#Ollie is from power rangers

[lordkingsmith]

I have two videos I’m in the process of, one for Halloween and one for an editing rp. However, afterwards I want to do some editing experimentation with Just Dance.

Jack Rose seems easiest to edit with so far, so I think I’ll start with him and do a crossover

Do I go with Ollie Akana or someone else and what song should it be?

I’m letting y’all here decide

For anyone who doesn’t know, Ollie Akana;

[skyland2703]

This is one color coded dynamic we do not talk enough about~

[augment-techs]

This moment actually *IS* this pretty <3

....Ollie, literally all you have to do is lean over and kiss him. It is not hard you big nerd.

[toqchange]

calvin 🤝 ollie

character i think had so much potential but the writers just made them jerks

[thetimelordbatgirl]

After watching Cosmic Fury myself....yeah, my opinion still the same really: it doesn't really feel like an ending to a 30 year old franchise like Power Rangers, it just feels like another series of Power Rangers.

[hiwelcometothemonstersancturary]

How the first ever Halloween goes for Angel and the rescued toys:

Most of them are super duper HYPED. Angel is as well, of course, but the others are just so happy to finally know what going trick-or-treating is like!

You would think Bunzo, Huggy, Kissy and Boxy are the most excited for this. And they are! Everyone is vibrating as always, but Poppy... My God

Poppy is HYPED

Spent literally MONTHS working on her costume (spooky bride) and then some hours working on her hair and makeup. She looks absolutely amazing in the end, but she's so hyped she could light up a whole city with her energy;

Angel guides everyone to town, and lets them go trick-or-treating as long as everyone is back to a specific spot by the end of their adventure. Everyone separates in groups and goes to have some fun;

Dogday is dressed as a mummy, and is having a blast guiding the younger toys around until Hoppy (dressed as a Formula 1 racer) grabs him and drags him away so they can pull pranks on the others;

Him, Kickin and Hoppy almost get into trouble. Almost;

Kickin is on a pirate costume and one mistake away from being sent to jail for trespassing and being an overall menace. He spooks the others frequently;

Bubba is just walking around making sure NO ONE goes to jail or gets into trouble. He's dressed up as Dr. Frankenstein and very proud of himself for that;

Bobby and Crafty get surrounded by a swarm of kids and have a blast entertaining them. Bobby is dressed as Sailor Moon and Crafty as a fairy (she's covered head to toe in glitter and it takes weeks for her to get it all out), and soon enough Marie (dressed as Jason Vorhees) joins them;

Delight is dressed as a witch and taking photos of all the cool Halloween decor she finds. Gets lost while doing that until Marie rescues her;

Ollie is dressed as a ghost and disappears completely until he comes back just in time with blackmail against Kickin, Dogday and Hoppy, but also way too much candy (he stole it);

Catnap and Piggy are having loads of fun. He's dressed as a vampire and Piggy as a ballerina, but soon enough they start pranking some older teens who were picking on a bunch of kids. After that, they watch the younger ones from afar;

Huggy, Kissy, Bunzo, PJ and Boxy are on a group, and come back with a treasury of candy. They all had a blast! Also they were dressed up as Power Rangers. Angel found them playing in a nearby park;

The night ends mostly well, except Angel KNOWS Kickin almost got himself dragged to jail. Everyone eats some candy before going to bed. They all love it.

[ranger-ribbons]

An idea: Power Ranger brainwashing recovery support group. From Tommy Oliver to Ollie Akana, there are a lot of people in this show who need it.

Tommy Oliver: Mighty Morphin Green, Mighty Morphin White, Dino Thunder Black

Karone: Lost Galaxy Pink

Merrick Baliton: Lunar Wolf

Ryan Mitchell: Lightspeed Titanium

Shane Clarke: Ninja Storm Red

Tori Hanson: Ninja Storm Blue

Dustin Brooks: Ninja Storm Yellow

Hunter Bradley: Thunder Storm Red/Crimson

Trent Fernandez Mercer: Dino Thunder White

Vida Rocca: Mystic Force Pink

Korrag: The Wolf Warrior

Kevin Yamamoto: Samurai Blue

Ollie Akana: Dino Fury Blue, Cosmic Fury Blue

~

They trickle in one by one.

The brainwashed, those under spells, the ones who were raised bad, lied to, cast aside. The ones who lost their memories or were fallen in battle and risen as evil. The ones who were tricked.

Tommy, as always, leads these meetings. He's there before any of them. Karone slips in after him, sitting prim and proper in her seat as she texts her magni, "treasure," literally translated. Merrick follows her, sitting cross-legged on the couch and fiddling with the collar of the silver jacket he wears. Then comes Ryan Mitchell, his ring flashing in the meager light and eyes angry, looking around pissed off as if asking for a fight. Tommy makes sure to pay close attention to the demon-raised man.

Following Ryan, the Ninja Storm Rangers - Red, Blue, and Yellow. The pair bring with them an electric feeling, like a storm was on the rise, just waiting to happen. Next comes Trent, breathing deeply to calm himself down, the White kisses his girlfriend goodbye at the door and sends her off, looking like he'd rather go with her. Tommy keeps a special eye on him as well.

After Trent, Vida Rocca charges in. She wears a new pink choker, her only allowance to her color, the rest of her outfit is varying shades of black, white, and grey. On Vida's heels comes Leanbow, the Wolf Warrior, among the oldest of the Power Rangers. Right at the start time, Kevin Yamamoto comes in, calm and poised as any samurai Tommy has ever met. And five minutes later, in trails their newest member, Ollie Akana.

"Are we missing anyone?" Tommy asks after another five minutes.

Karone shakes her head. As Tommy’s assistant in Jason and Billy's absence, it's her job to keep track of the topics and make sure everyone who wants to speak gets a chance.

Tommy nods. "Alright," he says. "Let this session start, then. Where did we stop last time?"

Karone checks her notes. "Hunter Bradley was talking about his time on the island trying to kill his brother."

Tommy glances at the Ninja Rangers. Shakes shakes his head. "Hunter and Blake went to visit their grandmother. She got really sick."

"Well, alright. Before we get into it, let's welcome our newest member, Ollie Akana."

Ollie looks up, startled. When all eyes turn to him, he waves awkwardly. Ollie is intelligent, like Billy and Justin, so Tommy’s not shocked to see his less than stellar social skills. "Hi," Ollie says, faux casual.

"Introduce yourself?" Tommy offers.

Ollie swallows before nodding. "I'm Ollie," he says unnecessarily. "I'm Dino Fury and Cosmic Fury Blue. I guess I'm here for support? I don't really know."

Tommy nods. "It's okay, man, we've all been there. If you want to talk about it today, we'll listen."

Ollie thinks about it for a second, but ultimately shakes his head. "Not today," he says. His voice is devastated. Tommy knows how he feels.

"Alright," Tommy replies. He moves on, so the spotlight is off Ollie. "Ryan, you wanna kick us off?"

Ryan looks up, eyes like molton steel, and nodded. "Yeah," he replies. "We found a straggler a few days ago. I knew this one personally. He tried to beg for mercy, talking about all the 'great times' we'd had together." Ryan scoffs, one arm around his waist. "I don't think he understood just how much those great times actually hurt. Sucks."

Tommy nods. "I understand," he replies. "It's rough meeting the people we once considered friends before."

Vida raises a hand. "Some of the Briarwood folk still look at me like I'm gonna sprout fangs and eat them. Others wish I'd go back," she explains. Turning to Ryan, she adds, "It's never easy, is it?"

Ryan shakes his head. "Sometime, when they aren't paying attention, the Lightspeed Rangers will flinch like they expect me to hit them," he replies. "Hurts being only seen as the guy who got raised by demons."

Karone hums sympathetically. "Or the daughter of evil," she adds in.

"Your Red is you brother, right?" Ryan asks. "He the only one that doesn't look at you like you're gonna snap at any second?"

Karone nods, shifting closer. Tommy allows the group to keep talking, only speaking up when the conversation allows. This is what this group is for: to allow the various brainwashed Rangers to commiserate and share their pain. Tommy turns his attention to the newest Blue. He walks over and sits next to the twenty year old, the youngest of his team. "Hey," he says.

Ollie startles again, looking up. "Hi, Doctor Oliver," he replies.

Tommy smiles. "Just Tommy," he asks. "Only my students call me doctor."

Ollie nods in acceptance.

Tommy sobers and continues, "I know you're not ready to talk about it, but one day, it's gonna hit you hard that you almost killed the people you love. It's gonna hit fast and it's gonna hit soon." He reaches into his pocket and produces his business card. "When it happens," he says, "call me. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Ollie takes the care hesitantly with shaking hands. He looks up at Tommy with wide eyes, then nods. "Thanks," he replies.

Tommy smile again. "'S what I'm here for."

~

@softlytowardthesun Thank you!

[archamagicalia]

So, I did a thing; basically, I took most of the Rangers who were played by Filipino actors ( and extra Rangers who weren't played by Filipino actors but I also wanted to include ) and basically designated which ethnolinguistic backgrounds and provinces would they be from if they were Filipino in canon ( and if they were born there or not ). Seven of the Rangers in this edit were played by actors of Filipino descent [ Alyssa, Madison, Rose, Theo, Emma, Brody, and Ollie ( the actors of Emma, Brody, and Ollie are mixed-race ) ]; the ethnicities I gave them are not based off the ethnolinguistic backgrounds of the actors' families, for I did not want to pry on their backgrounds because that's private information, so these are my own ideas. Two of them aren't played by Filipino actors, however, their characters are siblings of the characters who were played by Filipino actors [ Vida and Aiden/Levi ]. As for Kendall? Honestly, that's just pure projection; Kendall isn't played by a Filipino actress but I wanted to make Kendall be from the same ethnolinguistic backgrounds as I am because..... look, she's my favorite— I'm legitimately her IRL— and I have the power to, okay?!

List of my headcanoned ethnolinguistic backgrounds + provinces under the cut if you need them. Again, these are not canon and are just the result of projections.

Filipino-Headcanoned!Rangers and their Ethnolinguistic Origins

Alyssa Enrile - Bicolano ; Family came from Tabaco City, Albay Madison and Vida Rocca - Partially Cagayano ; Family came from Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Province Rose Ortiz - Bisaya [ Samareño/Waray ] ; Born in the Municipality of Lapinig, Boundary of Northern and Eastern Samar Theodore Martin - Bisaya [ Cebuano ] ; Born in Cebu City, Cebu Emma Goodall - Partially Tagalog ; Family came from Batangas City, Batangas Kendall Morgan - Partially Bisaya [ Boholano ] and Mindanawon [ Zamboangueño + Kalagan ] ; Family came from Malaybalay City, Bukidnon Brody and Aiden Romero - Partially Mindanawon [ Zamboangueño + Kalagan ]; Family came from Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Peninsula Ollie Akana - Partially Bisaya [ Boholano ] ; Family came from the Municipality of Calape, Bohol

[fancyfade]

Arrowette custom action figure

figure realm link (link)

arrowette was off a super cheap pink power rangers doll I got from ollies. I initially just wanted her lower body (the skirt and non-textured legs were good for my mods purposes) but sadly I couldn't figure out how to combine her with any of hte marvel select upper bodies, so she just stayed pink power ranger all the way through. that meant I had to apoxie over her arms to try to get rid of the scale texture, and I messed that up and one arm got frozen perpetually.

pink power ranger is also like evidently one of the only action figures who has real boots instead of just very thin boots that clearly go along the leg contour, so I had to apoxie parts of her leg to make her boots go thigh high (since otherwise it would've been super obvious where pink power ranger's calf-high boots ended). I used teh same technique I did on Byrne's Wonder Girl (link), but messed up and froze one of her legs.

[skyland2703]

guys i don't think this was a coincidence...

[itmethanh]

I rewatched Cosmic Fury recently and something dawned on me: I don't think Zedd knows Ollie's name. He only ever calls him "child", "boy", or "BOOOOOY". Some of the other villains address him by name, but never Zedd.

hey anon! you've stumbled onto some head canons I've held in for a while! just a disclaimer 🙈

I think there is something so cool behind that dialogue choice because it happened so frequently and consistently that we can definitely draw some character intentions from it. This provides such a fun contrast between Zedd and Zordon as mentors to a human ranger team.

Zordon will always catch flack from me for creating a team of child soldiers 😂 but in narrative, he's shown to be a very caring father-figure. He imparts wisdom and concern for his team. Between him and Alpha, there's a functional nuclear family. Whereas Zedd is running a dysfunctional content house with this new adoptive son he doesn't know what to do with.

It's a toss up whether Zedd genuinely did not know Ollie's name, despite knowing his other lackeys and henchmen, or whether he called Ollie by diminutive names intentionally. Heck, even Rita knew the name of the evil ranger she created. Either way, it could speak towards a power play. It's Zedd's way to impose a power hierarchy between them even though he actually treated Ollie really well.

We also know that throughout the seasons, Ollie is mostly raised by single mother/amazing genius, Lani Akana. Lord Zedd fills this spot for a father figure in Ollie's life and even though he was brainwashed to be evil, we still saw Ollie vying for Zedd's approval and trying so hard to make him proud. Even when Ollie failed, Zedd says he sees potential in Ollie and encourages him to embrace his inner darkness. All of that dynamic rounds out at the end where good!Ollie makes his plea with Zedd to not release the Zedd Wave and Zedd eventually concedes.

(Also that scene where Ollie provides Zedd with Zayto's location. Zedd tells Scrozzle to "give the boy his present" like okay Zedd you definitely prepared that WELL beforehand. He is 100% someone who shoves gifts at their child as a form of parenting.)

It was just incredibly fun to see despite only catching glimpses of their dynamic.

[gayforhotwoman]

An idea: Zedd decides he wants a different "pet" and puts Izzy under power-of-love-proof mind control. Billy's "not this shit again" energy goes through the roof with yet another evil green ranger. What would Izzy's dynamics with the villains be like? How would seeing her like this affect the rest of the team, especially Javi and Fern?

decided to make you're idea into a fic so sorry for the long delay and manage to made your idea earlier into a fic enjoy ^-^

“Doodrip get down here” A monster teleports down, as Squilla said over her phone. “Who’s that?” As Doodrip teleported onto the battlefield, Zayo questioned. “Doodrip, reporting for duty!” His name made Izzy laugh. “Doodrip? That’s your name? Man, you should sue your mom.” After that, Doodrip becomes enraged and releases a poisonous spray on the ranger. 

When they got sprayed, every Ranger groans, and Izzy begins to feel strange. “What just happened?” Aiyon attempts to shake off the spray from his suit, expressing disgust about it. Izzy groans more and grips her head, feeling lightheaded, which causes the others to stare at her with concern. “That’s poison Zedd used to turn Ranger evil.” Doodrip smirked and remarked to them.

Izzy began grumbling to herself after hearing what he had said. "No, no please, I don't want to hurt them," she said, attempting to get the feelings from her head. “No evil vibes here.” Javi laughs nervously as he observes his sister, who is still holding her head and not hearing what she just said. “If you had any brains, you'd know the poison was designed only for that Green Ranger.” Lord Zedd yelled at Doodrip before gesturing to Izzy.

“Wait. Does this mean…” When Aiyon realizes why Izzy is feeling lightheaded, he turns to face her and looks at Izzy who is turning around to face them her entire body glowing for a brief moment. The others then give Izzy a terrified and anxious expression. “Zed has a new ally.” Ollie was pushed away by Izzy as she rushed toward him, grabbing the cosmic key and making it impossible for him to get it back. “Izzy no!” As the others rush to his aid, Ollie makes another attempt to reclaim the cosmic key but is only given another beating.

“Cosmic gateway, activate.” The other Rangers shouted as they started to roll away as Izzy opened a portal directly in front of them. Zayto and the others groan they can’t even process what just happened when Lord Zedd blasts Zayto towards the portal the others then shout seeing what just happened. “Zayto!” When Aiyon tries to rush to Zayto to save him, the portal closes and it's too late for Aiyon to save him. “No!” When Aiyon is unable to get to Zayto in time, he becomes extremely upset.

“Izzy! How could you?” Amelia screamed at Izzy as she ducked under her attack. “Easily” Izzy then goes back to attacking Amelia, grunting a little when Javi stops her. “Izzy stop!” Holding Izzy in place, Javi yelled at her to stop attacking Amelia. “No more portals!” Amelia then takes the cosmic key away from Izzy’s sword.

Izzy is able to escape Amelia and Javi and launches an attack on them. “I just got him back…” Trying not to cry over what had happened, Aiyon remarked as he knelt down. “Great another evil green ranger.” Billy murmured to himself as he thought back to Tommy's previous experiences. Billy then makes the decision to assist the other rangers by stopping Izzy before she can attack Javi and Amelia.

“Garcia please calm down.” Billy was then elbowed in the chest, causing his grip on Izzy to loosen and allowing her to escape. “Don’t tell me to calm down!”

“Ha! Hilarious you did all right Doodrip still you’re fired.” Then, Lord Zedd shoved him aside and raised his staff in preparation to fight the rangers. “What?” Doodrip claimed he was confused when Lord Zedd shoved him out of the way and the Zentinals dragged him away. “Take him away!” The other monsters, including Squillia, followed Lord Zedd as he dashed toward the rangers, prepared to fight. “Wait, no! I was an employee of the month!” Doodrip resisted, but the Zentinals still dragged him away.

“Izzy please snap out of it it’s me Javi you’re brother!” Even as Javi begged Izzy to pull her out of the poison, she attacked him nonetheless. “Izzy please-” Amelia then saw a Zentinal advancing on her and was ready to avoid it, but just in time, a morphed Mick attacked the Zentinal. “Hi don’t mind me.” Mick said with a smile, oblivious to the previous events. “Mick’s morphed? Whoa.” Amelia successfully dodges Izzy's attacks. 

“Izzy please come back we need you.” Javi begs as he protects Amelia, who is struck very hard in the chest. “Fern needs you!” Then, upon hearing Fern's name, Izzy abruptly stopped attacking them. “Fern needs you she wants you to come home to her so please snap out of it!” Though Javi screams in desperation, he sees a possibility that his little sister is still inside when he realizes that Izzy is no longer attacking them.

When Izzy stopped attacking them and started to hear voices in her head, she started shouting out of pain. “STOP PLEASE.” Izzy has trouble breathing well, so she takes off her helmet. “Izzy-” Just as Javi was ready to go help Izzy, Lord Zedd abruptly blasted him away. After that, Lord Zedd uses his staff to pin Izzy to the ground. “Inkworth! Give me the syringe!” Then, with a syringe in hand, Inkworth teleports next to Lord Zedd.

“No what are you gonna do to her!” Just as Javi was going to get up to save Izzy, the Zentinals grabbed him. “Javi!” Amelia was ready to assist Javi when she saw him being held captive by the Zentinals, but she was also taken hostage by them. “Guys!” When Mick noticed that they were both in danger, he yelled and tried to hurry toward them, but more Zentinals stopped him. “Billy!”

Aiyon was captured by the Zentinals when he attempted to reach them secretly, while Billy heard the others screaming for help at that point. “No!” Ollie, who had just woken up from Izzy's beating, yelled. The syringe is then taken from Inkworth by Lord Zedd, who gradually advances it toward Izzy's neck. “Please no…” Izzy whimpered and then let out a groan when the syringe was inserted into her neck.

“Fern…”

“What did you do to her!” Billy shouts at Lord Zedd, growing angry. As he took off his staff on Izzy, Lord Zedd simply laughed maniacally. “Rise my Evil Green Ranger…” Then Izzy gets to her feet and puts back on her helmet, all emotion gone from her face. “Not again…”

Afterwards, the rangers saw The Morphin Masters being drawn into a tube and grabbed by a beam of light. “That’s it!” When Javi managed to get free from the Zentinals holding him, The Red Morphin Mastered noticed him and tossed Javi his staff. Javi saw a vision of an altar being struck by lightning as The Red Morphin Master was speaking as he managed to capture the staff. “You know where to go.”

Afterward, Javi uses the sprint dino key in order to free the others, and just as he was ready to help Izzy, Billy stops him. “What are you doing-” Billy then cut off Javi's words and said. “We can rescue her later let’s go.”

Javi then looks at Izzy who’s still emotionless.

“Fine let’s go….”

“I’ll come back to you sis and will bring you home to Fern….”

Teleports away with the others.

[regaliasonata]

Javi Garcia headcanons?

-He has an ability from the grid to make mystical strings and can easily turn them into any instrument themed in such, Guitars, Shamisen, Biwa, Violins etc.

-Some rangers have dream like visions before becoming rangers and he constantly had one of losing his arm. Whether or not it came true this motivated Javi to build a career in advance incase he was unable to do what he loved for a living.

-David Bowie signed one of his guitars as a kid.

-As a desperation technique if Javi is about to die he can split himself into musical frequencies. This can be reversed with a seance involving an amp.

-The reason Mr.Garcia doesn't see music much as a great career for Javi is rooted in tragedy. Javi's birth mom was killed in a ranger situation involving a musical monster, in some ways he fears that Javi could end up in a similar situation. Though things have simmered down ever since the incident.

-because of the Stego Zord Javi created unique picks that bring out the hidden qualities of sound whenever playing his guitar. He also looked into records and noticed how the Operation Overdrive rangers morph and added some ideas from their morphers to the picks to add sparks in his performances. He can't do this anymore at Buzzbkast because dude nearly burned the place down.

-Javi hates horror movies, the only one he can really watch is The Grudge but that was stopped after Izzy got hit in the head with drum when she tried to prank him in a costume.

-He loves vacations but after a trip to Alaska Javi isn't allowed to choose a destination anymore(he brought the team there because of glaciers and ice being reflective for sound, perfect for band practice....)

-Not just music wise but overall Javi has bad imposter syndrome. Sometimes it's really hard for him to take a victory to heart and it took mainly Izzy's support to keep him from shutting down every now and then.

-Dating wise things fluctuate for Javi, it's not easy for him to really find people that want to stick around to learn about what lies beyond the music and looks. Fern and Izzy both aid him in singling out anyone that would be perfect for him, though it seemed that they've pieced it down to either people on the team or some other ranger that may be great matches for him (Amelia, Ollie, Zayto, some other rangers etc whichever ship suits you 😎)

-Javi is bisexual, he's come to terms with this part of himself. His father knew the whole time tbh, he was like "Straight? Javi have you met yourself😭."

-Speaking of the Operation Overdrive team Javi keeps pestering them about ancient or mythical instruments from legend. Plus this got him into some trouble when he went searching for specific instruments and wouldn't return them, Tyzonn caved in and found this perfect material from a distant planet that Javi used to make a new guitar. It actually gives h a cool power up for battles.

-There's a penguin stuffed animal he sleeps with from time to time. Izzy tried blackmailing him with an image but everyone in their college campus just found it adorable.

-Izzy literally would murder someone if they were treating Javi terribly. She actually put a dude in the hospital back in fifth grade when the jerk broke his mom's guitar on show and tell day.

-The idea of death freaks Javi out so Amelia knowing so much about cremation and ash disposal keeps him up a night, yay insomnia😔

-Javi and Izzy took martial arts classes when they were younger, their instructor was Jason and Javi had a huge crush on the dude. Despite not retaining much he just stuck around to see Jason each class, on ranger business Javi found out Jason was a ranger and during a meet up he broke through a window and sprinted away from the command center. Izzy has the recording to this day.

-Javi watched Friends during his childhood and actually got a small monkey on his fourth birthday. Of course when it got to big he had to let it go but a certain red ranger at a zoo is keeping great care of the pet.

-Some ranger teams like the ninja, mystical and martial arts based teams utilize qi or energy to power their abilities. This and the grid energy can be built up through ritualistic or individual related practices such as music, chanting, dancing or any activity that pleases the individual. Rangers like Javi who play music all the time stockpile tons of energy for fights.

-All jokes aside Javi is a bottom, no matter the situation 😭

-he gets very emotional and sometimes needs someone on the team to vent out to, nothing wrong in letting out your feelings. A motto that his dad taught him.

-Fiction is one genre that Javi will never let go of, the idea of creating stories through fables or music is one he strives to do. Leave a legacy once he's gone from this world.

-his musical potential can actually give life to things. Izzy jokes that he's some type of greek deity because of this power.

-ever since Cosmic Fury Javi has been able to summon floating instruments for attacks, similar to Armiger Unleashed from Final Fantasy 15 and can also enter a stage similar to Viktor from The Umbrella Academy. White Violin would be proud.

-Javi watches plenty of anime, mainly Bleach and the idea of Bankai(to release the true potential of someone's being from within) influences his ability creation very much.

-He hates spiders and snakes with a burning passion.

[alecmagnuslwb]

Friday Night Big Scream

Read on AO3

The too long laces of her converse shoes bounce against the concrete as they walk down the street Zatanna’s arm linked with John’s. The ground’s a little wet the rain ending just in time for Trick or Treating to begin as a thin layer of fog crawls along the ground giving just the right amount of spooky to the crowded streets.

They weave their way through hundreds of other costumed folks, dodging a line of little Power Rangers high on sugar who rush past them.

John and Zatanna come to a stop in front of the Landmark Opera Plaza Cinema, a small local theater she’s always been partial to, the marquee glowing proudly with tonight’s fare.

“Are you sure a movie marathon will satisfy your Halloween needs?” John says dropping her arm to twine their fingers together.

Zatanna smiles up at the marquee then at him. “Absolutely, Dinah and Ollie are out of the country so there’s no party worth our time and I already dragged you to three haunted hayrides this year,” she pauses with a smirk. He just scowls playfully in return; those hayrides were not as family friendly as he was told they would be. He had nightmares dammit, less terrifying than the one’s he usually has, but nightmares all the same. “Our costumes are top notch and their showing three of the finest slasher classics ever to exist. It’s gonna be a nice, easy Halloween.”

John nods his head satisfied with her answer. They step forward about to enter the theater bumping into another couple.

“Sorry, mate,” John says as one of the men looks at them.

“You two look fantastic,” he says as the pair saunters off not even missing a beat.

“Hell yes we do,” Zatanna says with a smile pulling John forward into the theater. She has once again gone all out on their costumes. This year opting to be Grace and Daniel from one of her favorite recent movies Ready or Not, it gave Zatanna an excuse to look damn pretty in white while John looks hot in a brown suit and teal shirt and has an excuse to carry around a whiskey glass all night that she can magically refill.

They give their tickets to the girl dressed as Batgirl in the booth and make their way into the massive theater. They skip the concession line for now, though Zatanna will be needing some popcorn soon enough, and head into screen room four. They’ve gone all out for the night, the lights are all lit up red, the walls covered in fake cobwebs and spiders and everything in between. A few animatronic slashers are set up here and there in the halls and at the edges of the seats.

John and Zatanna pass by screen room three where Freddy Kreuger stands and is having his own marathon, two young girls who look barely old enough to have bought their tickets tonight screaming in delight when he swipes out at them.

Their trilogy of choice isn’t quite as famous as that man of nightmares but it’s Zatanna’s hands down favorite.

The Killer Blade franchise is a blatant mish mash rip-off of Texas Chainsaw and Friday the 13th. The killer, quite obviously, carries a chainsaw in one hand, a machete in the other and sports a scarecrow like mask as he terrorizes young campers in the dead of the southern summer.

They’re corny and ridiculous and only get more so as the films progress, by the third film the killer has blatant healing powers that are never explained and the machete has become molded to his arm in a practical effect that’s essentially just duct tape. The final girl from the first film is portrayed by four different women across the movies, yes that’s right four. They couldn’t even keep one actress around to finish an entire film in the second installment.

They’re not great, but Zatanna has such fond memories of the schlocky 80’s slashers. They were the first horror movies she stayed up way too late to watch and couldn’t take her eyes off of. She remembers dressing up as Star Bradford, the series final girl, the first Halloween she was able to pick out her own costume and a few years later showing Zachary the first film and giving him nightmares for a month.

When she heard they were doing a big screen showing for one night only, she couldn’t think of any other way to spend the night.

Their screening is in the smallest screen room unsurprising considering Killer Blade isn’t exactly as popular as many of the big franchises.

They settle into their seats, unfortunately at the front of the theater. Zatanna hadn’t heard about the showing till it was almost too late snagging two of the last four tickets. She discreetly moves her hand a silent little spell under her breath that moves all the seats back subtly making it so their necks don’t have to crane uncomfortably up at the screen.

They settle in lifting up the armrest between them, John wrapping his arm around Zatanna’s shoulders his fingers softly running over her lace covered collar bone.

The first film breezes by a 90-minute gore fest that Zatanna delights in every second of. It’s been a while since she’s seen the movies, really sat down and watched them full through and she loves it just as much now as she did at 12 years old.

“Well,” Zatanna says slipping out from under John’s hold turning to him excitedly. He’s never seen the movies in their entirety only bits and pieces when he’s popped up and interrupted her viewings. “Incredible right?”

“That’s one word you could use,” John says with a snort.

“Oh, come on,” she says standing up and stretching out grabbing John’s hand and pulling him along with her into the lobby for the fifteen-minute break between the movies. “I heard you laughing at the jokes, even felt you jump a couple times.” She teases pushing open the door to the ladies’ room, John doesn’t even bat an eye as she drags him in along with her.

She steps over to the mirror adjusting her bandolier and fixing up her hair where the braid has loosened a bit from resting against John’s shoulder all movie long. John leans against the wall beside her and shrugs.

“I guess it was pretty fun,” he concedes pushing off the wall and wrapping his arms around her waist. Eyes meeting in the mirror with a small playful smile. Zatanna smiles back continuing to fiddle with her hair.

“I hate to say it, since we’ll never be getting married,” Zatanna says leaning back into John looking at the image they make in the bathroom mirror. “But damn do we look good like a bridal pair.”

John smiles at her pressing his face into her neck. A few other people move behind them clearly unbothered by the couple hogging the bathroom mirror. If the sounds from the second stall are any indication they’re definitely not the only couple in this bathroom anyways.

“A bit of a bloody wedding,” he comments brushing his hand over the blood splatter across her waist, his fingers fiddling with the bandelier of empty shotgun shells across her chest.

“Well if we were to get married, it’s safe to assume there’d be some bloodshed at the ceremony,” she muses.

John hums in agreement trailing his lips along her shoulder his hands moving in directions not appropriate for public viewing.

“And where do you think these are going?” she says lacing her fingers with his stopping his movement in its tracks.

“We can’t let those two have all the fun,” he says gesturing his head back for a beat towards the second stall just as a very loud moan comes from behind the door.

Zatanna chuckles pulling his hands around her tight before pulling them away and twisting to face him.

“I am not fucking you in a movie theater bathroom stall,” she says kissing him once quick on the lips before pulling away and heading for the door. John trails along behind her.

“We’ve done it in worse places,” he grumbles under his breath.

“We have not,” she laughs as they make their way back into the lobby pulling John by his undone bow tie into the concession line. She absolutely needs popcorn for the second movie.

“The basement of that haunted sanitarium in DC was way worse,” John argues.

Zatanna looks up contemplating. “Okay, maybe, but,” she defends. “We thought we were gonna die, dire circumstances makes one forget about germs.” She pauses once they get to the front of the line ordering a large bucket and paying, tossing an extra hundred into the tip jar with a wink to the girl behind the counter. “Also, the second movie starts in about five minutes and we will not be missing it.”

John dips his hand into the popcorn bucket taking a large handful and shoving it into his mouth. “Fine,” he says muffled through the buttery snack.

“Later,” she says with a flirtatious smirk backing into the doors and going back inside the theater. She reaches out running a finger along John’s lower lip licking the remnants of salt and butter off her finger holding his eyes the entire time.

John swallows the last of the mouthful of popcorn hard. “How long are these two left?”

“Three is the longest, just a little over two hours,” she says with glee settling back into her seat tapping John’s whiskey glass to fill it automatically. “Two is another cool 90 minutes. Think you can hold out?”

“I am a man of strong will and great endurance,” he says taking another handful of popcorn, setting his glass aside.

“I mean I don’t know if I’d call the endurance great,” she teases hooking an ankle around his.

“Rude,” John says shoving at her playfully. The lights go down, the movie starting to roll on the screen. “I’ve never heard you complaining.”

“Well now that you mention it,” she chuckles clearly just messing with him.

“I cannot believe you,” he says with a laugh throwing a little bit of popcorn at her. She tosses it back at him just as the production company insignia crawls across the screen.

She shushes him as she settles back in comfortably underneath his arm.

The first twenty minutes are pure trash attempts at being cinema all shot in black and white telling the loose origin of Killer Blade that makes not one ounce of sense and isn’t referenced ever again. Things get really good in Zatanna’s opinion when things go back to color the camp counselors of the second film, including final girl Star, now played by a different actress, who for some reason decides it’s a good idea to help reopen the camp where her friends were all murdered two years prior by a madman with no motive other than to kill that disappeared into the night without a trace.

It’s a rapid ride that she falls into easily forgetting how much time passes watching with rapt attention as if she hasn’t seen it dozens of times before. So of course she notices something wrong with the film in an instant. At first the screen crackles a bit, a passable glitch she brushes off, but then it happens again. This time along with the screen warping unnaturally. She sits up straight, John taking notice their eyes meeting for a beat before returning to the screen.

Zatanna scans the audience as the ground shakes, light bursting out of the screen. No one else seems to notice; all just happily watching the film without a care in the world.

The screen morphs again, Zatanna pushes the popcorn out of her lap her hands at the ready, magic just at her lips. But she’s not quick enough two hands still showing the movie across them reach out grabbing each of them by the neck.

They both fight back John biting at the hand while Zatanna kicks at the one holding onto her. They don’t so much as flinch pulling the both of them in closer and closer to the screen till they’re going straight through it. The sounds of a chainsaw and the blood spatter of the unsuspecting gas station attendant enveloping them.

Everything goes dark for a moment, a scene change, then they’re both being thrust hard onto the ground landing face first into dewy grass. Gone is the just right temperature of the movie theater, replaced now by the warm breeze of a summer evening. The darkness of the theater no longer surrounds them instead the slow burn of a summer sundown.  

Zatanna sits up with a groan. “John,” she says shoving at his back, he groans in response slowly lifting himself up. Zatanna looks around the trees swaying in the wind, she shifts the other way and there she sees it the bright red Camp Crystal Arawak sign she currently has a replica of hanging over her big screen tv at home.

“Holy shit,” she says. John twists looking the same way she is.

“Are we-“

“We’re in Killer Blade 2,” she says half in awe that she knows she shouldn’t be feeling. “We’re in Killer Blade 2,” she says again lifting up from the ground, a little more enthusiastic this time. She knows this is probably bad, but she can’t help it.

“Probably not a good thing, love,” John says lifting himself up from the ground trying to reign in her excitement.

“I mean, yeah, probably not. Probably a villain did this to mess with us,” she says eyes looking all around taking in the scenery like she’s never seen it before. “But come on, I mean who hasn’t wanted to live inside their favorite movie?”

“I haven’t,” John says dusting the grass off of his suit.

Zatanna turns giving him an eyeroll over her shoulder. “Well, that’s because your favorite movie is A Clockwork Orange.”

“And your favorite movie is about a man with a machete for a hand,” he shoots back.

“Not until the third one,” she says reaching back. “Come on, the massacre hasn’t started yet, that’ll give us time to figure out how to get out of here.”

“Oh goody the massacre hasn’t started,” John says taking her hand.

They walk under the large arching sign and it’s almost as if the air shifts, the warm summer night giving way to a cooler breeze as if the space knows it’s about to become a wasteland of death. Zatanna points naming out cabins and which characters will perish where as they walk through the campgrounds. Her hand reaching out every now and then to run her fingers along the set she’s memorized every inch of.

A few teens portrayed by twenty and thirty somethings come barreling out of a cabin laughing.

“Shit,” John says trying to pull Zatanna behind one of the cabins so they’re not spotted. He assumes that will just make things more complicated.

“It’s fine they probably can’t see us, they’re scripted they can’t move off of it,” Zatanna says continuing to move forward.

“Hi, y’all!” one of the campers shouts. Zatanna and John freeze in their tracks.

“Or maybe they can go off script,” she swallows turning around. Janet, the films signature slutty girl, is waving at them frantically not a care in the world.

She’ll have cares soon enough when her macabre ending comes because she just can’t resist running off to the woods for one quick blow job with mega jock Brad who will die with his pants at his ankles.

“Hi!” Zatanna waves back a corny smile across her face. She nudges John with her elbow and he joins along a little less effort put into his smile.

“Are y’all lost?” she says that thick southern girl accent she’s putting on mixing with the actresses’ natural valley girl cadence.

“Sort of,” Zatanna says putting on her own little southern twang. John looks at her wide-eyed mouthing a question of what she’s doing. “Roll with it,” she whispers under her breath as Janet makes her way towards them, perky and practically bouncing with every step. Brad and a few of the nameless body count stroll along behind her.

“Oh, no!” she says rushing right at Zatanna giving her a hug not questioning their outfits or the bandolier of shotgun shells she’s wearing. Bless this sweet, horny girl.

“What’s up with the get ups?” Brad asks, at least having a little more sense to question their presence.

“You see we were at a costume party at the old West-Cain cabin on the other side of the lake and it got broken up by the cops,” Zatanna says coming up with a quick story using her knowledge of the movie’s landscape to her advantage. A party occurring prior to the events of the film at the cabin they’ll spend the entire movie trying to get to is a passable excuse for their presence. Especially for this crowd.

“And our ride ran off without us and left us stranded in the woods,” Zatanna continues with an overdramatic rolls of her eyes. “We just started walking and luckily stumbled upon y’all.”

“Well thank goodness you did; those woods get really spooky after dark. Especially after what happened,” Janet says with a shiver. She reaches out grabbing Zatanna’s hand pulling her along not giving any further information. That’s okay Zatanna knows better than her what happened. “I’m Janet and this is my boyfriend Brad.” She says pointing to the blonde walking alongside them. The nameless body count characters have peeled off ahead of them heading towards the dining hall.

“I know,” Zatanna says accidentally, Janet giving her a funny look. “I mean it’s printed on your shirt.” She quickly corrects, Janet looks down at her shirt like she’d forgotten that fact and possibly even forgotten her own name.

“Oh, yeah,” she says with a giggle.

“I’m Zat-” she starts deciding her name might be a little too complicated for this group. “Zee,” she says instead. “Just Zee,” she smiles at Janet throwing a hand over her shoulder. “And this is my boyfriend John.”

John snorts. She never calls him that, it’s what he is technically speaking, but the word never seems to fit for them. “Good to meet you,” he says.

“Ooh,” Janet says shimmying her shoulders. “From jolly old London are we?” she says putting on a god-awful British accent, mixing terribly with the two she’s already battling.

“Liverpool technically.”

“Like the Beatles,” Brad says with a nod of his head slapping his hand down on John’s shoulder with a loud clap. “Cool.”

John just gives Brad a thumbs up and a slightly grimaced smile rubbing at his shoulder as they walk up the steps to the dining hall.

“We’ll get you guys all set up in here,” Janet says dropping Zatanna’s hand and pushing open the double swinging doors. “Anton is the only one with a car, he doesn’t love driving at night, but I’m sure he’d be able to give you two a ride into town. He’s too nice to say no.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary,” Zatanna says emphatically looking over at John. “Truly we can just get a little water and head back out there.” Look for magic signatures, find a portal or some sort of tear they can slip through to get back into their reality. Anton will be a hindrance to that.

“Nonsense,” Janet says dragging them along and introducing them to other counselors in the room. They may be going off script here, but Zatanna can’t help but notice she only gives names to the characters who are given them in the movie.

Anton is happy to help, a do gooder who will lose his head in act three, twirling his keys around with a wink before heading out to his car. Zatanna knows for a fact he will find his tires slashed, the night of terror truly about to begin.

“You two just sit here and drink these,” Janet says settling them at a table. Brad sits two glasses of water in front of them. “I’ll be right back.”

She won’t, if the leer Brad gives her as she walks away is any indication.

“So what’s the costume?” Brad asks turning the chair on the other side of the table backwards and sitting down in front of John.

“It’s from a movie,” John says not going into further detail.

Brads hums. “I don’t watch a lot of those.”

“Ironic,” John says leaning back.

“Yeah, totally,” Brad says absolutely not knowing what the word ironic means. He gets up with a nod jogging over to Janet wrapping his arms around her waist, shoving a hand down the front of her tiny shorts.

“Well that’s subtle,” John says watching them slip out of the side door.

“Yeah they’re about to die,” Zatanna says using her normal voice turning her body towards his. “Look, we’ve got to get a move on and find our way out of here, cause shit is about to hit the fan.”

She lowers her voice leaning into John. “Us being here isn’t affecting the plot all that much, Anton is going to go to his car and find the tires slashed. Then on his way back he’s gonna find Janet and Brad’s bodies. It’s pretty much a non-stop kill fest from there.”

“Let’s try and not be a part of that,” John says getting up from his chair. They make their way to the little backdoor they watched the couple slip out of moments ago when the kitchen door swings open blocking their path.

The walking epidemy of the 1980’s teen dream steps out. He’s got that same curly hair like the boys in Nightmare on Elm Street, rocking a crop top and denim shorts, baseball cap clipped to one of his belt loops. It’s a look she has managed to wrestle John into a few times and it delights her to no end.

“Oh my god, that’s Ray Bronson,” Zatanna says excitedly twisting them away from the door a bit.

“Who?”

“Ray Bronson,” Zatanna says sounding half in love. John tries not to be jealous. “He was a bonafide scream queen in the 80’s and 90’s. His character, CHARLEY, was originally supposed to survive this movie alongside Star, but he was dating Sidney Strode at the time and when she quit the movie he refused to be in the third film so they rewrote the ending.”

She steps away from John lingering near Ray Bronson as he shares high fives and bro hugs with a few other guys in the room. John follows after her.

“You could tell production was mad at him for bailing cause his ending is grisly,” she sighs quietly looking the man up and down.

“How grisly?” John says trying not to get the guy’s attention, keeping his voice low.

“Him and Star get split up and first one of his arms goes through the meat grinder in the cafeteria, he gets away bleeding like crazy. Then he gets his legs chain sawed off and as he crawls away somehow still conscious the killer picks him up and ties his only remaining limb to the back of a truck and does doughnuts in the field till CHARLEY smacks into a tree and basically his whole body explodes. It’s disgusting,” Zatanna says with a delighted grin.

“You look far too happy about that,” John says with a chuckle.

“Don’t get me wrong CHARLEY is dreamy as hell and you root for him in a way you don’t root for anyone but Star cause he’s a genuinely a great horror movie boyfriend, but the FX team goes all out for his big death scene,” she says with a fond nostalgic smile. She can be a real freak sometimes, John loves it.

The front door swings open again and the music swells. Zatanna and John look up finding no plausible source for the music, the generic 80’s pop playing from the radio is gone, the score taking over welcoming its final girl back to the screen.

The room freezes all eyes on her as she makes her way over towards CHARLEY.

“Star 2.0,” Zatanna whispers watching as a tall tanned woman flips her long black hair over her shoulders. Her outfit is different than a lot of the others, the blue and white polo replaced with a red t-shirt sporting the name of the camp, a little white washed denim jacket on top of it. It’s the outfit Zatanna sported for Halloween all those years ago. “She’s not my favorite Star, but she has the best final girl scream. This is so cool.”

John gives her look.

“Okay, potentially extremely dangerous, but also,” she pauses gesturing wildly to their surroundings. “Camp Crystal Arawak. I wanted to go here so bad when I was a kid, I was bummed when I realized it wasn’t a real place.”

“You wanted to come to the murder camp?”

Zatanna just shrugs with a little smile.

“You were a twisted little one, weren’t you?” John says fondly.

“Maybe just a little bit,” she says with a playfully tilt of her head. “Come on, Anton’s about to bust in it’ll be a good distraction for us to get out there and investigate.”

***

Night has fallen completely by the time they slip outside and out on the ridges of the camp not far from Anton’s car Killer Blade is waiting, lurking. Zatanna guides them in the opposite direction, better to avoid the killer for as long as possible.

The woods are quiet, largely carnage free for now as they make their way through the trees. Zatanna snaps her fingers trying and failing to find magic at her fingertips.

“Dammit,” she says a flicker of light coming from her fingers for a second, immediately expunged. “My magic is on the fritz.”

“Same here,” John says tapping at the exposed sigil on his collarbone, it doesn’t even flicker to life for a full second.

They continue walking along looking for some sort of magical energy signature until a rustle comes from the right. They briefly stop, but Zatanna keeps them walking along as if nothing has been heard.  

“White guy, pony tail,” Zatanna says under her breath keeping close to John. She watches as he dives behind a tree thinking he’s gone unnoticed.

“There are several of those here,” John murmurs back. Zatanna looks the way of their potential bad guy again, the goatee man sneaking his head out from behind it for a second. For a bad guy capable of something this elaborate he sure is acting like a cartoon villain in the moment.

“That one,” she says inclining her head towards the tree line. “He’s not in the movie,” The man slinks back behind the tree disappearing into the background of the movie.

“You sure?”

“You saw his outfit, all black, long jacket; that’s out of place at a summer camp. Plus I’ve seen these movies a hundred times, I know every detail down to the background actors and he’s not one,” she says stepping towards the tree, John following right behind her.

Zatanna attempts to ready her hands with magic, but it flickers out once again. The man behind the tree snarls when they make eye contact and immediately twists making a run for it.

“No you don’t,” John says chasing after him.

He doesn’t get far, John may smoke a pack a day, but when he’s stubbornly determined enough the man can run. He catches up to the guy tackling him to the ground the two struggling with each other rolling on the grass. Zatanna comes to a stop in front of them watching as John gets the upper hand pushing the man into the grass.

“You cannot hold the demon of illusion!” he shouts ripping his hands into the grass a flickering beam of bright white light coming up through the ground. He sinks his hands into the light disappearing in an instant the light closing up right behind him causing John to fall face first into the grass.

“Fuck!” he shouts his voice lightly muffled by the grass.

“Demon of illusion,” Zatanna says. “I appreciate that demons have just started introducing themselves with job title cards, it really cuts down on the research time.”

“Doesn’t help us get out of here though,” John says getting up from the ground.

“Illusion explains why no one else in the theater reacted when we got sucked in. And it explains why his powers work, but ours don’t he’s in control of the whole thing,” Zatanna puzzles with his reasoning though. “Did we do something to this guy? Did you beat him in a poker game?”

John just shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t think so, of course some of those games are a bit of a blur.”

A piercing scream sounds in the distance.

“Did you hear that?” John says looking up from where he’d been scuffing at the grass the demon had disappeared through.

“The massacre has started,” Zatanna says grabbing John’s hand. “We should head back.”

“We should?” John says incredulously running alongside her.

“The demon probably wants to see us go through it and we can’t do that if we’re just wandering in the empty woods,” Zatanna says increasing her pace. “Plus I kinda want to see it if we’re being honest,” she adds on with an apologetic smile, gritting her teeth.

The screams get louder as they get closer, the whirring sound of a chainsaw slashing through the night air.

Zatanna skids to a stop, John crashing into her back. Her eyes are locked upward and John follows her line of sight. Before them stands a behemoth of a man clad in a white long-sleeved shirt and dark overalls, heavy work boots caked in mud and a lightly burnt scarecrow mask over his face. He sheaths the machete in his right hand into his blood splattered overalls choosing instead to rev his chainsaw back to life.

Zatanna backs up as Killer Blade takes a slow step their way. She and John end up side by side backing up slowly. John reaches out an arm ready to block Zatanna and take this chainsaw for the both of them if he has to.

Zatanna raises her hands, “Kconk siht rellik otni eht eerts!”

Nothing happens. Killer Blade just tilts his head inquisitively at her.

“Shit!” Zatanna says dropping her hands pulling at John’s back. “Not just a glitch, magic definitely doesn’t exist in this world.”

She pushes John down the both of them just narrowly keeping their heads as Killer Blade swipes the chainsaw at them. They take off in a run faster than either of them have ever run heading back in the direction of the cabins.

“I thought the killer had magical powers?” John asks as they run looking over his shoulder. Killer Blade is catching up somehow despite the fact he’s walking at a snail’s pace compared to them. Slasher movie logic hard at work.

Zatanna shakes her head pulling John to the right away from the dining hall. There’s nothing but abandoned dinners in there and within the next few minutes Killer Blade will find his way inside and give Marcie the cook a new haircut. Scalp free. “Not until the third movie and it’s never explained as magic so kind of a grey area anyways.”

She rushes them to cabin 28 pushing at the door that blissfully hasn’t been barricaded yet. Not that the barricade does much good.

Star screams high pitched and perfect for the silver screen; Zatanna screams right back on instinct. John pulls her back the screaming settling down.

“He’s back,” Star shudders pushing past Zatanna and John to pull at the screen door tight as it slaps in the wind.

“We noticed,” John says and CHARLEY gives him a questioning sharp look that John just ignores.

“If we stay put and wait Freddy will be here soon,” Star says pushing a dresser in front of the door. CHARLEY rushes over to help her. God, Zatanna loves her, but she doesn’t utilize a single thing she learned from the first movie for the first two acts.  

“Freddy’s not coming and we need to get out of this cabin,” Zatanna says putting her little accent back on. She doesn’t want to bring on questions about her lack of cute little southern accent distracting them. They need to get out of here, they need to find the illusion guy and they need to stay alive. She also knows that Freddy is not coming, the owner of the camp is very, very dead broken into two over a tree stump outside the West-Cain cabin that only Star will reach in the end.

“She’s right,” Anton says. A voice of reason for at least the next five minutes. “We need to get to the phone in the craft cabin.”

It’s broken, not even by the killer, just by poor maintenance. But it is logically where the story goes next. The script finds a way.

A quiet scratching comes from the outside, the metal of a machete running along the jagged wood outside.

Everyone in the cabin freezes for a beat, screaming when the machete pushes through the screen door.

“Out the window!” Zatanna shouts shoving her way to the back. She’s slightly stealing Anton’s final attempted hero moment, but she can’t be bothered. Killer Blade slashes at the door shoving at the dresser blocking his entrance.

She takes a breath cringing a bit before she crashes her elbow through the glass of the back window. She knows for a fact it’s stuck and there’s no time to waste for her and John. John comes up beside her helping clear the shards before hoisting her up and out of it.

He follows her, Star and CHARLEY sliding out behind him. Anton, Zatanna knows is scuffling inside with the killer and he won’t be making it to the window.

“Anton,” CHARLEY shouts about to reach back inside, but Star pulls at him to run.

The craft cabin isn’t too far, but the killer is nice and distracted hacking Anton to bits right now and soon he’ll mow down a line of nameless camp counselors while Star finally re-finds her gumption. They have time and they’ll find two other survivors there.

***

The craft cabin is playing out exactly as it should. The phone doesn’t work, everyone panics and unbeknownst to the characters in the room, they’re the last five standing.

Star meanwhile is quietly finding her strength, building a weapon that will take her further than you’d ever expect out of a shovel from the gardening supplies in the back, loading her pockets with toxic spray paint that will save her life when she and CHARLEY get separated on their way to her salvation.

“We have to get out of here and find that illusion demon fast. He can’t be far, he’ll want to see us get chopped up,” Zatanna says talking to John but watching Star as the music swells her moment of power coming to a head.

“Out there doesn’t seem so safe,” John says ignoring as the room around them descends in to mild chaos. Star announces her plan to run to the West-Cain cabin, but the arguments end quick, CHARLEY taking hold of his girlfriend’s hand, nothing but a sharp pair of scissors as his weapon, as they confidently storm out of the doors.

“We’re running out of time, that was Sidney Strode’s last scene, when Star walks back through that door,” Zatanna says turning to the big green swinging door with the bloodied handprints on it the couple just walked out of. “She’s gonna be Renai Lambert who plays her for the remainder of the film which is only about twenty minutes.”

“What do you think happens to us if the movie ends and we’re still in it?” John wonders.

Zatanna shrugs. “There’s only one ever one final girl in the Killer Blade films,” she says ominously.

“Let’s go then,” John says rushing for the still swinging doors. Faint protests from the remaining survivors huddled in the corner call after them, but they ignore their pleas. They slip around the corner, off to the side away from where the moonlight catches on the killer’s rusty blade.

They make their way back into the tree line, John letting Zatanna be his guide. She knows exactly where the killer will be.

“I have an idea,” she says stopping when they find a patch of well grown earth. She reaches down taking a clump of dirt in hand along with some ivy and flowers. “Magic in our sense doesn’t exist in this universe. It’s born out of myth and humanity that doesn’t exist in this world, but magic of the earth? That exists in nature, in all nature.”

“The green,” John says watching as Zatanna closes her eyes and focuses. The green isn’t an expertise either of them have, but they’ve been friends with Swamp Thing long enough to know a bit to get by. Tracking using the earth is easy if you have the right belief, attitude and intentions. And Zatanna is filled to the brim with all three as their clock starts to run out of time.

John keeps watch as she centers herself the dirt falling through her fingers, the flower and ivy glowing a bit to life. She doesn’t understand the green, she never could she isn’t connected to it in the way people like Alec are, but she knows how to respect it, how to ask for its help in small ways. A tracking spell for a man that’s clearly set them up for a grisly movie worthy demise she believes isn’t asking too much.

The dirt swirls in the air drifting out on the wind like the living thing it is, the flower and ivy following along.

“John,” she says opening her eyes pointing forward. The little bit of earth moves fast in the air and they follow behind it quickly.

The earth leads them right to their target, sporting an evil smirk.

“Your end is near,” he says.

“Nah,” Zatanna says simply rushing at him. She rams at him knocking him into a tree hard. She struggles with him for a moment pressing her knee into his stomach holding him in place. He moves his hands about to pull the same trick he did before, but John’s quick to their side stamping hard down on one of his wrists and grabbing the other hand tight.

“You can’t stop me, you can’t break free,” he spouts. “You wronged me and you’ll pay.”

“We don’t even know you,” John says twisting the wrist in his hand. The demon grits his teeth.

“Of course, just another demon who’s crew you banished to hell. Just another on your laundry list of banishments. Well you won’t forget me now, when you burn in hell you’ll remember my name. You’ll remember the demon of illusion who ended your life through the plot of a silly little human film. You’ll remember Choronz-“

“Are you actually doing a big villain speech right now?” Zatanna says with a sigh cutting him off.

The demon looks taken aback. “I was trying to,” he says angrily.

“You really shouldn’t, it’s very generic of you,” she says angering him further. He blasts a shot of magic at John knocking him back a few feet, using his leverage to kick up at Zatanna. He scrambles upright, but Zatanna is on him once again, swinging a fist that connects right with his jaw. He twists around John landing another hit to the other side of his face. They don’t always need magic to win a fight.

He fights back, or tries to at least, every attempt he makes at waving magic their way they duck, quicker than him. Catching him hard in the gut or the neck or wherever they can reach with every movement.

Zatanna shoves him back to the ground John kicks him hard in the chest, a few times over for good effort and that’s when Zatanna spots it, a burst of light like the one the demon had created in the ground when he disappeared earlier.

“John get him up,” she says and John does so lifting the demon by the collar of his coat. His power might be impressive, but his endurance is not. He clearly relies on his illusions to do all the work and when he tries a different way he loses his grip on even that.

John hits him hard and square in the eye and the crack in the scenery grows, more light pouring out of it. The sounds of thunder rumble in the distance, a crack of lightning too bright and violent to be real. The music swells again, this time some 80’s metal hair band ballad playing.

Zatanna looks up just a John punches the demon hard in the gut again, a slow crawl of words coming down at them. The credits are rolling, their time is up.

She wastes no time tackling both John and the demon through the crack of light. They land hard on the floor, the sticky carpeted stairs of the theater not having the gentle give of the summery grasslands.

The demon tries to scramble away put John pulls him down by his long coat. Zatanna brings her hands at the ready her magic tingling at her fingers, regaining its strength in the world where it belongs.

“Hsinab siht owt-tib wohsedis nomed ot lleh,” she says a wave of burning hot fire leaving her hands and hitting the demon head on as he attempts to knock John with his elbow. The demon goes up in a cloud of burning flames, screaming for a moment before he’s nothing but ash falling to the ground.

John and Zatanna’s eyes meet the two letting out a synchronized breath of relief.

“Ummm,” a voice sounds and Zatanna turns. The credits stop rolling the room going silent, just the blank, confused faces of their fellow movie goers staring at them.

Zatanna bites her lip a forgetting spell at the front of her mind, before her stage presence kicks in bowing to the people with a wave instead.

“Happy Halloween!” she says in a cheery voice nudging John with her foot encouraging him to give the audience a wave as well. He does so, just not quite with the flair she possesses.

They all begin clapping immediately none the wiser that what just happened was real, even if they all still look a little confused what any of it has to do with the movie. It’s Halloween, weird shit happens all the time. She hears a couple near the front whisper to one another about how realistic practical effects have gotten.

“Let’s go home,” Zatanna says pulling John up and hastily down the aisle and out of the theater.

***

Zatanna runs her fingers along the contents of the closet adjacent to her bedroom a tired smile on her lips as she hangs their freshly magically cleaned costumes up alongside the collection of previous years.

She closes the closet door with a flick of her wrist before gliding down the stairs to her recently magically built entertainment center. She’s traded in her lacy dress for an old Killer Blade t-shirt she’s had since high school and some little jack-o-lantern shorts.

“You sure you’re not too disappointed we didn’t finish the trilogy at the theater?” John asks lying flat on his back on the couch a bowl of popcorn resting on his stomach. He tosses a few pieces in the air, only actually catching one in his mouth.

“After the hands-on experience we had tonight a comfortable at home viewing is more than enough,” she says tapping her Camp Crystal Arawak sign before making her way over to him. She picks up the bowl of popcorn just as he grabs another handful once again largely missing his mouth sitting it aside on the floor. She ignores the mess nudging his legs, he gets the message making space for her. She climbs on top of him making herself comfortable against his chest letting her hands drift up under his sleeveless Hellraiser shirt.

John hums bringing one arm around her and reaching into the pocket of his skeleton sweatpants Zatanna bought him earlier in the month for the remote. He presses play the opening title card of Killer Blade 3: The Final Stab splashing onto the screen.

“You enjoyed being in the movie too much,” he says with a smirk tossing the remote on the floor beside the popcorn bowl laying his hand none to discreetly on her pumpkin clad butt.

“I think I enjoyed it the exact appropriate amount,” she says scratching her nails at his sides playfully. He squirms moving his other hand to the small of her back pushing her shirt up dragging his fingers across her skin.

“You reveled in being chased by that psycho,” he says moving his fingers up higher along her spine.

“I didn’t revel, I simply partook with a normal amount of horror fan enthusiasm,” she corrects lifting up her head digging her chin into his chest with a smile. “Now shush,” she says turning her head back to the tv. “I’m watching the movie.”

John chuckles tilting his own head toward the screen, a perfectly timed rumble of thunder sounding just as Killer Blade, now equipped with superpowers and a poorly structured machete hand, takes over the screen. Blissfully just on the big screen this time, right where he belongs.

[augment-techs]

Color Theory discussions: BillySkull and maybe the addition of Matt. Because I’m curious now.

Okay, now follow along with me here: it would be a very rare universe where both of these boys would be able to be Powered up at the same time, because it is feeling more in more like, in direct relevance to canon, Orange is only allowed on screen/active, when Blue is not available for the team or in the moment. In the world of the Coinless, Skull only took on all the roles associated with Orange when he had to go undercover in the guise of a Red when Billy was shot through the chest. Fern, in Cosmic Fury, was only brought into the fray because Ollie went evil and the team needed someone to pick up the slack. The Orange Empyreal only came into being because Kiya literally murdered the Blue Emissary and their shadow came to life.

Orange is basically the blood that coagulates in the wound left by a Blue being missing. But they are not the same and it really shows in how they operate.

Blue can't work with what isn't there, but Orange can not only work around such a deficiency, but actively works to bring about change despite the lack of materials and spirit.

Blue is the memory of the Morphin Grid. If we take that into consideration for this pairing, Billy retains all the knowledge and memory of every relationship he's ever had. Which, whole awesome in the long term, is not great for short term because he gets caught up in the good, the bad, the awkward, the misunderstandings, the accidents, the hurt, and the love all at the same time. Being with him can be exhausting because he is a brilliant mind trapped in an flesh prison that doesn't allow him to operate both his wits and his mouth at the same time.

Skull, contrariwise, in almost every universe and timeline, never got the chance to embrace his place in the Grid for what he actually was. It was short lived and the memory was always taken away from him. And in the Coinless universe, this is a handicap, because he is in fact drawn to Morphin Energy and can act and react to what that means in the moment--and in long term, because Orange might be the doer, but that doesn't point to the WHEN he's doing anything. He can play the long game or act on the fly, because Orange is a dual Color in tune with Change. Despite what everyone wants to believe, Blue is also based in the elements of space, slowness, and loudness. Orange based in water, thinness, and quiet. Winter is still Blue's realm, where stasis is all, allowing the Ranger to observe and say "Eureka!" Autumn is Orange's, where everything is on the cusp of something else, always changing and yet also reliable in its change. They are good together in short bursts in the beginning of their relationship, and can only become more deeply entwined if Blue recognizes their little and big failings--because Orange already knows it has failings, often more aware of them than any other color, which is a big, big part of why it's so rare. The sheer amount of AWARENESS in Orange can be exhausting; as opposed to Blue, where it can go on for days to make things better, much to the detriment of the user.

That equal yet opposite thing is REALLY strong in this pair, so it's kind of no wonder that it would take FOREVER to become a true pairing.

Now adding Green into the mix, on the other hand...

Green is the hardcore survivor of the Morphin Grid. That's a given. It occupies Spring, which is a different kind of Change than Orange, often a much more violent one. It settles easily into air, brutality, bravery--which is different from courage (Orange) and sureness (Blue)--and a cunning; that on dark nights is more insidious and selfish than it should be.

Which is probably why I have a theory that Green and Orange and Purple are something of an antithesis of each other. Green could smash Purple (both a Summer and Winter type) into the ground with little effort, while Purple could--but would prefer not to--do the same to Orange. Orange, by rights, would be perfect to teach Green a lesson if the need arouse.

Now, bare with me, because this is a lot of where my subjective thoughts come into play.

Green/Blue are generally a rather harmonious duo in canon as friends and teammates, but if the bedroom came into play, we get into something a little bit awkward, because...well, for lack of a better way to put it, I think that Blue would be the dominant in this relationship, because there is just something in the Grid dynamics that makes it feel like it's...better...than Green? Like, there are no teams that exist in any meaningful capacity without Blue. Duos are a thing, but usually cased by calamity and death. A TEAM however, can't exist without Blue. So Blue is a little bit classist as well as carrying a superiority complex towards a Color that has not only been out of the loop in team dynamics for millennia, but is HALF of Blue itself taking on Yellow.

True, Billy spirited away the Green Dragon coin to Grace Sterling to cleanse it, revive it, and lobbied to give it to Matt because he saw the potential in his friend that had been there all along, but there is still something to be said about the Color influencing the Ranger. Billy has seniority in experience and would not let Matt forget that in close quarters when frustrated. Which basically means that they'd have an insanely primal sex life with Billy NEEDING to prove superiority. I think that the sex would be just a hair's breadth away from hate sex, with both of them being totally exhausted afterwards, and the both if them CONSTANTLY forgetting about things like hydrating, aftercare, and being generally kind of stupid for days afterward. With Matt flirting and flirting and flirting SOME MORE--like a peacock--and Billy just kind of...ignoring or being annoyed with him.

Green/Orange would be the ideal starter relationship, really. Because while Green was out of the loop for ten-thousand years? There is no record of Orange EVER being used in Zordon's lifetime on Earth, except for that one time, and again, that barely counts because it was for less than a day and he was a manipulative, condescending prick about it. He doesn't want to have Rangers on the team that would call him out when he's wrong, and Orange is nothing if not THAT ONE COLOR that every single person has an opinion about; it's either loved or hated and the same thing goes for the Ranger. And Green can empathize with that, given the rocky start it had with its team because of Rita.

Not to mention that now that Matt is also the only Ranger at present that had his life put under a microscope by outing himself to give Angel Grove someone to trust during the Dome Fiasco, he is probably fully willing to find some understanding and compassion from someone who has had ample opportunities to make his life harder, but just...hasn't? Orange/Skull being that very strange combination of compassionate, stable, and bluntly honest would be something incredibly appealing to Matt in the aftermath of losing all of his friends to Rangerdom, suffering the untreated trauma of abduction on the moon, Kim dating a guy that was evil for a little while there and also for a little while was incredibly aggressive about Matt getting the Dragon Coin, and now the whole Matt killing Grace thing. Say what you want, but Skull being water and Matt being air has a HUGE symbiotic thing going on there.

Also it goes without saying, Orange and Green are a kind of equal opposites. They share something that Blue does not have and in a POLY relationship this means communicating and translating things that can't be understood from just two sides. And where Blue is urged to be on top with Green, and in control with Orange, the two can find a soft middle ground that allows harmony to go on with all three at the same time. (This would kind of fuck Green and Orange ever if a breakup or going evil thing happened in earnest, because of really obvious reasons, but we are not getting into that here.)

TLDR:

If they want a real, solid, perfect relationship, they would have to be older, at least over eighteen. They would have to know themselves a little better. They would have to be honest with themselves and EACH OTHER.

Also, and this is just my opinion, Blue/Orange works in the early days as a fling, or playing around, but would never lock down until something bad happened. Since something bad is always happening, at some point, with Green and Orange, the ideal combination and timeline for this poly would be: Blue+Orange x mistakes/miscommunication= Blue | Orange << Orange+Green x years+jealousy/experience+Blue = Green/Orange/Blue going clockwise.

[toqchange]

finished cosmic fury: some initial thoughts

not that i don’t appreciate javi (chance) being able to sing, but kind of sad that was the entire last scene (with some cuts of amelia/aiyon/billy)

i don’t think the “cool, cool, coolio” “ending line” was as bad as people made it out to be. like i sure, the final words of your 30 year franchise ending should probably be more sentimental, but the entire ending was just some dude singing anyways. idk

i wish they gave ollie some evil villain climax. like lowkey he was a flop villain for most of the series (as in he never really “won” against the rangers/they always beat him).

glad javi got some decent spotlight this season, and glad they made aiyon more competent while keeping his generally lax demenor / humor.

i like how they show izzy and fern communicating with each other in a healthy way. and i think the “protection plot” was decently executed.

i like how fern’s powers are based on solon.

speaking of, i’m glad she was also able to shine, and really felt like an active asset of the team outside of tech/base person. i think a lot of the side characters (lani, pop-pop, tarrick, etc.) though not in a lot, we’re all able to shine in their own way.

i think everyone pretty much stayed the same (more or less) aside from amelia. i think they really did a solid job justifying why she’s the leader. i’ll probably make a whole separate post with my thoughts on that overall

the ending with zayto did get me emotional. like when they were all saying goodbye ahhh.

the zedd ending was just.. ok. idk. got to let that one sink in ig

that’s it for now, overall, it’s a solid entry, though i don’t think there's anything about the writing or characters that going to completely shock you or was particularly spectacular.

solid 7/10 from me for now