Picking on the Team (Patreon)

Liveman’s up at it again! Defending Academia Island, the young animal-powered heroes realized that the threat they faced was bigger than before. They needed to go places, including the dilapidated town with its abandoned school. Needless to say, they should have stuck to the main road!

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Get schooled!

“Minna, I don’t like this,” commented Megumi as the Blue Dolphin Liveman. The team had stopped in front of an abandoned school. The buildings were dilapidated and the main gate was barred. All signs showed the Sentai heroes not to go there.

“I don’t like it more than you do, Blue. But the monster went there and we have to get to him!” rejected Liveman Black Bison as he pointed at the weird-looking figure that ran off into the distance and into the main building’s entrance.

“The kids depend on us, Megumi,” added Jun’ichi the Green Rhino hero with a calmer tone. “He has their lifeforce taken. We need to save them before it’s too late.”

“That’s what heroes do, Blue. We can go places ordinary people can’t and won’t go to banish evil there. This place is no exception.”

Assured, Blue Dolphin nodded. “Let’s go. We’ll make the world a better place.”

“Yosh! Let’s go!” exclaimed the excited Liveman Red Falcon as he leaped across the locked gate. His superhuman feats made it easy to bypass all obstacles. His teammates followed with the same grace and power.

The school area was empty that night. Even the Sentai heroes’ rushing steps were audible and amplified. The five Livemen entered the main school building and were greeted by rows of broken lockers. “What happened here?” asked Liveman Black Bison as he tried to put one of the locker’s doors back in place. It was a futile attempt as the hinges were destroyed.

“Corruption happened. It was all over the news. The local government officials robbed the money meant for schools like this. The management held on for a while but lost authority in the end. Students left the schools, then the teachers.” Red Falcon carefully walked among the lockers as he explained. “Makes you wonder whether people are worse evil than the villains we faced.”

“An entire generation of kids robbed of the opportunity to get an education,” lamented Black Bison. He eventually ripped the locker door apart. “Sick.”

The entrance double doors closed behind the Liveman team, making them shocked. Then, a disembodied voice echoed with mocking laughter. “Enough with the sad story. I kind of like the crime your people did. It gave me a good spot to launch my operation.”

“Show yourself, Demon!” demanded Jou the Liveman Yellow Lion emotionally while clenching his fist.

“Where’s the fun in that, Heroes? Here’s what I will offer you. If you can find me, you can have all the juicy lifeforce of those lovely kids that I have taken.” The team heard a disgusting slurping noise. “Clock’s ticking though because I am craving this energy meal! Hahaha!”

As if adding the insult, the monster’s deformed shape was projected on all reflective surfaces around the Liveman team. On the dirty classroom door window, on the ceiling glass, and even on the broken locker. The image made Black Bison punch the locker in anger.

As the silence returned, the Sentai heroes gathered to discuss the next course of action. “It’s obviously a trap. He wants us to split so he can take us one by one!” blurted Green Rhino with common sense.

“That’s true, but we don’t have enough time. We need to get to him before he consumes the children’s life force.”

“We can go in pairs,” suggested Megumi. She immediately saw a problem with that. “But one of us-”

“I’ll go solo,” volunteered Tetsuya as the Black Bison Liveman. He pressed the side of his helmet to open the visor glass. “I’m the strongest member of the team. There’s nothing the monster can do to beat me. Besides, you need speed over power. Let’s get this over with!”

The visor closed back. Everyone nodded. Green Rhino put his hand on Bison’s shoulder. “Keep your guards up.”

Tetsuya snorted. “Don’t you worry. I’m going to hammer our little friend if he try to mess around!”

With that, lights glowed in his hands before solidifying into the Bison Rod weapon.

Megumi shook her helmet. “Show off!” giggled the Blue Dolphin as she also summoned the Dolphin Arrow.

The rest of the team followed with their own arsenal. Three teams were made: Yellow with Green, Blue with Red, and Black on his own. Incidentally, there were three corridors that extended from the locker room. The heroes dashed toward darkness, not knowing that their every move was monitored by the dominating monster.

The building was crumbling around the Rangers. Even the hallway floor was creaking although there were no holes in sight. Yellow and Green Liveman stopped their rushed steps and walked more carefully. That didn’t help them.

A loud crack sound echoed in the empty school corridor. The two spandex-clad muscular heroes fell into darkness with a significant plume of dust. Despite the commotion, their teammates were not aware of their fate as the place layout’s had changed. Their location was now blocked by a newly-emerging wall, completely sealed from the other Liveman.

“What the hell was that?!” coughed Jou the Yellow Lion as he moved himself out of the heap of bricks and broken boards.

His comrade did the same. “I hate old buildings,” commented Jun’ichi as he calmed himself.

The two looked up at the hole where they came from. The drop must have been more than ten meters down. The Green Rhino Liveman tried to jump with his superhuman strength.

Despite how perfectly powerful his apparent thigh muscles were, Green Rhino could only reach half the height. Cursing, he concluded, “There must be another way to reach our previous corridor.”

“Yeah, IF we can know where we are now,” retorted Jou as he glanced around. The surroundings were pitch-black space. Luckily, the Liveman heroes had infrared mode in their helmet visors. The jet-black void turned into an equally-eerie green hue. “Huh, at least we now know that there’s a big wall in front of us.”

Then the wall moved. Rumbling sounds were heard as the heavy blockade produced a massive mouth. Then, its glowing red eyes awoke with a roar. “Run!” ordered Yellow.

“Wait, our weapons!” replied Green. His attempt to retrieve his boomerang-like Sai Cutters was prevented by Yellow. It was a lost cause anyway as the wall giant ball monster rolled on the arsenal, instantly destroying them in a small explosion.

Seeing the giant was shocked by the destruction, the two Livemen made a run for it. They rushed into the labyrinthine corridors of old bricks and pipes. There was no illumination whatsoever there. Thus, their only advantage was their infrared vision.

“Right!”

“Left!”

The two collided with each other. The confused spandex heroes heard the echoing roar that was coming closer. “Go go go!”

They took the hallway to the right. Unknowingly, the bricks piled up on their own to create a new wall behind them. The Yellow and Green Livemen were sealed in their new corridor.

After a while, Yellow stopped his run. “I think we lost him,” said the exhausted hero.

“You think so? I could’ve sworn I felt his rumbling footsteps just now.” Jun’ichi gulped. “You’re right. It’s just my imagination.”

The two heroes looked around. They were at an intersection of three labyrinth corridors. All of them looked the same. It was depressing, to say the least.

“Okay, so what now? Where to?” asked the confused Green Rhino warrior.

“Why do you ask me? You’re the team genius!” blurted Jo.

“We’re all geniuses, Jou. That’s why we were brought to Academia Island.” Jun’ichi made a fake cough. “That being said, I’m the one who uses thinking more in the team.”

“Well then, what’s the big brain of yours suggest we do next?”

Green Rhino looked around. The walls were damp bricks in all directions. The lights were there but not turned on. It was as if to instill false hope in whoever was trapped in this maze. Then, the Liveman hero looked up.

“The pipes!” he concluded.

“Huh?”

“I bet these pipes are going somewhere,” added Rhino as he pointed at a series of metallic pipes that ran on the ceiling. All of them went to one of the corridors.

Yellow Lion looked to the other hallways that are not getting the pipe share. Now they didn’t look so promising as options for exit. “It’s our best shot,” replied Jou while shrugging. “Let’s go!”

The heroes’ dash resounded in the tight corridors. They left two passageways to go into another one. After long last, they saw something in the distance.

“You have to be kidding me!” exclaimed Jou as the object became clearer as the duo approached it.

It was an arcade machine. An old one that is. The big pulp-styled title said KUCHI in Japanese. “Mouth,” mumbled Jun’ichi.

“What’s this, some kind of a sick joke?” Jou’s question was answered with the monitor turning itself on. “Oh, shit. It’s us!”

He was right. On the screen were the simple pixelated figures of the five Liveman heroes. The arrows pointed at the yellow and green characters. Just above them was a map of a labyrinth. Green and yellow were at a chamber in the middle of it, just like Jun’ichi and Jou were doing right now. Away from them was a silvery ball with a mouth that actively roamed the dark space. “That’s the monster we met before,” pointed Green.

“The bastard is tracking us all this time!” groaned Yellow Lion as he slammed the arcade machine’s side. The monitor was glitching because of it. Just then, a big silvery ball appeared in a corridor close to them.

“Is that…” Yellow Rhino wasn’t so sure he wanted an answer himself. The silvery ball opened its mouth just like before. “It’s a mouth.”

“Huh?”

“It’s Pakkuman! We’re in a real-life Pakkuman game. Don’t you know it?” Jou pointed at the symbols on the screen. “Those are the enemies who want to get us. Our job is to find the exit while staying out of their reach. If we meet, things going to be ugly!”

“That’s not exactly a heroic game, is it? We just need to escape them?”

Yellow nodded. “Let’s just hope that there are some power-ups here like in the game.” Just then, an object appeared not far southward from their position. “There, in that chamber!”

“Let’s get it!” said the excited Jun’ichi especially when the map also showed how a monstrous silver ball was coming to the arcade machine room. He took the time to take a snapshot of the maze map with his sophisticated helmet visor system before running out into the darkness again.

Again, the walls behind them changed. New routes were formed and old ones were blocked. Their path to the arcade machine was immediately shut off without them knowing.

The walls rumbled behind them. The two heroes were getting agitated. They had confidence in themselves as Livemen, but going without weapons against a giant carnivorous ball monster? Not so much. “It’s close!” blurted Yellow.

“Are you talking about the power-up or the ball beast?” asked the concerned Green Rhino.

“Both! Put a pace on it!” Yellow Lion ran faster and his compatriot tried to keep up. The spandex heroes became streak of multicolored light as they traveled in superhuman speed. They turned left and right, left and right, then right and left before stopping.

“This is stupid. We need that power-up or else the monster’s gonna get us!” said the exhausted Yellow as he bent over.

“It’s just around here- Wait, did you hear that?” Green Rhino looked up and around. The duo heard something faint in the distance.

No, it was close but blocked. Green Rhino put the side of his helmet on the nearest wall. Inside, his eyes opened wide. “It’s a kid!”

“Huh, what?!” Yellow Lion did the same. He heard it too. Just beyond the cursed wall, they heard a kid screaming for help. Jou immediately pounded the solid bricks. “Hey, hey, you! Over here!”

“Please, help me! Anybody!” The child’s voice was moving. He must be loved in this jet-black labyrinth. “I’m so tired…”

“Hey, don’t give up yet! Can you hear us?!” called out Jun’ichi as he also punched the wall.

That seemed to be working as the heroes began to hear shuffling noises coming toward them. “Is anyone there?”

“Yeah, us! We’re the Liveman Sentai team. We’re gonna get you out of there. Just hang on!”

The two departed from the wall to talk about the strategy. “How’re we supposed to break down that wall?”

“Liblaster!” announced Jun’ichi as he summoned a sword weapon. His action made Jou nod. The two simultaneously slashed the wall in front of them.

That didn’t work. Only sparks burst out and some burn damage. That didn’t discourage the heroes. They switch the Liblasters into energy weapon mode. Streaks of deadly laser struck the bricks.

A big explosion erupted and made the Livemen retreated. A thick plume of dust and smoke gathered and blocking the infrared vision. “Fuck! Are you okay?” asked Yellow.

Green Rhino showed his thumb while nodding. “Did we get it?”

Yellow Lion waved the thick cloud away while rushing forward. There was a hole in the wall alright. They did it! “You got that right!”

Encouraged by the damage they had done, Yellow Lion continued his endeavor by blasting the surrounding wall. The loosened bricks fell down in a bigger plume of smoke. The gap was finally human-sized. “I’ll get him!”

“Hey, wait!”

Yellow Lion stepped into the corridor next door. He immediately shouted for the boy. “Hey, where are you? We’re here. It’s safe now!”

“Help… Help!” replied the sound that made Jou look to the right. The boy was just around the corner.

“Hang on, I’m coming-”

When Green Rhino finally caught up with his teammate, he gasped at the sight of horror. He saw Yellow Lion Liveman and the boy in front of him. But it was nothing but a ruse. The child was nothing but a human-shaped tongue of the massive silver ball Pakkuman monster.

Green Rhino froze in fear, but his friend’s shout snapped him back. “Get that power-up!”

There was a loud roar as the ball monster charged forward with its open maw ready to devour the Sentai hero. But Jou wasn’t going down easily. He used his Liblaster to shoot the demonic mouth before going for the glowing eyes. With his adversary in pain, he did a quick double slash to inflict even more pain.

Snickering in his helmet, the youngster jumped to do the finishing attack. He aimed the Liblaster’s sword mode to stab the monster right between his eyes. This would be a quick victory.

Or not. The monster suddenly opened his mouth to show the boy-shaped cursed tongue. The child screamed in a painful high-pitched shrill. Yellow Lion’s leap was distorted by the agonizing sound.

Instead of landing heroically to kill the demon, Jou hit the brick floor badly, even rolling before bouncing off the weird rubbery body of the monster. Grunting, the Yellow Lion hero couldn’t escape what was coming.

“Silly hero! Do you really think you’re going to survive the maze? You’re going to live inside me forever!” With that, the disgusting tongue boy launched itself out to grab the spandex hero by the stomach. Giggling, he violently groped Jou both in the effort to keep him down and for other, more carnal purposes.

“Jou, no!” called out Jun’ichi. He tried to help him but he also saw the tongue grabbing the Liblaster with its stretchy arm and throwing it into the monster’s mouth.

Jou stopped Green Rhino. “You can still save me! Get that power-up! Hrngh!”

Jou arched as the boy cupped his spandex-covered groin with one hand and pinched his raisin with the other, all while smearing him in a thickening yet slippery saliva. The monstrous manifestation made him squeal and writhe with the violation, all while pulling him slowly toward the jagged maw.

One Liveman was gone. The Yellow Lion was painfully chewed by the jagged maw before getting yanked backward toward the slimy, fleshy wall just behind it. No matter how strong Jou tried to break himself free, the encroaching rubbery meat was too much for him. More and more of his spandex-clad muscular form sunk beneath its captor’s throat.

Green Rhino still stood there in shock, witnessing the full horror of his friend’s absorption into the silver ball. Yellow Lion’s body bulged out but was completely trapped inside the flesh before his helmet was devoured too as if he was being consumed by a latex vacuum bed. But that wasn’t before Jou shouted his final order with a near-incomprehensible voice. “Green, go and save me!”

The boy-shaped tongue suddenly appeared again with a sickening disproportionately wide smile. “Or you can join your pathetic friend as a part of my stomach! You won’t be alone too!”

The entire mouth interior rumbled and shifted before producing numerous forms of youngsters. “Help uss…. Help….” begged all in a different manner but with the same heartbreaking plea.

There wouldn’t be any victory. Gulping, Green Rhino left his friend to run into the darkness. He wasn’t a coward though. He was in a renewed quest to get the power-ups. At least, that was what he tried to convince himself about abandoning fellow Liveman.

Jun’ichi’s breaths were short and sharp. The whole predicament was taking a toll on his psyche. Running in an endless dark maze with a monster chasing you didn’t help either. The pressure was more right now as he could hear the insulting laughter of the captured children from inside the ball demon.

Sweat perspired inside Green Rhino’s increasingly humid helmet. His eyes felt stingy and he could smell the pungent odor of his own body like he had finished the biggest battle in his life. Perhaps it was although not as heroic and confrontational as he liked it. Instead, he was a mouse in a labyrinth.

But that unfair situation would soon change. The genius hero knew the key to their salvation was near. The power-up would give him the energy to break Jou out of the ball monster and later escape the hellish puzzle.

Jun’ichi felt reenergized as he found a strange golden glow just around the corner of a particular corridor on the right. He stopped and started moving forward again but in a more careful manner. He didn’t want to be ambushed like Jou before. But his cautiousness wasn’t necessary.

There it was! Hovering in midair was a strange box with a shiny golden texture. The astonished Green Rhino touched the corner and let it move while giggling. It was so wondrous like looking at the biggest soap bubble for the first time. Jun’ichi could even see his heroic reflection on its beautiful surface.

His magical moment was robbed of him. Echoing screams of children was heard not far enough from Green Rhino Liveman’s position. The most bitter thing about it was Yellow Lion’s voice was also in there. He was now a part of a tortured soul collection of the silver ball monster.

Jun’ichi made a promise and he would make it happen. He reached out his hand toward the floating power-up box. He was ready to use anything and everything it would give him to fight!

The first thing the young Sentai hero felt was suffocation. Then, he couldn’t move his body. By then, he knew something was wrong.

Green Rhino was trapped in a weird box of latex. The outer surface was different from the inner one that was shrinking on Jun’ichi’s impressively heroic body. His arms were forced to the sides in a forward-leaning frogtie bondage pose. He desperately struggled against the constricting hug of the rubbery material, but it instead got tighter and tighter.

It was a trap. There was never a power-up. Hopeless people made the assumption that this box would help them fight or escape the maze and would recklessly take it. In truth, it was just another pitfall.

The prodigious Super Sentai hero was in that trap now. He made pathetic wriggles and useless worming moves just to give an inch of additional space that quickly shrunk back into smothering. Despite his continuous desolate denial, Jun’ichi the Green Rhino Liveman had been defeated. At the heart of a pitch-black labyrinth, he was locked. It was not just a defeat. It was the most humiliating way to be defeated.

The magic box sent an occasional jolt to its prisoner. The cursed place made sure that Jun’ichi understand that this was a humiliating defeat. He was a pitiful and miserable hero, one that did the worst on his duty. Despite all of the techs and gadgets and powers he had, Green Rhino managed to be a slave to this ensnarement. Perhaps he should have just joined Jou inside the damnable monster before. The fates were not so different.

The latex did something to Jun’ichi. The feeling of getting grief-stricken and crushed was building in him. He left Jou to his doom. Now, he would feel the same. Two worthless heroes in tight, revealing suits trying to go on an adventure against monsters. What a fruitless thought!

“I’m so sweaty… I’m so tight!” Inside his enveloped helmet, the Japanese youngster wept while extending his tongue to lick the interior. The strangest yet most overwhelming storm of sensation dominated his mind. His powers could save him now. Nor his teammates would know his terrible fate in this endless underground labyrinth. He was just another piece of the puzzle. He was nothing better than those children. Another victim to the monster’s plot instead of a protector. “I’m a slave to magic! Magic box!”

Jun’ichi didn’t realize that the latex stung him endlessly with corrupting energy. Strange small bolts of lightning struck his struggling body to push him deeper into the debasement. His heroic soul was being twisted slowly until he couldn’t remember his achievements and past victories.

The end was total. Jun’ichi howled in agony as he surrendered himself to the darkness. There was nothing to fight for anymore. He would be trapped inside the suffocating latex box forever inside the dismal riddle. There was no other option but to give up his powers to the place.

And that he did. As the Liveman jerked out his final sense of valor and defiance in an arching pose, his heroic soul and energy leaked out of the diabolical trap box and into the surrounding environment. It spread across the thousands of corners and chambers and fortified its power tenfold. The slight glow slowly dimmed and eternal darkness returned.

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Back at the arcade machine room, the game screen transformed the yellow and green characters into a ball and a box. In the background, the disembodied laughter of the monster who held Green Rhino as his slave mocked the hero’s downfall. “Who’s our next player?” grumbled the aroused voice of evil.

The monitor showed a split-screen that tracked the Red Falcon and Blue Dolphin duo as well as the separate Black Bison Liveman.