
   "Man!"  TotanGreen said.  "These costumes rock!"
   "I love mine!"  TotanRed said.  "Hey, Matt, yours is pretty cool."
   "Thanks, Drake."  TotanBlue said.  "But now, let's kick these robots'
mechanical butts!"
   The Rangers flipped into the air gracefully and landed behind the
Vinadiums, taking them by surprise.
   "Hiya."  Totangreen said lightly.  He started doing a whirlaround kick and
took out three Vinadiums in three seconds.
   "Biya."  He then commented dryly.
   TotanYellow did a continuous frontal kick, causing the Vinadiums to back
away in fear.  After getting them into a nice spot, she performed a roundhouse
kick and knocked them all out.  Other Vinadiums were coming her way.
   "Uh oh."  She said, and flipped off.
   In another area, TotanPink began doing multiple backwards handsprings,
making the Vinadiums chase after her.  After reaching a clear area, she
flipped high into the air and did an upsidedown T-kick, knocking out two small
groups of the alien warriors.
   "Wow."  She exclaimed.
   Without pausing, she began fighting off another oncoming group.
   TotanBlue was having a little trouble with one group, so he side-flipped
while simultaneously grabbing his ElectroBlaster.  While landing, he shot the
blue-tuned beam at the aliens and they fell back.  But there were more
Vinadiums heading his way.
   TotanRed was surrounded by a group of Vinadiums and there was no way out.
   "Nowhere to go but up."  He said.  He then flipped STRAIGHT UP and landed
safely on a balance beam 30 feet high in the air.  All the Vinadiums could do
was stand around looking odd, and Totanred flipped off it and spun his body in
a flying roundhouse kick, obliterating every enemy in his sight.
   TotanRangers Blue, Green, Pink, and Yellow were facing off against thirty
Vinadiums, who were closing in hard.
   "Let's use some weapons!"  TotanBlue said.
      "BattleAxe!"  TotanGreen yelled, calling forth his powerful green-colour-
   ed metal axe.
      "GyrateJammers!"  TotanYellow called, twirling her metal nunchuku around
   proudly.
      "CrossFire!"  TotanPink commanded, aiming her bow.
      "LancePuncher!"  TotanBlue finished, holding his blue metal staff.

   "Cool weapons."  TotanRed said.  "Let me try that.  KatanaSlice!"
   TotanRed found himself holding a red sword.
   "Take 'em down!"  TotanGreen yelled.
   TotanGreen managed to leap up onto a steel bar and cut it in half with his
axe, causing it to fall and destroy a small number of Vinadiums.
   TotanYellow sent her nunchuku revolving at maximum speed and managed to block
several of the Vinadiums from hitting her.  She then wrapped them around a pole.
The Vinadiums closed in on her.
   "Surprise."  TotanYellow said, pulling the pole, causing rubble to flatten the
alien warriors.
   TotanPink flipped on high steel bars, gaining altitude with each flip.  She
backflipped onto a high bar and shot several of her laser arrows at the aliens,
causing them to fall back into a pit.
   TotanBlue managed several hits with his staff, then grabbed it with one hand
and spun around, causing the Vinadiums to fall back after their ankles made
contact with the blue metal.  One Vinadium grabbed the staff while it was moving.
The Vinadium apparantly grinned as he held the Ranger's weapon, but the Ranger
grinned back and raised his staff back hard, tossing the golem back into the air.
   TotanRed tried to slice through the Vinadiums, who were swift enough to avoid
the swipes.  That is, for a while.  TotanRed managed to ward them off and get them
all with a high spinning heel kick.
   "Good job."  TotanRed siad.  "Looks like that's it!"
   The Totanrangers all teamed up in the centre of the semi-destroyed
construction site (how do you destroy a construction site, especially an empty
one?).
   "Way to go, Drake."  TotanPink held TotanRed's shoulder.
   "We did it!"  TotanYellow jumped up saying.
   "We all did it."  TotanRed said.  "Together."
   Just then, the wary construction workers came out of wherever it was they
were hiding.
   "Who are you guys?"  One construction worker asked, studying the
steel-based suits.
   "We're the, um..."
   "uhh..."
   "I've got it."  TotanGreen said.  "We're the Alien TaskForce TotanRangers."
   "Then we owe you a load of thanks."  The construction worker said, shaking
Totanred's hand.
   "All in a day's work, I guess."  TotanRed said.  "First day on the job.
heh h eh..."

-+-

In the Shadow Empire ship, Dra gonDogi paced around matchmorou's workshop.
    "Would you please stop pacing?"  Matchmorou asked.  "It is very difficult
for me to construct Virus Monstermen with you pacing around here all day."
   "We have new enemies."  DragonDogi said, his eyes beginning to glow
ominously yellow.  "These new Virus Monstermen MUST be able to defeat these...
Totanrangers."
   "I assure you..."  Matchmorou said, working on his computer, "our Virus
MonsterMen will DESTROY our enemies."

                T O   B E   C O N T I N U E D . . .

NEXT TIME ON ALIEN TASK FORCE TOTANRANGER...
Jessica's powers may be dimming,  and DragonDogi decides to use this against
her  and the other  Rangers by sending  down  the  finally  completed  Virus
Elemental team.   Will the undermanned Alien Task Force be able to stop this
new menace before they destroy Valencia?     Find out in the next episode of
TotanRanger... "Elements of Destruction"!

----------------------------------------------------------------[ Episode 1 ]-
These  stories  are Copyright (c) 1997 - 1998 Gourmet Night and Chris Neumann.
The  characters  and  events depicted  in  this  series  are  fictional.   Any
similarity to actual persons,    living or dead,  is purely co-incidental  and
unintentional,  unless otherwise indicated.   This series is in no way related
to Saban, Toei, Asahi-TV, or the "super-sentai" series.
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