Project Sentai Mountain - Chapter 02

[DJ Force]

First of all, thanks for coming back to PSM

Second: I was intending to have many many more photos, but there´s something wrong with my camera. Whenever I wanted to make closeups, the pics were totally blurry. I used good lighting and a tripod and still could only make the pics you see. The last pic of this story is already a little too blurry, but I wanted to have it in the story at all costs.

Third: You´ll get three polls this time. Just to give me an indication how many episodes (and MOCs) I should prepare before getting to the next level - when Sensei is back in action again.

Fourth: I also give you the option to chose wether I should try to show the Robots side in pictures as well or not. Think about the advantages and disadvantages!

yes - You´ll get to see my rendition of Mecha Ones home, but I will need time to build more MOCs and take more pictures, so the next chapters might be delayed.

no - You´ll save me some time and money, we can move on with the story faster. If there are robot MOCs, they will appear nonetheless. It´s just about settings and sceneries.

And last but not least:

Last episodes Mini-Flyer still needs a nickname or callsign. Any suggestions?

And don´t forget: If you want to contribute your MOC or an idea for a MOC to the story, tell me here in the thread. Each chapter I´ll pick one happy Exo Force Fan. If YOU are the only one posting that you want to participate, then YOU´ll be picked In any other case I´ll pick randomly.

Allright, let´s continue with the story now, shall we? Hope you like it - and please comment and give feedback. This is my first attempt on an online picture story and I´m still learning. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Project Sentai Mountain - Chapter Two

It was a quick battle. After the Exo-Force destroyed what turned out to be a Combat Crawler X2, constantly using its primary blaster to pierce through the Golden City´s walls like butter, the remaining Robot forces were outnumbered by the Golden Guardians. The Mini-Flyers, that still had to get some proper nicknames or callsigns, proved equally useful in taking out the smaller units like the Sentries or Spiderdroids. One by one the Robot forces got destroyed.

However, there still was unfinished business.

“You were right, Ryo”, Hitomi sighed, as the group met in the recreation area. “The walls ARE defenseless. If it weren´t for the Mini-Flyers, the Robots would´ve reached the walls and break through them all too easily.”

“Right”, Takeshi agreed. “It´s nice to have brandnew mechs to command, a dozen of Golden Guardians and those new Mini-Flyers, but where´s our own imagination? Where are our own creations?” Ha-Ya-To smiled: “Everything we find here in the Golden City is ancient. Chances are pretty darn good that Mecha One might know about it. Or learn to know about it in due time. He will adapt the machinery and build something to use against our forces in battle. Like he always does.”

Ryo fell silent. “So it really is up to me now?” he thought. “Everytime I used my skills, it was mere repairing or assisting to build something. Everytime Sensei told me exactly what to create. I never had to invent anything from scratch. Even And now our future might depend on it?”

Hitomi tapped his side. “Hey, are you all right?” she asked. “Yeah, yeah. I´m fine. Just thinking...”

“Thinking about...?” she continued, but Ryo immediately snapped “Defensive Systems... And I think I might have just what we need. Care to assist me?” - “Sure!”

...

Meanwhile, on the other half of Sentai Mountain, Mecha One inspected his latest creation. The Sky Spy. A mechanical Robot Mind in a flying shell, equipped with the most powerful thruster jets that would fit the size, to catapult it beyond the speed of anything both Robots and Humans have ever seen. Two small sized laser cannons at the tip of the wings for emergency defense, and every space that wasn´t occupied by engine compartments filled with every kind of sensor, radar and sonar anyone could think about. This new Robot was the ultimate reconnaissance unit. Fast enough to dodge enemy fire, flying below the enemy´s radar and capable of recording any and every information that might be useful.

“Excellent, my Iron Drones!” his menacing, mechanical voice echoed from the cold and sterile walls. “Prepare the Sky Spy for his final test! I want it ready for his first mission as soon as possible!”

...

Two days later.

“Finally!” Ryo laughed and cleaned his dirty, oily hands wiping at the legs of his overall. Hitomi smiled. “That was marvelous! No one could have handled inventing and building such a machine in this short time but you!” Ryo blushed. “Thank you, Hitomi. But I wouldn´t have made it so fast if it weren´t for you and the help of our team.” He turned to face the 3 technicians that helped building this new improvement of the Golden City Walls. They looked fresh and clean. After working two days and two nights Ryo gave them this day off and finished the work with Hitomi alone. But they wouldn´t have missed the opportunity to see their creation in all its glory. And of course for the first test. Distant voices, chatter and laughter came closer. Ha-Ya-To, Takeshi and Hikaro arrived just in time. “Well well, if it isn´t Mr. Mechanic and gang.” Ha-Ya-To burst into a laughter about his own joke. Maybe a little too much for a crappy joke like this. But he didn´t really care. Two days of peace, two days without action. That was just too much of sparetime for someone like Ha-Ya-To, who was an addict to action.

“I´m glad you all could make it before leaving for the rescue mission”, Ryo welcomed his friends in a proud voice. “In the past two days our crew, Hitomi and I designed and build the first three of the Golden City´s new stationary weapon systems. Please excuse the mess all around. We didn´t really have had the time to clean everything up. Everything here is still a building site, so please watch your steps when we climb up to Gun Turret 01 now. Hitomi, please stay down here to watch the wirings and stuff when we activate the Turret. If there´s anything not in order, yell! We cannot risk an explosion here. We don´t want our work to break in an accident rather than in battle with the Robots, do we?”

Takeshi raised an eyebrow. “Okay, so you are concerned about your machine. Fair enough. But you ARE aware that WE are around here, too. Aren´t you? So basically if you tell us this thing isn´t safe, why let us up here anyway?” “Calm down, fella!” Hikaru hushed his friend. “I trust Ryo was just making a joke. He´d never ever lead us into danger if he could avoid it. Am I right, Ryo?”

“Of course you are”, Ryo snapped. What was wrong with Takeshi? Why so bad tempered? All Ryo wanted was to help as good as he could.

“Well, here we are. Golden City Gun Turret 01!”

“Wow!” the three Exo Force pilots groaned in awe. “That thing is massive! What´s it capable of doing?”

“Well, I don´t want to bore you with all the technical details like energy converters and stuff, but basically this is the most advanced laser technology we have ever created. It´s energy is supplied via the two hoses at the side and comes directly from the Golden City´s main Power Core...”

“WHAT?” Takeshi shouted. “Are you telling us that if we are going to use this thing, it´ll drain the Golden City´s power? And what about shielding and life support for the population? Are you out of your mind?” “Takeshi! Stop it!” Hikaru shouted. “Don´t make a fool of yourself. Ryo would neither risk our life in bringing us up here nor the life of anyone in this city with a technology that isn´t safe to use.” “Thanks, Hikaru”, Ryo said. Still wondering why Takeshi was so short-tempered today and starting to get a little angry himself. “Right now we are indeed using the Golden City´s Power Core, draining energy from it. But even if there Turrets use a great amount of energy, the Power Ccore would still be capable of feeding at least 10 Turrets and every energy system at once. However, Takeshi has a point there. We cannot have a dozen Gun Turrets installed and used in a battle if we would still stick to the power core. That´s why our technicians are already working on a new solution to feed the Turrets with energy without having to drain the Power Core. Until then, it is perfectly safe to use the Power Core for these three Turrets.”

Ha-Ya-To suddenly burst into another laughter. “Okay. I get all that “maximum-energy-I-have-the-biggest” and stuff, but are you serious about that very very small muzzle?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. I am.” Ryo started to get a little pissed now. Why would the others keep on interrupting him and asking him these insulting questions? Times were different when Sensei Keiken was with them. Nobody would have laughed at Ryo and his great technical skills. But now with Sensei kidnapped by the Robots it seemed that Ryo had to justify each and every part of his creations – and his very own usefullness!

“Listen. We are using a really, really large amount of power. But we don´t want this power to go astray. That´s why the most components of this Gun Turret are to bundle the energy in one unbelievably strong beam. To achieve this, we had to “shrink” the energy beam more and more, thus concentrating the massive firepower on one tiny little spot. One blast – target destroyed. I checked with all the data of every Robot machine we have ever encountered. From Fire Fury to Striking Venom to Mobile Devastator. Admittedly, it took two blasts to stop the Mobile Devastator, but even then there´s no match in Mecha Ones motor pool for this Gun!”

“I´m impressed. Great work, Ryo!” Hikaru congratulated. “Takeshi, how about trying the gunners seat?” “Easier said than done”, Takeshi mumbled. “There´s not even a ladder...” “Yeah, I know and I´m sorry. As I mentioned earlier, this is basically still a building site. That´s why we´ve got troops guarding it with rifles. But you should be able to climb into the seat easily using the vent as steps until we found the time to add ladders.”

Takeshi did as suggested and a few seconds later he dropped himself into the gunners seat. “Comfy!” he admitted. “Try to rotate it!” Ryo shouted. “The controls are intuitionally to operate.”

With a clicking and a metallic stutter the massive Turret started rotating right. “Well, okay. It can turn. I´m not too impressed about the speed, though”, Ha-Ya-To said. “It´s still faster than a snail, but if it could outrun a Fire Fury...? I don´t know...!” “You´re right about that, Ha-Ya-To. I would love to say “we are working on it”, but I would be lying then. This isn´t the maximum speed the turrets will turn, though. They´ve got some serious weight that needs to be put into motion, but for safety measures we´re running on half power at the moment. They will turn faster when we can be sure that everything works properly.”

“Ryo, I´m very satisfied with your work!” “Thanks, Hikaru. Glad you like it.” With a loud, metallic clanking sound the Turret stopped moving. A humming, almost screeching was the only thing the friends heard now. “Hang on, this isn´t the Turret”, Ryo wondered, and suddenly they all realized what made this sound! “INCOMING!” a guard shouted, as the fastest flying vehicle they have ever seen burst out of the jungle and roard towards the Golden City.

“At arms!” Hikaru shouted and instinctively Takeshi worked the controls of the Turret. A guard pulled up his weapon, but before he could even think about aiming, the small flying vehicle spun, turned right and immediately was at a totally different location. “Fire at will!” Hikaru screamed and the guards started shooting randomly in the vague direction of this flying flash, nobody had seen before.

Takeshi turned the Gun Turret to face the enemy, but he was too slow. “Damn it!” he grunted and pressed the fire button. A thin beam of concentrated laser energy blasted off the Turret, but he could as well have shot blindfolded. The terrifyingly fast drone was already heading back into the deep jungle. No single laser beam had even scratched it.

“Funk it!” Ha-Ya-To yelled. “What was that?” - “I don´t know”, Hikaru whispered. “I´ve never seen such a thing before.” Ryo stepped closer towards them. “Have you seen the front of that thing? It was the face of a Devastator robot. This thing was a flying robot. Not piloted by a Robot, but a Robot itself.” Takeshi screamed bloody murder and couldn´t stop himself swearing and cursing. He even accused Ryo. “With all the technological genius you couldn´t even build a machine that could kill a darn fly!”

“Okay, that´s enough! I´m fed up to the back teeth!” Ryo cried out loud. “If all you can do is swear and curse about my creations I´m obviously no longer needed here! Sayonara!”

The remaining three stood in disbelieve, as Ryo jumped inside and ran off, hiding his tears.

“Ryo!” Hitomi called after and started chasing him. “You better have a pretty darn good apology ready for him, Takeshi!” Hikaru mumbled. “Guard, when Hitomi and Ryo get back, tell them to try and find out what this flying menace was and how we can stop it. We really have to start our Deep Jungle Mission, no further delay can be tolerated. Furthermore our hothead here needs some chance to cool off. Sun seems to not do him well...”

Edited August 24, 2010 by Siegfried

[WhiteFang]

Great job! This is getting so much better, after a good read of this Chapter 2.

I am not a big Exo Force fan, but the way you write your story and plot is really very interesting and good. The effects are very nicely done. I can understand that writing up this chapter can be quite tedious. Thanks for sharing it with us.

With regards to the choices, I will like to see an average of 6 to 8 episodes for the Exo Force pilot to be ready and prepared for the rescue mission. This could give them enough time to fully prepare themselves in all aspects and from your comics to demostrate their true capabilities. No, I am not keen to see the Robot Side. In fact, I am not a big fan of them, so a base isn't really that important for me. I will prefer Ryo and Hitomi to investigate the flying vehicle. It will be benefical for the humans to know what they are trying to fight with. Since its so fast and none of the shots scratch that flying vehicle, I think its best to check it out.

[DJ Force]

Very glad you like it so far, White Fang. Even more since you´re not an Exo Force fan in particular.

Just to make sure what I intended with the poll regarding the duration... Beginning in the next chapter the Exo Force team starts on their rescue mission. We will not go with them, we´ll stick to the events in the Golden City. I just wanted to have a rough estimate about how many chapters I should prepare until the Exo Force successfully returns with Sensei Keiken to the Golden City. That´s more or less the first "season". After that the story will continue with season 2 and eventually we might get back to the Sentai Headquarter.

[WhiteFang]

Very glad you like it so far, White Fang. Even more since you´re not an Exo Force fan in particular.

I really enjoy this. I do have Grand Titan and Stealth Hunter in my Exo Force collection. I only love those mechas and bought it without hesitation.

Just to make sure what I intended with the poll regarding the duration... Beginning in the next chapter the Exo Force team starts on their rescue mission. We will not go with them, we´ll stick to the events in the Golden City. I just wanted to have a rough estimate about how many chapters I should prepare until the Exo Force successfully returns with Sensei Keiken to the Golden City. That´s more or less the first "season". After that the story will continue with season 2 and eventually we might get back to the Sentai Headquarter.

Thanks for clarifying this. My vote still stands, and I think it is adqeuate for you to cover the key events in Golden City. Keep up the good work.

[DJ Force]

Thanks :)

I´m not planning to stop :-D

However, only 2 days left for voting and there are only 5 votes in so far... That´s a little bit disappointing and doesn´t really give me a clue what the majority wants to read in the further stories...

[Zorro]

Thanks :)

I´m not planning to stop :-D

However, only 2 days left for voting and there are only 5 votes in so far... That´s a little bit disappointing and doesn´t really give me a clue what the majority wants to read in the further stories...

I just brought in some fresh votes !

[Wouwie]

Thanks Wouwie! When I noticed you removed the banner from your sig I knew I had to do something

Well, it's not becuase I lost interest in PSM, it was becuase if it would be still there, it would be to large combined with the image for MONTEE.

Wouwie, how about you? You had some cool ideas in the past for this project. Wanna give me the challenge to implement one of your ideas in the next chapter?

I'll do my best! Since my summer holiday is about 3 weeks away, I'll be busy with the upcoming testweek, but when that's over...

[WhiteFang]

However, only 2 days left for voting and there are only 5 votes in so far... That´s a little bit disappointing and doesn´t really give me a clue what the majority wants to read in the further stories...

Don't give yourself too much stress, of not acquiring enough votes with regards to your progression in your chapters. You could give it a few days more for others to look at this topic. I am sure we have a few Exo Force fans down here.

[DJ Force]

Don't give yourself too much stress, of not acquiring enough votes with regards to your progression in your chapters. You could give it a few days more for others to look at this topic. I am sure we have a few Exo Force fans down here.

Hmm, you´re right. I could give each chapter two weeks instead of one. However, after the results I need at least half a week, if not longer, to build the MOC that has been decided at the end of the polls. So that would make 3 weeks.

I could do that. In that case the story would take twice the time, but more people would be able to participate.

Is that what the fans want? Please post your oppinions and suggestions! :)

[DJ Force]

3 days for this chapter left. Don´t forget to cast your votes!

[DJ Force]

Okay, last chance to vote! We´ve got a tie, so I´ll check tomorrow in the morning again before I leave for work. If the tie hasn´t broke up untill then, I guess I´ll have to implement both choices then...

[Superkalle]

I'm too late for the vote, but just wanted to say that I like the way you've impossed the models on the background pics. Looks really good.

[DJ Force]

Ah, you´re only late by two years... ;)