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bob-dude · 2 years

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Sumo Ranger Season One Ep One

Ozeki Rises

Japan: 11:00 PM UTC

The full moon of the spring night shined brightly on the neon metropolis known as Tokyo city. As the night life of the city hummed and flashed with hundreds of lights and thousands upon thousands of people; the moon began to shimmer, like a stone had been tossed in a bowl of milk.

For decades afterwards, astronomers and amateur stargazers around the world alike would debate and argue the meaning behind readings, singles, signs, and sightings that would be recorded that night.

The moon’s shimmering intensified as the time of the midnight hour approached with each passing minute.

11:30

People in the city and the nearby countryside were starting to take notice.

11:32

The shimmering had intensified further still, like some mirror lunar counterpart to a sunspot.

11:45

People were starting to panic; some were starting to make their way out of the city. Others still, such as the fans of Kajiu movies and Toku programs, the conspiracy theorist, and the plain old people who were too drunk out of their minds to think straight, wondered if the strangeness of the moon would herald forth some large monster of equal parts destruction and protection.

Midnight

The moon’s shimmering reached its apex and then-

Nothing.

A few seconds after midnight, the moon ceased its strange shining as quickly as it had begun, leaving both the collective populace of Japan (and later, the rest of the international astronomy community) baffled, confused, and in the cases of some, more than slightly disappointed.

Meanwhile, outside the holy grounds of the Buddhist temple Ryukoji Taishido, an enormous womanly figure loomed in the narrow street between the temple and Kanda River.

She stared up at the temple, surrounded by its towering trees, then glanced along the slender street she had found herself in. She glanced over to the river. Had that been there however many centuries ago it had been since she was last out and about?

“Well, well. It seems after so many years I am finally free once more.”

Ozeki flexed the fingers of her right hand before balling it into a tight fist. “It’s about time, too. It feels as if I’ve been sealed up for nearly 10,000 years.”

She cracked her neck from side to side and began stretching her large, limber limbs. Although she was shorter than her older sister, Ozeki still towered over most mortals of any nationality.

The younger sumo deity wore the same mawashi of blackest night with rich purple color tassels that she had worn before her lunar entombment. As always it hugged tightly yet comfortably against her bare bronzed thunderous thighs, vast bulging buttocks, dome of a globular belly.

As she shook her head, her mane of raven black hair whipped wildly about as the purple Shinto wrist beads jingled faint while she stretched for the first time in an age.

After taking the next few minutes to enjoy the sensation of pure freedom, Ozeki finally made her way out of the street and into the city proper.

Tokyo, Ozeki very rapidly realized, had changed a great deal since the late Maji era.

Buildings of steel and glass scrapped the sky itself, electric advertisements flashed everywhere, strange horseless carriages sped by with speeds that gave Ozeki pause, and the sheer hordes of people all left quite the impression on the second kami of sumo. Though the sound and sheer blinding lights were starting to get on her nerves, past a point.

Absorbing her surroundings enough, Ozeki (who had hidden her vastness from the prying eyes of mortals through her own divine magics) sat her divine bulk at the nearby Shimotakaido Oozora Park.

The Park was a small, mostly barren patch of grass surrounded by various trees, but suited Ozeki’s needs for a rest well enough as her bulk crushed a nearby bench with complete indifference. The only real light around was the faint purple glow of her divine aura that marked her as kami.

Ozeki knew she had only just begun to scratch the surface of the capital city’s vastness. If her mortals, infamous for their closed off ways until recent (by Ozeki’s standards) could make such progress then who knew how the rest of the world had advanced in her time sealed away in her lunar prison.

Yes, this would make a fine capital for her base of operations. But first, there was one very massive, older sister to take care of.

Ozeki wrinkled her forehead as her brow furled in thought. She searched throughout the city for any trace of her sister’s presence.

Nothing.

Ozeki frowned and let her senses as a kami open as the range of her search widened as southeast as Nagasaki and as far north as Hokkaido. Sweat began to break from her brow as she maintained this intense focus. But there was still no trace of her older sister’s distinct supernatural signature as a kami.

How very odd. Ozeki thought to herself. It would seem my older sister has left Japan entirely in the time I have been sealed away.

“Then the question remains,” Ozeki muttered. “Where in the world of mortals are you hiding, Yokozuna? What new home have you made in my absence?”

Ozeki vanished in a flash of purple aura as she cast her very being abroad for the first time in her rough two millennia of existence. First stop: The United Sates of America.

Kory Kitsworth yawned loudly as she adjusted her yellow mawashi belt and leotard. She was sitting in the common room with the rest of her fellow Sumo Rangers, save for the Blue Ranger, one Kat Cathington. They had felt it, a shared jolt of other worldliness that had caught all their collective attention that morning.

As they sat, waiting for Kat to arrive, each ranger had an unspoken idea of what was happening outside the Homestead.

Looking around, Kory saw that each of her fellow ranger’s faces held different expressions.

Ashley Rodwell, the first person Yokozuna recruited as the team’s leader and red ranger, seemed calm as could be given the likeness that Ozeki was finally free. Her blue eyes burned with determination and just a touch boredom as she sat on the couch next to Quentin, a thick dark brown index finger silently conducting the jazz music she was currently listening to on her phone.

Quentin Onogawa, the second person to join the team as Sumo Pink, appeared calm and collected about their situation as he lounged about on his side like a fat hairless bear in indifference.

Mike Radical, aka Sumo Black, simply smiled as he sat back in his own personal recliner, humming a few bars to some 80s song Kory didn’t know the name of due to the limited upbringing her body building obsessed mother had put her through growing up.

Finally, Kat slid the door open and waddled in, already transformed into the even more hefty and even more massive than usual Sumo Blue, her cobalt-blue mask pulled back showing her dark brown hair, fat double chin, and prominent nose while she held a wine bottle in her right gloved hand. As Sumo Blue she was far taller than even Ashley’s own six even height, compared to the belly-heavy girl’s standard 5’4 height.

“Guess you guys felt it too. Was hoping that it was just me. So,” Kat polished off the rest of the bottle and stifled a burp. “Who's ready for this whole superhero gig?”

“We’re waiting for Yokozuna to explain what’s going on,” Ashley said, putting her phone down before looking at Kat’s bottle with a slight frown. “Honestly, though, I’m not sure what else it could be other than Ozeki’s seal finally coming undone.”

“Ah.” Kat nodded, placing the bottle down on a nearby table before sitting next to Kory. “Guess there are worse days to buy the farm, I suppose.”

Ashley glared at the Blue Sumo Ranger. “We’re not going to die.”

Kat snorted. “So says the girl who’s been a Sumo Ranger the longest. Realistically speaking, what are the odds of any of us defeating a 2000-year-old goddess of sumo wrestling when we haven’t even had our powers half a year?”

“A far better chance you might think, Katherine.”

The empirical, feminine tone caught the ranger’s collective attention.

She had materialized by the wall opposite to the ranger’s sofas and chairs without warning. Standing before them in all her divine massiveness was Yokozuna herself. Even when they were transformed, she’d always towered over the sumo rangers even with their increased height and mass.

Normally maternal in nature, today early that morning her face was as somber as a stone statue, with none of the causal warmth that the Rangers had seen in their varying tenures as Sumo Rangers in training.

Yokozuna glanced over all the Rangers, taking a moment to take in their varied expressions before continuing to speak.

“As you all may have gathered by the sudden sensations in your customized mawashi belts and bodies; the seal containing my younger sister has worn off at last. Ozeki is finally free.”

Yoko swallowed down another breath of air before continuing. “We cannot wait long for her to strike. Before she can start her rampage around the world, go into the city and transform. That will draw her to Point City and make that her focal point of concentration.”

“Any other advice ya got for us?” Kat asked.

“We’ll take anything you can think of to give us, Yoko.” Ashley said softly.

“All the advice I can give you about my sister is to not let your guard down on her for an instant. Fight her as a team and remember your training. It is your numbers and your teamwork that will carry the day against my arrogant little sister. Remember: an instant in sumo can decide a match.”

Yoko allowed her words to sink in before continuing.

“You five are the Super-Sized Squadron Sumo Rangers, you each have mawashi’s crafted by my hand, and hold a part of my power within you so long as you five use your numbers and your different fighting styles to your advantage, victory will be yours.”

“And then once we’ve beaten her, we bring Ozeki back here and you talk things out with her,” Kory summarized with a frown. “In theory.”

Yokozuna nodded. “In theory.”

“Yokozuna’s right,” said Ashley. “We’ll be fine if we keep our heads about us and remember our training, we have more of a chance of winning then not, five against one.” The young black woman then raised her 330-pound body up and placed her hands on her hearty sized hips.

“Well, no point in sitting on our fat asses talking about it.” Kat said before getting up and summoned her own mawashi in a brilliant blue flash. “Let’s show this lunar lardass what we’re made of!”

“Excellent!” Mike had already stood up and put his mask on, holding his hands out in the religious symbol of his people (or, at least according to Michael that is), an air guitar.

“Ready, Kory?” Quentin asked, giving her a good-natured wink as too he rose up and joined the others.

“Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.” Kory said, blushing lightly from her tan skin.

Yoko smiled slightly at her ranger’s confidence, and a little of her former energy and youth seemed to return to her.

With each ranger who had taken up their respective colored mantle a bit more of her power lessened in return. She hoped that their strength in numbers would be enough to temporarily best her sister long enough to bring her in and finally have a conversation that they were over a century overdue in having.

“Go then, my Sumo Rangers, and may my power protect you.”

Nothing more needed to be said as the remaining members summoned their respective mawashi belts and transformed into their enlarged forms as sumo themed superheroes. Kat for her part put her mask back on as she fully entered the Sumo Blue persona proper. The Rangers then all vanished in a rainbow of their respective colors and were sent rocketing towards their first battle and hopefully final, battle with the fallen kami Ozeki.

Ozeki frowned slightly as the gaijin around looked at her with stunned expressions from her sudden appearance from out of nowhere. A few of them had taken out strange devices and from them she could hear the snapping of photographic machinery but saw no way to materialize the picture. How strange.

She had felt it, her sister’s presence. Not a short burst, but something strong and long enough to point her to this city, wherever it was.

Glancing around, Ozeki took in a sample of the citizenry around her while advancing looking motor vehicles either zoomed by or sat parked in place.

I can see that squeezing in won’t be an issue. Ozeki thought as a pair of women in short sleeved leotards with white mawashi wrapped around them waddled past her.

Interesting, actual female wrestlers. Can’t say I approve of the leotards, but it’s a step in the correct direction at least. Could that be the reason why ‘big’ sister chose this location to hide in? Or maybe it was to get me as far away from the home islands as possible.

A sinister smile graced her lips. “No matter. Once I cause enough of a ruckus, Yokouza-chan will come and then these mortals will see the true strength and might that Kami of Sumo wield.”

Ozeki raised her leg in the Shinko pose, before slamming it down on the pavement below. A mighty fissure ripped through the tar and concert sending chunks of the stuff sailing into the air. Laughing with gusto, she stomped over to a parked massive, almost tank-like car, picked it up with both hands, and threw it into another pile of cars.

The erupting explosion caused even further panic as the crowd of Point City citizens began to run for their lives.

As the smell of charring metal, melting plastics, and burning gasoline filled her divine lungs, Ozeki smiled. “The clock is ticking sister.”

Minutes before Ozeki started her rampage, a meeting was taking place in Point City Town Hall.

“Thank you again for meeting me so early in the morning, Mayor. I know that a woman of your stature is no doubt very busy.”

Dr. Franklin H. Camp gave what he hoped wasn’t too strained a smile as he held back the urge to gag in front of her.

The woman before him was the perfect representation of Point City’s population. She was a mighty mammoth of a creature and were the city elections based on fatness and appetite, Camp had no doubt that the mayor would have won that battle in as much of a landslide as she had her political one.

Or lardslide I suppose. Camp thought as he watched the mayor of Point City work her way through her second breakfast of the morning.

As she quickly but gracefully worked her way through a five egg Western omelet, the Mayor of Point City gave the scientist a knowing smile.

“The pleasure is all mine Doctor, but please call me Natasha. I am always pleased to meet with a member of the scientific community. You’ll excuse me if I finish the rest of my meal, of course?”

Camp continued to smile. “Of course.” Assuming a fat pig like you ever finishes eating that is. The doctor thought as the mayor returned to her meal.

Her blond hair was done up in a conservative, but respectful, style. Her rounded face and double (triple?) chins had just the right amount of make-up applied to it and did little to hide her flashing politician smile.

Her blue eyes, deep seated in flesh though they were, sparkled with well-earned political savvy. Dressed in a black pinstripe suit that did nothing to conceal her blob-like belly that poked out in the middle, she once more returned her attention to her omelet, which was already halfway finished. Despite her lard laden arms she moved her limbs with remarkable efficiency.

Two and a half minutes later, the omelet was now resting in its new home in the ever-growing landscape that was Natasha Largenoiff’s stomach.

Mayor Largenoiff delicately wiped her mouth clean when she had finished and said, “Forgive me, Doctor. What was our appointment about again?”

“We were about to talk about my proposition.”

“Ah, yes. You mentioned it over the phone in a very… abstractly. Could you explain your proposal in more detail?”

“Simply put, Mayor Largenoff, I have the secret to the future.”

Largenoff arched a thick, dark blonde brow. “The future? Is that so? Hopefully one of the better, non-apocalyptic ones I hope?”

“Tell me, Natasha, do you remember those old science fiction promises of old?”

“You mean the jetpacks, flying cars, and so forth?” Natasha smiled, pushing her rounded cheeks out even further. “If you’re trying to sell jetpacks, I think you’ve come to the wrong city, Doctor.”

Camp laughed; the good-natured tone strained to the breaking point.

“No, nothing like that. Instead, what I have here,”

He lifted his briefcase, which was sealed tight and locked tight, and placed it on the table where it fell forward slightly before resting on Natasha’s bare belly. “-Is the secret to robotic servants.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow as her stomach and mind churned at the thought.

“In that suitcase? Is it some sort of miniature or something?” “No, what I have are the papers for the designs and-” Natasha raised an open palm. “Please, Doctor Camp, allow me to guess: You want me to give you the funding needed to finish your research.” Dr. Camp nodded. “Precisely Mayor, I-” “I’m not finished. You want the money to make your project, of course, that much is obvious. But I have no doubt you had no plans to tell me about the flaws of your work.”

“F-Flaws?”

“Like the fact that my city is not the first you’ve approached for money. You’ve tried the East Coast, the majority of the West Coast, the North, the South, and the Midwest. Now, you’ve come to Point City, my city, as a last resort and only a last resort.”

Camp’s jaw remained clenched shut as the mayor continued.

“Now, in spite of your history- Oh don’t be so surprised man, of course I did a background check on you- I’d be more than willing to give the funding and equipment needed to turn your pieces of paper into actual full sized metal servants.”

Camp’s eyes widened as he broke out into a genuine grin. “Thank you, I think-I”

“Provided you sign this, of course.”

Reaching over with a wobbling, thick arm, Largenoff slid a piece of paper towards Camp.

The scientist glanced down at the paper and scanned it.

“What in the name of sanity is this rubbish? Acknowledgement of public funding and manufacturing sponsors? Public speaking events? And what are all these… these absurd rules?”

“Well, seeing as how you have little interest in coming up with some sort of safety measure, I had one of my lawyers draw up this little item.”

“Little?! There are over 50 rules here not including the subheadings. They are my machines and they’ll be in my control with safety programming designed by me.”

Natasha sighed. “Doctor Camp, be reasonable. You can’t expect to control your machines once they’ve left the factory.”

“Of course not, that’s what the emergency protocol is for. On the off chance any of them did go berserk or any of these cockamamie rules failed, they would still recognize me as their creator and stand down if I so gave the order.”

“Doctor Camp, did you grow up watching a lot of old B-movies as a child? Because I have so I know how this dance will go without something to keep your machines in check.”

“I think I’ll take my leave now.” Camp replied coldly. “I cannot sign such a preposterous contract in good faith given the circumstances. It would go against everything I believe in as a scientist.”

Largenoff sighed. “Doctor Camp, be reasonable: you are simply not in a condition to bargain here. You have a suitcase full of papers that might lead to a robotic revolution. ‘Might’ is the key word here. I am more than willing to help you, but you must be realistic here. Look, take the contract, and have a few days to think it over, then come back to me with your decision?”

“I will… consider it.” Franklin Camp swiped the piece of paper from the mass of fat in female form. With his arm shaking wildly, he then snatched his suitcase up and stormed out of the office.

Natasha sighed as she finished off the remainder of her meal. “What a sad, strange little man…”

A few minutes later, her whole office shook as an explosion erupted forth from the streets below.

Ozeki smirked, smashing her bare, broad backside on a nearby car. The hood and engine crumpled beneath her mass in an instant. She twisted her hips back and forth, grinding the cold metal underneath as the car’s tires and axle finally gave out from the strain.

Ozeki hopped down from the car and brushed the dust from lightly sun kissed knees.

“Well, all of this has been quite fun and gotten my muscles loosened up enough. Time to make my proper introduction.”

Ozeki’s body skyrocketed in height and weight in perfect proportion. In moments, she towered over many of the apartments and business buildings in the city, eventually towering over a few relatively small 50-meter-tall skyscrapers.

“Greetings, mortals of Point City!”

Ozeki’s voice boomed throughout the entire city as the whole urban landscape collectively paused while its citizens covered their ears.

“I am Ozeki, the goddess of Sumo, and I have chosen your lucky city to be the seat of power in my new empire. One of the first of many in the near future.”

Ozeki paused as she let the echo from her booming intone fade before continuing.

“Every able-bodied man, woman, and child will all serve as my loyal disciples as members of my new army, the Black Mawashi! Anyone who resists my boon will be non-metaphorically crushed into a fine paste. But because I know that such a fate is a lot to take in, you’ll have an hour to take my offer in and enjoy the remainder of your dull, pitiful existence.”

Ozeki placed her hands on her hips. “If that doesn’t get her attention, then after I’ve converted the local populace, I’ll just have them tear this city down to the foundations until I’ve found you, Yokozuna.”

Five beams of multi-colored light appeared in front of her, catching the deity’s attention. The lights vanished and, in their place, standing in front of Ozeki were five skyscrapers sized, leotard covered, mawashi clad figures.

Each of them wore the same style full body suit, white gloves that seamlessly lead to the rest of their suits, white boots that did the same for the feet that the gloves did, and a mawashi with a large white circle with the English letters of SR emblazoned in the middle along with a mask that covered everything from their nose above, leaving only their lower jaws exposed to the elements.

The only difference, that Ozeki could see, was their strange, vibrant colors.

One of the massive figures stepped forward as the tar beneath her white boot cracked from her sheer 600 plus pound mass, her bright cherry red suit and dark red mawashi visible for Ozeki to see.

“I am Sumo Ranger Red, Dosukoi!”

She placed her white gloved hands on her superhumanly broad hips and thrusted them and the SR symbol that rested in the front of her mawashi belt heroically towards Ozeki. Her cinnamon brown complexion vanished as the half-mask sealed itself off by a sudden swish of materialized cloth. “I am Sumo Ranger Pink, Dosukoi!”

Sumo Pink, who stood next to Red, shook his prominent stomach as the front of his dark pink mawashi.

The belt strained against his gargantuan girth as his thick legs and arms likewise bulged against the cherry blossom pink bodysuit. Like Red, Pink’s jaw free face became covered in a full body mask once his introduction was complete. “I’m Sumo Ranger Black, Dosukoi!”

Black threw out both of his arms in a V pose, fingers curled up in the sign of the ram’s horns.

His bodysuit was a richly dark carbon black but whereas the others had darker colored mawashi against their brightly colored suits, Sumo Black’s belt was of a warmer black-gray hue that in combination with his suit showed off his beefy yet muscle figure as his belly fat strained against the belt.

“I am Sumo Ranger Blue, Dosukoi”

Blue’s cobalt blue suit covered her thick, broad frame while her navy mawashi belt strained against her prominent, enormous sphere of a stomach which she swung dramatically in Ozeki’s direction, her globular gut jiggling with pride within the boundaries of the front of her mawashi.

Yellow, the smallest (comparatively as everyone in their giant forms giving King Kong a run of his money in scale) and most visible muscular of the team next to Black stepped forward.

“And I am Sumo Ranger Yellow, Dosukoi!”

She crouched in a low, starting stance not unlike a track runner, gloved hands balled into tight, powerful fists. Every muscle of her arms, shoulders, legs, and calves showed as did her hearty chest against the bright sunshine yellow bodysuit as her darker hued sunflower colored mawashi snugly hugged her hips.

The five collectively took another dramatic flourish that had taken hours of practice to nail down outside of their real training, declaring:

“Together we are the sumo soldiers of justice: Super-Sized Squadron Sumo Rangers!”

Despite their fully covered faces, Ozeki had no issue in understanding any of them. No doubt her sister’s power was at work; she could sense it bubbling in these five enormous warriors. Why it took the form of multicolored costumes was beyond her but that was a problem for another time.

How very strange Ozeki mused. Strange. But interesting.

“Sumo… Rangers?” Ozeki tilted her head to the left as continued to process the five costumed characters. “And what, pray tell, is a sumo ranger?”

The bottom heavy red one took a thunderous step forward. Ozeki could feel her sister’s power in them.

“We are champions your sister has chosen to beat you, Ozeki!” Sumo Red declared, large hands on her enormously womanly hips. Ozeki had spent more time than her sister had among mortals. The delivery was good, but she could still sense their collective unease at the prospect of fighting her despite out numbering her five to one.

“Afterwards, you two are going to sit down and have a nice, long talk!”

A talk? Ozeki frowned upon hearing that. A likely story. No doubt she’ll use the time to seal me away a second time when I’m at my weakest. A talk indeed! I’ll need to keep my guard up on these… rangers. My sister would not have picked mortals to fight her battles for her unless she was sure they were up for the task.

The Rangers for their part stood their ground and waited for Ozkei to make the first move, a coordinated but rushed attack was the last thing they needed to start the fight off with.

Yokozuna had described her sister to them: The slightly shorter (but still towering by mortal standards) and slightly broader width, the tanned skin representing the earth that the holy ring rested on, her black mawashi with purple tassels, the necklace and bracelet made of dark purple pearl-like spheres.

Dark moody makeup around her eyes and below her lower lip while a wild mane of almost vine-like hair hug loosely around her head like a shroud. Everything except for the purple eyes that currently took them in with measured suspicion was as Yokozuna had described to them at one point or another in their training. Ozeki’s eyes had once been black. The sumo rangers collectively figured her eyes must have changed when Ozeki jumped on board the ‘imperial divine ruler’ train.

“Very well, champions of my sister, I will face you with all the seriousness of my station. Let the basho for the fate of this city begin!”

Before the rangers could react, Ozeki summoned forth a crackling aura that surrounded her body before racing out to every corner of the city and engulfing it in a flood of black light.

Glancing around her, the Sumo Red saw that the entire layout of the city had changed to some sort of arena-like seating configuration while a massive circle of cement that hadn’t been there before was outstretched in front of them with a radius of a good half a dozen blocks; looking to the side Ashley was relieved to see that the rest of her teammates thankfully appeared unharmed.

“Impressed?” Ozeki asked the rangers, crossing her densely muscled arms together. “Now you see what a true Kami of sumo is capable of when she exerts a fraction of her power. When my sister made this city her domain, she made it in part my domain as well. anything that is hers, is at least a part of mine. Now this city will be able to watch and see their champion’s fall before them.”

Blue snorted, unimpressed. “Let’s see if you keep talking that way once we’ve kicked yer ass!”

“Confident, aren’t you?” Ozeki brought her palms together in a thunderous clap that shook the city thanks to her sheer size.

“Then let us have a little basho, a tournament, and see if your confidence lives up to my sister’s lofty expectations. I will fight you, one at a time, one after the other while you five need only best me once in combat. As tempting as it would be to fight you all at once, I just got out for the first time in ages, so you’ll forgive me if I’m in no hurry to make this a brawl for all.”

Such show of power on Ozeki’s part, dramatic, but the sumo kami knew Yokozuna was watching. This little impromptu tournament was for her sake, after all.

Ozeki continued, “Onto the rules: No unfair extra opponents or outside help. The surrounding buildings will be our audience, the repurposed streets of cement our ring, and whoever touches the ground with a part of their body that isn’t the soles of their feet, loses. The rest is all fair game. Pull my hair. Punch me. Try and gouge my eyes if you have the courage. It will all amount to my victory in the end once I’ve broken the five of you into submission or end your lives, whichever I prefer. Any questions? No? Then who's up first?”

“And if we win?” Sumo Yellow asked.

Ozeki smirked. “Then you’re more than welcome to fight me five to one and I will only use, oh, half of my full power. How is that for a prize?”

Even half power, Ozeki mused. Would be more than enough for these multicolored children combatants.

Sumo Ranger Red stepped forward, the ground crunching slightly under her over 600 pounds of mass. “As the team’s leader, I’ll take you on, Ozeki.”

You sure about this, Red? Blue asked in a low voice. The ranger’s powers allowed them to telepathically communicate with one another so long as they were in the city.

Ozeki, for her part, seemed unaware of this fact as she waited for the red one to enter her ring.

Yeah, you’re our most outstanding ace in the hole next to Pink. Black added.

Which also means I’m the one besides Quentin who will probably last the longest against her and get the best feeling for her fighting style. Besides, dears, as the first person Yokozuna recruited for this craziness, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want the first crack at her.

Good luck, Ashley. Pink squeezed her hand with both of his.

From under her mask, the red ranger smiled. Thank you.

Entering the ring, Sumo Red gave a low bow as she crouched her massive, bottom-heavy body into a starting crouching stance. Ozeki took note of her equally thick arms, so dense with mass that the skintight outfit showed off her might well when needed.

Ozeki took a more casual, arrogant crouch. The sort of crouch that came with 2000 years of hundreds of thousands of bouts.

Letting out a roaring cry, Red connected the first blow on Ozeki’s stomach as her gloved hands slammed forward, palms outstretched. A series of open palmed strikes struck with remarkable furiousness and quickness, causing Ozeki to frown slightly when she felt her stomach start to burn in further pain.

I am starting to see why you gave them parts of your power, sister. They have strength as individuals and numbers.

It was then, with her attention elsewhere, Red slipped a hand past Ozeki’s guard and latched onto her mawashi. With a mighty throw Sumo Red attempted to throw Ozeki out of the ring, but the sumo goddess twisted herself and maintained her balance, slamming a foot down with such force that nearby store shop windows and buildings of glass weakened as an explosion of cracks erupted from the recoiling shockwave from the giant kami.

“Is that the best you have, mortal?”

But much to Ozeki’s surprise, the red one was not inside the ring.

Then Ozeki heard a voice cry out.

“Banzai Butt Bomb!” Ozeki had just enough time to notice the Red’s mountainous mawashi and suit clad ass sailing at her head, each cheek glowing with a crimson aura before the resulting contact caused a miniature mushroom cloud to form up from the aftermath of the empowered behind bash.

Red quickly rebounded from Ozeki’s face, launching herself into the air with her impressively red covered rear end, as she landed back near the other Rangers on the edge of the ring.

Ozeki staggered backwards, the shape of Sumo Red’s butt impacted onto most of her face and neck. She blinked and shook her head, otherwise unphased.

“Ready for another taste of my beautiful bulk?” Red asked, hands on mountain range wide hips.

Ozeki’s only response was to rush towards the crimson clad leader with renewed vigor.

Red charged as well and the two clashed, both going for the other’s mawashi.

“Do… you really think you have the strength to beat me?” Ozeki grunted through clenched teeth, hands wrapped tight on Red’s dark crimson belt. “I am 2000 years old, mortal. I am older than your ancestor’s ancestors! And I will not-”

Ozeki shoved forward, breaking the cherry red heroine’s grip as Red staggered back slightly with a slight tremor.

“Let-” Ozeki rapidly pounded Sumo Red’s crimson clad body with a flurry of fast palm strikes as her palms glowed a dark violet.

“My dream of finally standing out of my sister’s shadow come crashing down so easily!”

With a final trust, Ozeki’s palms crashed into Sumo Red’s stomach as she flew backwards into her friends out of bounds.

It took every ounce of their combined strength to keep their equally gigantic leader from knocking over a nearby skyscraper in the process.

“Are you okay?” Pink asked as Red let out a groan of pain while everyone struggled to get back to their feet.

From under her full faced mask, Red winced in shame. “Y-Yes. Just annoyed that I couldn’t have lasted longer against her.”

“Hey, at least you just lost a match, and not your life.” Yellow pointed out.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that, dear.”

Ozeki snapped her fingers and much to the rangers’ shared shock, Sumo Red vanished before their eyes.

“Where did you put her?” Pink snapped as he stormed towards Ozeki.

“Right here.”

Pink and the squinted at Ozeki’s hand, making out a small, red figure as she waved her tiny arms for them to see. Ozeki flicked her wrists and Sumo Red vanished from view.

“She’s safe, for now. Down below in the city somewhere-” Ozeki glanced to the rearranged buildings. “Just as helpless as the rest of those foolish mortals. As the winner I’ve disabled her ability to become giant which will make crushing all of you once I’ve won all the easier. Afterwards I’ll converted this city into a base for my sumo army, the capital for a new world order in my image!”

“Always with the monologuing…” Blue muttered before looking towards her fellow rangers. “Which of you guys want to avenge our fearless leader next?”

“I’ll take go, unless someone else wants to take a crack at our deluded foe here?” Sumo Pink said, stepping into the ring.

Ozeki’s purple eyes gleamed as she prepared herself for her second bout.

Sumo Pink quick charged towards Ozeki latching onto her mawashi with a vice grip before pulling upward with all his Titan-like might.

Ozeki lashed out and smacked his rounded face with a powerful palm strike that caused the Pink Sumo Ranger to loosen his grip but only slightly.

Pushing forward, Sumo Pink shoved Ozeki backward for a moment, forcing the goddess to land a series of heavy-handed palm blows to his chest, stomach, and face.

Despite his efforts, the Pink Ranger’s grip began to loosen further still as Ozeki’s mawashi began to rattle around with greater frequency. Finally, with a powerful cracking smack of her palm, Pink tumbled over and fell back to the ground of the ring, butt first.

Pink had just enough time to glance for the others before vanishing deep within the rearranged bowls of Point City.

“It seems I’m on quite the winning streak.” Ozeki mused with a coy smiled as she spoke. “Who wishes to face me next?”

“Whatever.” Sumo Blue said, shifting her weight into a rough boxing stance as her enormous orb of a stomach swung within its mawashi. “Let’s do this and get it over with. I’m in a hurry to win and return to a normal size.”

Ozeki said nothing. A hushed silence fell upon city as nearly a quarter of a million people held their collective breaths as the blue costumed giant faced off against the purple-black goddess.

Suddenly, Ozeki rushed forward, arms lowered and pulled back ready for a flurry of open palm strikes.

Blue shifted her legs to hold her ground and threw her stomach forward at the last moment to try knock the fallen deity flat on her whale sized rump.

Ozeki took the belly blow and grunted as their massive selves jiggled in titan recoil as buildings and apartments trembled slightly from the impact. That pause was all Blue needed to go on the offensive as she swung a right hook for Ozeki’s head.

Ozeki began to sidestep the strike only for Blue’s left to come blasting out as her car sized gloved fist smashed squarely on Ozeki’s cheek.

Ozeki staggered to the side but rapidly regained her balance in time for the right cross follow up and the series of snapping, swift jabs as Ozeki’s head bobbed and shifted with a few stinging grazes for her troubles.

Blue’s shoulders dipped as her knees crouched and her dominate arm chambered back at her massive mawashi clad hips.

The upper was telegraphed which made the liver shot an expected follow up to Ozeki’s two thousand years of combat experience. When the short punch came hurtling towards the kami, she merely sidestepped the blocking blow with a graceful bend of her back before, reaching down and lifting Sumo Blue’s leg from under her with all her kami given strength.

With a mighty, earthquaking thud, Blue came crashing to the tar streets of her hometown butt first.

Ozeki smirked. “Your punches aren’t half bad, but your still centuries early to challenge me, child.”

Blue barely had enough time to curse before vanishing to the same fate as Red and Pink before her.

“So,” Ozeki bent over the Rangers with her hands confidently placed on her hips, mooning at least four skyscrapers in the process. “Who is next?” The Rangers glanced at one another; a shared expressions of worry etched into their uncovered jaws.

Black was the next to last to step forward. “I’ll take ya on, Ozeki dudette!”

Black let out a most triumphant war cry and delivered a roundhouse kick upside the Kami’s head.

Blood streamed from her lips and forehead down the right side of her face. She glanced up and blinked as Black kept his legs swaying from side to side, fists raised in a fluid, almost water like manner only a block or so away from Ozeki’s stomach.

Black’s fists shot forward with a quickness that even his fellow ranger’s had trouble keeping track of. One instant, they had been waving about in an almost snake-like manner.

The next, there was a crack of a fist connecting and Ozeki felt herself sent reeling back from the remarkable forcefulness of the blow.

It was only luck that allowed Ozeki to maintain her balance and keep herself within the ring of cement streets, as her massive kaiju-sized leg came smashing back down in regained sturdy stability.

Countless car alarms honked and blared beneath her like dozens of buzzing bees as the surrounding blocks and the ranger’s own massive forms shook and jiggled in recoil.

Ozeki glared as she wiped the bit of blood from her mouth.

“A good punch, kuro clad warrior. My turn.”

Ozeki’s palm struck out with dazzling speed that Sumo Black barely blocked, leaving his guard open for the low tanned fist that smashed into his stomach right above his mawashi belt.

“And then…” Ozeki said as she cracked her neck from side to side, do her best to ignore the pain that Black’s kick and punch had given her. “There was a little mouse in yellow.”

Kory’s gaze snapped up at attention, her whited eyes glaring in a hard determination that made Ozeki take pause.

Both giants of muscle and titanic size rushed towards each other, colliding with such force that the surrounding buildings shook as large cracks appeared on the glass windows running up floor to floor.

With her smaller stature, Sumo Yellow slipped her hands under Ozeki’s armpits to try and lift her off the ground. Much to her shock, however, the goddess’s bare feet stayed glued to the ground.

Ozeki gave her a mocking pat on the head. “There, there, am I too much for the little mouse?” Sumo Yellow took a deep breath, then exhaled. “Even a mouse can frighten an elephant.”

“Maybe so, but who ever heard of one actually winning?”

Kory remained silent, even with Ozeki charged at her with the force of at least two combined elephant herds. Ozeki lunged downward with both of her arms but paused when she saw Sumo Yellow shrink out of her reach.

Ozeki’s eyes widened in shock as the now much smaller- only five stories or so- ranger dashed between the gaps in the deity’s building thick thighs. Wasting no time, Yellow returned to her normal height. As she rocketed back up, Yellow grabbed Ozeki’s lower leg and began to pull upright with all of her strength.

“Let go brat!”

Ozeki smashed her massive, dense bare backside into Sumo Yellow’s masked face, but the newest Sumo Ranger held on tight as she continued to strain herself against the tree trunk that was Ozeki’s back leg. Ozeki slammed the ranger once more and Yellow could feel one of her eyes start to swell and throb with a black eye.

And again. This time, Sumo Yellow did her best to ignore the blood washing around in her mouth. She focused and let herself increase further still in height for better leverage until final Ozeki came crashing down stomach first with an earth trembling thunderous thud.

As fluid as the rules of accident sumo were, even they obeyed the tenant of touching the ground of the ring equaling a loss.

Ozeki let out a frustrated cry as a tidal wave of white light swept through the city once more as she felt her power rapidly drain from her immense being.

“Stay on guard everybody,” Red warned. Everyone, from the rangers to the city had all returned to their normal state before Ozeki’s mock tournament.

“Just because we’ve won our mock tournament, doesn’t mean this battle is finished just yet. When I give the go-ahead I want, myself, Blue, and Yellow to rush her. Black, Pink, you keep back until we’ve knocked her around for a bit, then come in and double team her for support as needed.”

“Got it.” The other rangers nodded in unison as they waited for Ozeki to make the next move.

Ozeki stared at the cracked ground beneath her bare feet for a good long moment. She had lost a match, and to a mortal no less. No, not just a mortal. One empowered with her sister’s own kami powers.

By the time she glanced Sumo Red was running right for her, body held low to take advantage of her naturally bottom-heavy frame.

Smiling with a crazed glint, Ozeki spread her arms wide and open and threw her stomach forward, smacking it like a war drum.

“Alright, little sumotori, let’s see just what you can do outside the confines of a ring!”

Letting out a roaring cry, Red’s first red radiating blow connected on Ozeki’s stomach with a mighty smack.

A series of open palmed strikes quickly followed, striking with remarkable furiousness and quickness. Much to her increasing frustration and shame, Ozeki began to take unwilling steps back from the recoil.

With her attention drawn on Red Ozeki failed to notice that Sumo Blue and Yellow were rushing towards her from diagonal directions, one jumping high into the air, the other dashing down low. Yellow reached Ozeki first, with both of her arms pulled back down at her hips before throwing them forward into a one two combo.

“Cross Crash!”

Glowing golden, Sumo Yellow’s left was a solid straight jab to that sunk up to the wrist into Ozeki’s stomach, followed by a swift right palm strike to the upper shoulder.

Ozeki snarled before lashing out with a powerful palm blow to Sumo Yellow’s hardened abs, which sent the ranger flying backward, the wind knocked completely out of her lungs.

But before Ozeki could return her attention to Red (who had backed up several feet out of reach, guard still up), Sumo Blue’s charged towards her with her apron gut thrusted forward like a battering ram.

Ozeki dug her heels deep into the tar and spread her legs wide as she braced for impact.

“Belly Bash!”

Sumo Blue’s stomach collided with Ozeki’s own and the resulting in a shockwave of blue and dark violet energies rippled forth like a stone tossed into a lake as the nearby buildings shook and trembled to their very foundations.

The shockwave sent both Blue and Ozeki falling to the tar ground with a simultaneous thunderous crash.

Large chunks of tar and stone flew up in fissures as the ground broke beneath Ozeki’s mighty fallen frame while the ground shook madly under Sumo Blue’s gut.

Just as Ozeki was starting to raise herself back to her feet, mind reeling as her teeth gnashed together and her limbs trembled in rage, she heard a voice cry out.

“Hip Whip!”

Ozeki had just enough time to notice the Red’ whale wide hips glowing with a bright red energy as the mawashi clad bones smashed into her with a force that sent Ozeki stumbling backwards, more blood trickling down the side of her lips which she wiped with the back of her hand.

She glared at the three female rangers in poisonous defiance.

“Is that the best you have, mortals?!”

“Not by a long shot dude!” Ozeki felt her eyes go wide as she glanced up and saw the Black and Pink Rangers sailing right towards her from a mighty arcing leap.

“Titian Tackle!”

Pink’s rose glowing shoulder slammed into Ozeki’s opposite shoulder from the one that Yellow had hit moments ago. At the same instant-

“Sumo Kick!”

Black’s white booted flying jump kick landed straight on Ozeki’s gut, forcing the kami to gasp for air as blood coughed up with a hacking bark.

A small fireball of an explosion erupted from Ozeki’s stomach and Black’s foot, sending the kami and the rangers flying back in opposite directions.

“Thanks for the catch,” Pink said as Red managed to catch him while Blue and Yellow were nearly knocked off their feet by the force of Black’s collision.

“No problem, Pink. Teammates and all that.” Red said, feeling her face heat up under her full-face mask before turning to Black.

“Although, how did you make that explosion, Black?”

Black chuckled. “Let’s just say my radicalness…” He pulled out a pair of aviator sunglasses and placed them on his face.

“Was stronger than that bogus Ozeki babe’s sumo.” The other Rangers stared at their comrade, lost for words.

“Where did the shades come from?” Pink asked after a moment, masked head tilting in confusion.

“Well, there’s a simple reason for that, my dude, I-”

A loud, almost bestial roar from the large black smoke cloud that had formed where Ozeki had landed moments ago cut Sumo Black off.

“We can worry about Black’s weird reality warping gag powers later,” Red snapped. “Right now, we have a sumo deity to beat and capture, people!”

The five sumo-themed heroes charged forward into the cloud of smoke, kicking, stomping, and punching whatever part of Ozeki’s body they could find.

Some blows missed, wasting more energy, but most thankfully connected.

Then, when the melee maelstrom seemed to reach its apex, Ozeki’s voice rang out through the smoke like a thunderbolt.

“ENOUGH!”

Black, Yellow, and Blue were all knocked back several blocks by a sudden eruption of dark violet aura from Ozeki’s massive frame. Of the rangers, only Red and Pink managed to barely stand their respective grounds though both were forced to their knees, massive stomachs pressing the round as they remained as stationary as they could.

Ozeki scowled as the two remaining rangers as Sumo Pink and Red got back to their upright position. “Do you really think you’ll be able to best me?” the Kami said, hands on her hips.

Red and Pink shared a glance that held for just a moment, then nodded together.

“We’re rangers. Your sister formed us with the idea that we’re stronger together then we are apart.” Red stated.

“Is that so?” Ozeki frowned for a moment before quickly turning into a smug smirk. “Then show me what American sumo can do, rangers.”

Red and Pink charged in unison as Ozeki did the same, their over one thousand pounds of mass colliding in the center of the intersection they were at as a mighty shockwave blasted out the nearby streetlights as a low sonic boom echoed from the recoil.

Despite their best efforts, both Sumo Red and Sumo Pink were both held back by one arm of Ozkei’s each, their limbs straining from the effort far greater on their part compared to the still confident sumo kami.

Elsewhere

“What hit us?” Sumo Black asked as he looked around his surroundings while seated. Whatever else could be said about the people of Point City, clearly, they knew how to run when the getting was good. At least if the empty streets were anything to go by.

“Dudes?” A muffled cry came from under his black covered backside. The Black Sumo Ranger blinked and saw Yellow’s fully masked face, her whited out eyes dazed as she lay under his hefty stomach.

“Oh man!” Black jumped up. “You okay Mo-Yell?”

“W-Whose Mo yell again?” Yellow said with a dazed expression and huge grin on her face. “Can we do that again?” She asked, body swaying slightly as she stumbled around with a bamboozled expression on her face.

“Nickname, my sunshine-colored amigo. Short for Sumo Yellow. But enough about nicknames, K. We have a battle to win, remember?”

Yellow shook her head and her senses came back to her. “Oh, right! The battle, that thing. J-Just forget I said anything.”

Divine lung laboring with a face soaked in her own sweat, Ozeki looked around at the five colorfully clad warriors that now surrounded her. The buildings and cars had all returned to their original configuration, the cracked (and in some places shattered) glass of the skyscrapers repaired as if a titanic battle of sumo wrestlers hadn’t just taken place in its streets.

Unknown to both goddess and the rangers alike at that moment, the car of Dr. Camp (and more importantly, Dr. Camp himself), lay trashed, nearly completely crushed wreck that was barely worthy of being recycled as scrap metal. Its owner still lived by some fluke of twisted karma. At least that was what Camp’s pain filled mind concluded.

Ozeki glanced at each of the five warriors: Yellow, Blue, Black, Pink, and then lastly, Red.

Even with the masks on, she could tell that none of them seemed to be in a forgiving mood. Still, it wasn’t as if they had some sort of giant magical cannon that could truly beat her. She debated turning giant again but decided against it. The form took too much strain and the last thing she wanted was to wreck her future base of operations.

“Ready?” Red kept her whited-out eyes glued on Ozeki as her right foot began to blaze with a crimson aura. “Ready!”

Each of the remaining rangers took a step forward with their dominant legs, which began to glow their respective colors.

“Sumo Tremor Stomp!”

A rainbow of energy fissures; yellow, blue, black, pink, and red all raced towards the sumo deity. And yet no matter how much her mind screamed at her to move out of the way, Ozeki’s thunderous thighs refused to budge an inch. She had exerted too much of her energy after such a long imprisonment and now the consequences of her actions had caught up to the ambitious Kami.

A mighty explosion rocked the nearby streets of Point City as Ozeki rocketed backwards in a cloud of black smoke countless blocks away.

When she landed into a nearby car, the machine crumpled under her gigantic (by mortal standards) body as a rippling shock wave cracked the tar and concrete in mighty fissures. Countless car alarms blared around Ozeki’s limp form as her entire body to spasm with pain.

Had she the strength, she would have let out a weary groan to voice how much she hurt. However, a sharp, biting sensation at the lower front of her stomach caused her to rethink that idea.

Blinking back the cloud of smoke that surrounded her and raising a quavering hand, Ozeki checked her side and cringed when she touched wetness. I need to make a strategic retreat, now!

It was then that Ozeki noticed that she was sitting on top of something. Ozeki blinked as she heard a low, human groan. Make that someone.

Instinctively, she reached from under her bulk and pulled the blooded, battered body of could generously be called a middle-aged human male.

Ozeki summoned her mental powers and allowed for a quick pass against his mind. After wading through the pain and looping wishes for the sweet release of death, Ozeki learned that the partly figure in her hand was a man of science.

Pulling the semi-conscious body of Dr. Camp, Ozeki freed her thick, wide frame from the car and landed feet first. Both the ground and most of the ranger’s own mountainous bodies quaked dully in recoil.

“Come one step closure and this man dies!” Ozeki held the man by the skull in her hands, just loose enough to allow him to breathe and continue living for the moment but tight enough to give her words weight.

The rangers froze where they stood. The others looked to Red.

“She’s bluffing, dudes, that scientist dude looks more like a corpse than a living breathing bod.”

“Maybe,” Red commented, frowning in thought. “But if he is still alive, then we can’t risk accidently killing him, can we?”

“I say we go for it,” Blue said, rearing to rush the sumo kami once more. “No way some rando civilian is worth more than getting Ozeki brought in here and now.” “What should we do, Red?” Yellow asked, glancing at the poor civilian that had gotten roped into their super powered throw down.

Red remained silent for a moment as she closed her eyes and thought the situation over. When she opened them, she knew she had her answer.

Forgive me, Yokozuna. It might be a while before you talk your issues out with your sister.

“Let the man go, Ozeki. Is reuniting with your sister that terrible a fate?”

Ozeki smirked with an almost animalistic glee.

“An interesting offer, Sumo Red, but I have a different offer: I will leave here with my new scientist friend in tow.”

Ozeki’s body began to shimmer in blackness.

“You got lucky today, Sumo Rangers, next time we clash, though, I will be triumphant.”

Sumo Red dashed toward her to save the now unconscious man, but Ozeki and Camp vanished in a beam of dark gray light just outside the ranger’s reach.

The five rangers looked up as a beam of black light shot up from the wreckage of the destroyed car into the sky before vanishing from view.

Sumo Red just stared at the spot where the man and his car had been moments ago.

“Damn it!” Red stomped the ground and tar cracked and shatter underfoot. “After all our training for Ozeki’s arrival, she still escaped! And with the hostage no less!”

Her broad red covered shoulders slumped. “Some heroes we’ve turned out to be …”

“Hey, you did all you could, Ash.” Kat said, dropping their in-battle code names now that Ozeki was gone. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. Ozeki just teleported faster than you could reach her. At least you reacted in time to try and do something.”

“And on the bright side, we’ve injured her a great deal,” Pink commented. “I doubt she’ll be in a hurry to start wrecking the city by herself any time soon.”

“Not unless she wants her butt royally kicked again!” Black added.

Ashley looked to the others, before putting on as brave a smile as she could manage. “Guess you guys are right, we beat Ozeki at half her power, which is not bad for our first day on the job.”

“Probably helps that she didn’t take us completely seriously until after we had laid the hunt on her,” Kat commented with a sniff.

The others glared with varying levels of annoyance.

“What? Just tryin’ to be realistic here. Well, as realistic as a bunch of sumo themed superheroes can be I guess.”

“So now what do we do?” Yellow asked between heavy, exhausted breaths.

“You can tell me just what the hell happened and who the hell you people are, for starters!”

Storming towards them was a massive well-dressed woman, who glared at them, while a much skinnier fellow stood beside her with a notepad and pencil in hand.

“None of you are going anywhere until I know who you people are, what the hell you are, and what in the blundering blue blazes just took place in the heart of my city.” “And you are…?” Pink’s voice trailed off.

“She’s Natasha Largenoiff, the mayor of Point City.” Sumo Blue said with a roll of her eyes. “Don’t any of you pay attention to local politics?”

Mayor Largenoiff flashed the Blue Ranger a quick smile. “Thank you, I am indeed the mayor of Point City, and seeing as how the five of you just battled what I can only assume is some sort of sinister she-sumo, you can see why I’d be just a touch concerned by you five. So let me ask again: Who are you people, what the hell just happened here, and who was it that just left in that black beam of light?”

Red glanced towards the others, who gave her varying levels of shrugs of indifference.

“I suppose, since you are the mayor and all, it’s only fair we explain things to you. You may want to sit down...”

Half an hour later, Natasha Largenoiff rubbed her forehead with her dumpling sized digits as she let out a low groan. In all honesty, she wished she had taken the red one up on the sitting suggestion. Why did Masks have to return and to her city of all the cities in the world at that? Why could they have bothered New York on the East Coast or gone down to California’s Hollywood? Masks were the last thing her city needed, in Largenoiff’s experience.

Still, if they didn’t stay around to deal with this ‘Ozeki’ there was a damn good chance that the Federal government and the military would soon be involved, and a military occupation sat even less right with the massive obese mayor than a bunch of masked sumo themed superheroes running around her city unsupervised did.

Largenoiff looked around at the varying amounts of destruction and damage that had been done to the streets of her fair city and the various destroyed/cracked window storefronts. Considering they could all go giant, she was thankful that this was the only real damage that she could see at the moment.

Then, the Mayor of Point City turned to personal assistant, and groaned. “Johnson?”

“Yes?”

“First, get me some aspirin. After that, get the Chief of Police, the people at the Pioneer and the rest of the city council on the phone. I’m going to have a very long afternoon on my hands and god knows I want to be on a full stomach when I do it.”

Ozeki frowned.

She and the nearly mortally wounded Dr. Camp stood and laid in an abandoned warehouse on the Point City harbor’s Anchor Way’s edge. Anchor Way was a stretch of harbor dock that, thankfully, seemed to have been abandoned for decades by the looks of it. As it was, she had an old canning plant that reeked of fish, a nearly dead human, and wounds that still stung with deeply humiliating pain.

She was still heavily injured out of her own foolishness; that more than her actual wounds stung worst of all.

Ozeki scanned her surroundings. It was a massive room with ancient machinery that reeked of fish guts and rust. Somewhere in the room she could sense the faint lifeforce of a family of rats. The squeak a moment later confirming her suspicions. This might have once been a booming business, but now it was abandoned. The perfect opportunity to put a condemned building under new management, Ozeki mused to herself.

As terrible as this place was, it was the best the kami could do for the time being. Ozeki had thought of returning to Japan but decided against it. Her sister had left the home islands for this large county, this America, for a reason.

She could keep the scientist alive long enough to gift him a robotic body. Manufacturing equipment and other technologies could be acquired easily enough for that purpose. All that remained was finding the source of inspiration for these… sumo rangers while she healed.

The only thing the warehouse had going for it, aside from its remote location and seaside view, was an outdated, pale off-white CRT computer. Ozeki scanned the scientist’s mind, whose name she had gathered was Franklin Camp, long enough to know the basic functions and how to work it.

After some trial and error in getting the machine to work, and some use of her limited power to get the machine hooked to Wi-Fi, Ozeki began her journey into the world wide web.

Hours later, she smiled as she came across a site in Japanese, about a TV of warriors clad in colorful spandex style costumes.

“Super…Sen-tai? This is your source of inspiration, eh sister? These chromatic pawns of yours the heroes and myself…”

Ozeki pouted as she continued to watch more episodes of various seasons. The hours went by quickly as she absorbed the show’s formula and various reoccurring storyline and character archetypes.

“Then so be it. A villain I will play. And when I have found you, Yokozuna. I will deal with your highhanded morality the way all good villains do.”

Smirking, the younger sumo goddess felt oddly confident about the next few weeks before her.

“You’ve returned in one piece, I see.” Yokozuna said as the rangers entered the Heya Homestead’s living room, still collectively licking their wounds from battle. “That is what’s important, ultimately.”

“No, what’s important is that yer sister’s runnin’ amuck, and she’s got a hostage.” Kat groaned as she felt her body transform back to her mere 5’4, 290 some pounds of mass as the toll from the battle finally washed over her. “The entire point of us doin’ this superhero sthick was to knock her out so you could knock some sense into her, and we failed.”

“I dunno, belly babe.” Mike said with a shrug as he reappeared in an extra, extra large bright blue Hawaiian shirt. “We escaped with all of our toes, fingers, and Flaraxs intact. That has to count for something.”

“Honestly?” Kory winced as the pain began to wash over her own compact self as her powers too vanished in a flicker of colored light. “I’m just glad no one got too hurt. Us or the rest of the people of Point City.”

“Still,” said Quentin. “It’d had been nice if we could have at least nipped this in the bud when we could. At least Ozeki doesn’t have access to an army yet and so long as we monitor Point City’s relatively small homeless population, the odds of her getting an army of converted cyborgs should be slim.”

“What do you think, Ash?” Kat frowned as Ashley Rodwell returned to her red and white checkered skirt and blouse as she shrank down to here mere six even, 330 pounds.

Ashley slumped her broad shoulders and sighed. “I think I’m tired and just want to sleep until Ozeki plans her next move. Despite our best efforts an innocent man is probably held against their will by that power mad deity… spirit whatever Ozeki is and despite out numbering her five to one we were still couldn’t bring her into you, Yokozuna.”

Deep in the pits of her stomach Ashley didn’t have the courage to admit that she had thought of seriously letting Ozeki go in exchange for the possibly fatally wounded scientist.

“It was your first battle against my sister.” Yokozuna replied with a sympathetic frown. “The fact that you five managed to keep the destruction and damage done to this city as low as you did should be celebrated. Not even Doc Savage was an expert with his lifetime of training in the beginning, after all.”

“The big lady has a point, dudes.” Mike added. “Personally, I consider this a win.”

“Anyone up for some TV?” Kory asked.

“Yeah, think there’s a Samurais vs Seattle’s Rainiers game on today.” Kat said with a shrug as she plopped her belly centered bulk down on a nearby sofa. “Anyone up for some of America’s pastime?”

“Not usually a team sports type of girl but what the hell.” Ashley said as she likewise collapsed into a reinforced chair besides Quentin and Kory. “We’ve saved the world; I dare say we’ve earned a bit of mindless television and brain rotting.”

“That’s the spirit, Skirts.” Kat said with a grin.

Mike turned on the widescreen TV and Yoko smiled warmly before taking her leave.

“You’re welcome to join us if you’d like, Yoko-san.” Quentin called out.

“I am flattered, Quentin, but another time. You five will need time to decompress and I will leave it to you to unwind as you five see fit. Enjoy the game.”

“Yeah, right.” Kat snorted when Yokozuna had left the room. “The Samurais suck. Only other shitter team in the league is the Nats.”

“Woah.” Mike stared at Kat. “There’s a ball team themed around giant bugs? That’s totally awesome!”

“She means the Nationals.” Quentin explained. “Washington D.C.’s ball team of choice.”

“Oh. … What the hell’s a National?”

“A miserable pile of secrets?” Kory quipped.

Suddenly the channel, which had been showing the Samurai vs Rainiers game was cut short by the compressed, fat face of Mayor Largeinoff, in the middle of a news conference.

“Citizens of Point City. I apologize for the interruption on your local channels but as your mayor it is my duty to confirm that the rumors of six figures fighting it out near city hall are, in fact, true. Five of those figures are a group that calls themselves the Sumo Rangers, while the other was a being by the name of Ozeki, who I am sad to report, escaped today’s battle.

According to the rangers themselves, she will inevitably return with monsters and will try to attack the city again in the coming weeks. I have met with them and have found no reason not to take them at their word. It is on them that the fate of our city rests, and should any of them be watching this, allow me to say this: Good luck Sumo Rangers, and Godspeed.”

The ballgame returned but the details of the home team vs the away team was completely forgotten as everyone shared somber looks at one another.

“Thanks, lady.” Kat griped. “No pressure or anything there. Last time I vote for the ‘body positive’ candidate…”

Kat’s general complaints aside, a sense of awesome responsibility came over the rangers as they each realized that the fate of the entire city, and by proxy eventually that of most of the world, rested on their massive shoulders.

It was a great responsibility, but they carried an individual and greater power to uphold that responsibility so that deep down, none of the Sumo Rangers knew they would be doing this alone. They would, luck and skill permitting, see this conflict between Ozeki and Yokozuna end peacefully as a team.

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