The Belly of the Beast (Patreon)

The Dekarangers can easily handle threats from the stars, be those evil space criminals or a full-blown alien invasion. But what do they know about fighting evil from within the earth? Dark forces set their unseen eyes on the juicy spandex-clad Japanese young heroes of justice! Can they escape this terror or will they be the next blood sacrifice?

Special thanks to my royal and loyal patrons:

Wallel Albet

Robert Terwillger

snb

Matt Thomas

Shunsuke Hoshino

Rootbeero

DiamondSerpent

Matthew Peterson

Daniel K

Mike020578

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Do not go gentle into the night!

The Dekaranger boys rushed to the scene. It was hard to reach since it was in an abandoned tanker ship. They wouldn’t believe their teammates would be there if not for the broadcasted distress signal. “Why would they go all the way here?” groaned DekaRed as he glanced out of his mecha cockpit. His helmet was on the dashboard.

DekaBlue did the same thing. There was nothing out there but an endless expanse of blue ocean. The Tokyo coast that they had left behind was nowhere to be seen. They were at a point of isolation.

“Whatever the reason is, it must be urgent. The ladies can handle themselves against petty space criminals. Hell, they have a better battle score ranking than the three of us combined! There must be something really really wrong this time.”

“That’s why we need to act as a team instead of going in each other’s direction. Splitting up like this is dangerous with bad guys making plots to destroy us. I bet this ship is no exception.”

“Just another day of being Dekaranger, I guess,” commented DekaBlue while smirking. “Oh, what’s wrong, Red? Are you quitting being the team’s hotshot?”

Red chuckled. “How can I put on a show if there is no one to see it?”

“There!” DekaGreen pointed out of the cockpit glass. Out there, in the middle of the ocean, was a blurred dot. It grew into a more familiar elongated shape. The bulk presented itself after a while with its sharp bow, long cargo hull, and contrasting command tower. It looked pristine and the Japanese flag was still fluttering at the stern. That being said, the ship’s name was somehow scratched out. “What the hell?” cursed DekaRed while looking at the strange detail. “Do we know anything about this ship?”

The two other Deka boys were already investigating through their HUD display. Their helmet took snapshots of the massive vessel and matched them with the database. The result was astonishing, to say the least. “We don’t,” replied the confused DekaGreen.

“Huh, what’re you talking about?”

“According to the database, this ship doesn’t exist. There are no matching ID numbers or physical features. With the scrubbed name, we’re left with no trace.”

“Blue?” asked DekaRed for a second opinion.

His heart sank when Blue replied. “Sen-chan’s right. I can’t find any info about this ship either. It’s like it never existed.”

“Well, it’s here!” grunted Banban. He cursed again to himself before putting the DekaRed helmet on. “I guess it’s time to gun blaze our way in then.”

“Carefully gun blaze our way in,” corrected Senichi.

Perhaps DekaRed heard it, perhaps he didn’t. The team leaped out of the flying mecha and onto the deck close to the main command tower. Banban waved his hand goodbye as the advanced robot flew away. “Why would you order him to go back to base?” asked Banban to his teammates.

“So that the Commander would know our situation,” answered Houji sternly. “Who knows what would happen if it stays here and we’re not there to guard it.”

The statement made Ban frown. “Isn’t the mecha’s job to safeguard our perimeter while we’re on a mission?”

The two heroes looked at him and answered in unison. “No!”

Banban tried to argue again, but it was clear that he’s losing. He surrendered to the big brains of the team. What he could focus on now was to lead them into the dark corridors just behind the hatch door.

The three Dekarangers went in. Behind them, the air siren tower continued to let out its infrasonic announcement.

The interior was in contrast with the exterior. The walls there were rusted and the windows dimmed. It was like stepping into another place entirely. Luckily, the lights were still on. “The engine must still be on,” concluded Red. “What are the girls doing here exactly?”

Senichi shrugged. “The last thing Jasmine said was they were investigating a missing boat. But that’s near the city harbor, not far away like here.”

“Perhaps they sneaked into this ship to find out something,” suggested Houji. “Eyes up, Dekarangers. We might find some resistance.”

The corridor ended with three doors. One said “Lower Deck” while the others “Control Center” and ``Engine Room”. “Okay, which way?” asked Banban as he lowered his firearm.

“You’re the team captain, Red. We’ll follow,” replied Sen-chan while shaking his head.

“Easy for you to say. I’m gonna be the one who writes reports to Commander Cruger!” DekaRed scanned each hatch door. He even peeked through all of them. There was nothing different behind those doors. Only more darkened hallways. He then decided. “Control Room. There must be a camera controller there. We need the bird’s eye view of the whole place.”

DekaGreen nodded while following his captain. “Good call.”

The Dekarangers’ steps clanked as they climbed the metallic stairs to the bridge. The control room was quite advanced despite its condition. Sen-chan immediately went to one of the computers to analyze the system. He typed in commands and the machine rebooted itself. “This might be going to take some time.”

Banban saw the progress bar. He chose to investigate the captain’s room next door. The chamber was quite neat with a wooden desk and book cabinet. There was even a globe in the corner. DekaRed sat on the chair with his feet up the table. Inside his helmet, the hot-blooded leader surveyed everything. His attention was quickly taken by the group of liquor bottles on a tray. “Huh, no drinking during a mission, right?”

But curiosity took the best of him. He approached the fancy bar cart and took one of the bottles. The liquid inside juggled as he indifferently read the label. On it, was a symbol of a demon complete with curving horns. Before DekaRed could realize it, the hellish eyes glowed.

Banban gasped as his own eyes also glowed. He gulped as he examined the liquor again. He felt so thirsty. He did what must be done. He removed his helmet.

A clicking sound notified Senichi about the completed computer reboot. He tapped Enter and the screen unexpectedly changed into showing the same demonic face. It zapped DekaGreen’s mind, sending him into a panicked frenzy. “ARGH!” screamed the poor hero as he tried to counterattack the coming nonexistent threat.

DekaBlue was on the outside platform when he heard his teammate’s scream. He pounded at the bridge room’s window glass. “Sen-chan, what’s wrong?”

His friend didn’t respond. He was too overwhelmed by whatever attacked his mind. In his hysteria, he turned the control wheel all the way.

The ship immediately made a sudden turn. The creaking sound of tortured metal filled the air as the heavy bulk of the tanker ship broke the waves. A gush of salty ocean wind hit Houji’s helmet as he tried to hold on to the causeway’s metallic handle.

Too bad for DekaBlue, the platform was rickety as it was rusty. One by one, the screws that held it in place removed themselves from the sockets or simply cut in half due to bad structural integrity. Houji’s attempt to jump was too late. The causeway collapsed with him tumbling to the deck screaming.

There was a loud bang. The dust cloud plumed up in front of the command tower. Needless to say, it was lights out for DekaBlue.

When he got back up, his blurry vision saw a faint crimson figure not too far in front of him. The mysterious individual simply stood there without talking or moving. “Hey… Hey!” called Dekablue to no avail.

When he blinked, he was alone once more. Houji shook his head. His shoulders and chest felt aching. Luckily, there was no apparent injury. His spandex-like Space Police Uniform protected him despite the fact he landed headfirst. There was a visible dent on the metallic floor next to the wobbly hero.

The first thing he did was a full body checkup. The computer system detected no internal harm. Houji sighed before continuing with the team communication. “Dekaranger team, this Dekablue, come in.”

There was only static. It was weird since the communicators worked just fine before. Was it damaged during the fall? He tried again, “Dekaranger team, come in.”

“Blue, help!” The plea that cut through the static interference sent chills down Houji’s spine. “ARGH!”

It was a voice so familiar to him. “Sen-chan, what happened? Are you hurt?”

“It’s… It’s carving me!” There were multiple incomprehensible monstrous waves of laughter alongside Sen-chan’s panicked voice. “They’re dragging me in!”

“Hang on, Sen-chan!” called out Houji. Despite his pain, DekaBlue basically dragged his feet toward the command tower’s hatch door. He grabbed the handle and turned.

Houji groaned hard as his perfect biceps and triceps tried to open the door. It was locked shut. He peeked inside. There was only a darkened corridor.

Then, the corridor’s only light exploded. In its place, a strange eerie crimson glow appeared. It somewhat illuminated a silhouette figure that stood in the distance. Dekablue gasped. “Red, Red, open the door!”

But the figure didn’t reply. The glow then faded, leaving Houji to see nothing behind the door. The hero cursed. There must be another way in!

An idea came across his mind as he saw the protruding emergency stairs on the tower’s side. He took a few steps back to prepare himself. He then dashed across the deck.

The superhero leaped with superhuman strength. He jumped higher than any normal human could toward the stairs on the fourth floor. There, there was another hatch door but it was unlocked. DekaBlue entered the command tower once again.

It was a scary place. There was something wrong with the corridors compared to before. It felt heavy as if trespassing a haunted place. But Houji was not a superstitious person. He didn’t believe in ghosts or demons. He only believed that the Sentai might fight evil for justice. Despite his constant bickering with his teammates, he only cared for their safety.

DekaBlue rushed up the stairs. His boots made clanking noises as they climbed the metallic steps. There was barely any light there but Houji remembered his path.

Or so he thought. He turned to the right on the fifth floor. He expected the glass door to the bridge. Instead, he found a dead end. “What the hell?”

Was his memory wrong? He mentally traced back his steps. It should have been there!

DekaBlue looked back at the other hatch door on that floor. Houji gulped before shaking his head. Whatever discrepancy that happened, his priority was to get to his teammates fast. He opened the other hatch door and ran into the corridor behind it.

The uneasy feeling grew until Houji couldn’t bear it anymore. He needed to get out of there. At least, he needed to know where he was. A simple view of the ocean to break the eerie crimson glow would do just fine. He opened one of the circular window lids.

He was shocked. There was nothing behind it. The ocean wasn’t there. There was only another layer of solid metal. Houji knocked the substance, making it echo. “There’s something really wrong here…” mumbled the spandex hero.

As if his situation wasn’t enough to be a horror movie scenario, Houji heard a giggling sound not far behind him. He turned around to see a silhouette in the other room. Inside his helmet, Houji frowned. The figure looked familiar with a tint of pink, but now he was doubtful. Better safe than sorry. He called. “Umeko-chan?”

The blurry feminine character giggled again as she dashed out of view to the side. DekaBlue immediately rushed to catch up with her. There was no one in the next room.

It was a cafeteria. Rows of long seats were placed in front of big square tables. Across the room were the glass cabinets of the menu selection.

Dekablue examined the place carefully. Despite his cautiousness, each step of his boots still resounded audibly. Houji put out his heavy D-Blaster. He maintained trigger discipline but kept his eyes peeled. There’s too much space here for any threat to hide.

Suddenly, the kitchen door swung open violently. Someone ran away from the room. “Hey, wait!”

His target was close. As Houji ran with superhuman speed across the storage room, the meat chiller room, and the service elevator rows, he could see the pink figure who avoided his pursuit.

DekaBlue reached out. Just a little more and he would be able to catch her. “Umeko!”

Just then, the room darkened. The surprised Dekablue felt the floor end in unexpected stair steps. The hero tumbled forward and rolled multiple times. Like a ball, he curved up while spinning wildly all the way to the deep bottom. There was a loud metallic bang as his helmet finally hit the floor.

The D-Blaster slid away across the surface until it stopped abruptly. Someone’s boot stepped on the weapon. Still grunting from the fall, Dekablue looked up and gasped. That was Umeko all right, but she was not in a good shape.

For one, her chest was a bloody satanic circle complete with a horned demon symbol that was engraved on the Space Police Uniform spandex. Not only that, other strange symbols desecrated her arms and legs like painful tattoos. The suit itself was not like Houji remembered. It was much tighter than before, as if suffocating Umeko with her sexy body instead of protecting it. Her beautiful abs, alluring badonkadonk, and puffed-up breasts with their erect raisins were made unconformably apparent throughout. Even her cameltoe was so deep it made Houji’s face blush.

“Umeko-chan?” asked Houji unsurely. He didn’t even know whether this person was really DekaPink despite her appearance.

“The dark lord owns me… I tried to fight, but the void swallowed me whole instead. I can’t breathe…” replied Umeko with a monotonous voice combined with a slight growl.

She then pressed her boot on the D-Blaster. There were cracking noises before the weapon was split in half with a small explosion.

“Umeko-chan, come back! Don’t let the darkness overtake you!” cried out Houji.

Umeko growled again. Her breaths were sharp and shallow. Her fingers twitched as if fighting something inside. Her muscles jerked. Her arms moved to hold and remove the helmet.

Houji’s heart sank. Umeko’s face was as pale as snow. Her lively lips were now black. Her eyes…

“What the fuck…” gasped Houji as he saw Dekapink’s eyes were black with equally black dried liquid dripping from them.

“I am now owned by the dark lord,” said the corrupted/enslaved/possessed Umeko. Her tongue protruded way too long for a normal girl. With that, the sigils and symbols on her body glowed with the same eerie crimson glimmer as the whole space.

Houji grunted as he forced himself to get back up. He held the female warrior on the shoulders. He shook her to return her mind to the real world. “Umeko-chan, don’t give up!”

But Dekapink threw her helmet away and grabbed her teammate’s neck instead. He was a superhero, yet she was able to lift him easily. Dekablue pounded the girl’s arm in frustration as his air ran out. He was then thrown onto the waiting bloody wall.

But the wall wasn’t a wall. It was instead a sacrificial altar table that immediately locked Dekablue’s wrists, ankles, and even neck into rigidity. As hard as Houji tried to free himself, the restraints kept their place and even suffocated him even more. Soon, the space police’s struggle waned.

His entire surroundings lit up as hundreds of candles suddenly appeared with their dim illumination. The sacrificial table slammed down and turned. With that, Dekablue could see the other tables that were arranged into a triangle with his own. On those tables were DekaGreen and Red. “Banban! Sen-chan!”

They were in a worse condition than his own. The two heroes were weakened so much that lifting their helmets was impossible. “Houji…” called out Green feebly.

“Hang on, Guys. We’re gonna get out of here in no time! I–”

DekaBlue’s rather optimistic perspective was cut short when a throne of skulls appeared before them. On it, sat a matching demonic figure. The figure’s body was filled with huge spikes that jut out. He was like a human porcupine from hell. “Welcome, Dekarangers.”

“Who are you?! What have you done to Umeko?!”

The demon let out a burst of monstrous laughter. “Always caring for other people, are you? Hope dies last, hero. I have killed your little teammates’ hope and ate it for my personal satisfaction. They are nothing but the empty shells of their former selves. Just ask Jasmine. She already opened her mind to me!”

Houji’s brain was suddenly assaulted by images of DekaYellow and Pink screaming in pain. The girls opened their mouths wide with a deafening screech as they were forced to endure the unbearable pain. They called Houji, Senichi, and Banban to no avail. “Please don’t leave us in hell!”

The mental invasion coincided with the appearance of DekaYellow. She already removed her helmet, enabling the tormented Houji to see the horrifying transformation on her. Her eyes were gone, replaced by twin spiky demonic horns that curve up to the back of her head. Her extending tongue split like that of a snake. Like Umeko, her spandex-clad body was filled with bloody engravings of the diabolical symbol.

“Jasmine!” called out Houji with a croaky voice. It was useless. Her identity was gone.

DekaBlue looked down at her belly. He cursed as he witnessed how bloated it was. She was pregnant.

“Of course, she refused at first. Her ESP power was extraordinary, but it was a dying candle in the dark. She was able to withstand my influence for a while, but nothing escapes my dominion here. Now, the very thing that made her strong is what keeps her under my subjugation.” As Jasmine leaned against the demonic figure, he fondled her breast with one hand and caressed her ballooning stomach with the other. “Soon, she will give birth to my heir to rule Japan!”

“No way you’re gonna get away with this!” rejected Houji defiantly. Again, his heroic mindset was turned upside down as Umeko casually approached his captured teammates. She took out a D-Wapper handcuff that melted into a strange metallic knife without delay. With it, she stabbed DekaGreen’s chest.

“Sen-chan! NO!” yelled DekaBlue at the top of his lungs, but there was nothing he could do as the former heroine carved a similar circle and pentagram on the broken spandex. Blood flowed out of Senichi. His costume was no longer able to protect him.

Sen-chan’s voice was made inaudible with gurgles. “Houji… help…”

Meanwhile, Jasmine put her hand inside the demon’s gaping maw. From her lord, she took out a strange orb that is connected with blood vessel-like organic tendrils. Interestingly, there were screams coming out from that mouth. Those were screams of Jasmine and Umeko, desperately begging for a release.

The corrupted DekaYellow brought the orb as she approached Senichi. It was radiant with a sickening golden pulse.

“Jasmine… please…” DekaGreen’s plea was ignored. The former DekaYellow jammed the orb into his bloodstained chest. The poor hero jerked out as something was sucked from his body. His fists tightened. His muscles convulsed as the demonic orb absorbed his life essence.

Behind, the demon laughed with satisfaction. “Go on, struggle, Sentai hero. Struggle until I drain your soul into me. Then you can join your friends in eternal servitude!”

The absorption was too much for DekaRed and Blue to handle. They cried in defeat. Even Houji couldn’t maintain his heroic spirit in the face of such a diabolical process. Then, the process was completed.

Houji could hear Sen-chan’s ghostly cries and screams as they slowly flowed into the demon. The villain yanked the orb off Jasmine by slurping it. After gulping, he spoke with a wicked smile. “Three in, two to go.” He corrected himself. “Or is it six more? I can’t wait to lure in and violate the entire team! I have never had a fun time since the Zyurangers destroyed my previous body. Who should I break first, DekaBlue? Should it be your burly commander with his adorable pecs, DekaMaster? Or the rousing boy, DekaBreak? How about a foursome with the hot, musty, and ravishing DekaSwan, Gold, and Break? I’m sure they’ll end up worshiping me as you would soon. Isn’t that right, Umeko-chan?”

Umeko appeared before Houji. She and Jasmine had already finished with DekaRed. Banban’s screams now one with his fallen friends inside the demon’s belly. They begged for mercy and release without any hope of getting one forever.

Now DekaBlue would join them. In his last moments, Houji was humiliated to see all of the Dekarangers team being dragged by heavy choke collars and shackles by countless demons across a hellish landscape. They were basically drowning in a sea of goblins, incubuses, and fiends. Not only the valiant Doggie Kruger as Dekamaster failed to fight the endless hordes of defiling monsters, but they also made him swallow their batons in turn. Not only the female trio of Swan, Mary, and Lisa were captured right away, they were splashed over by the mind-numbing goop. Their conquered bodies jerked and twitched in ruin. Their howls enrich the fetid air along with the demons’ har-har.

With them, Houji the DekaBlue was clawed by the ravenous inhabitants of hell from all sides. His spandex regenerated after his skin was bloody in a persistent cycle of pain. His arms tried to reach the unreachable hole way above this inferno.

In the real world, Houji had removed his helmet just like Banban. Their eyes were now as black as the night. On the other hand, Umeko’s eyes were now gone into unholy twin horns just like Jasmine's. All of the five Dekarangers sported the glowing satanic ritual circle on their spandex. “We all worship Ultimate Dai-Satan! All of Japan will worship Ultimate Dai-Satan!”

Already, Houji’s belly began to bulge out just like his teammates.