[Mushverse, I suppose? Open to all!]

[morphitudinous]

Billy's arrival in Tokyo wasn't exactly the easiest of transitions. He'd studied some rudimentary Japanese phrases the moment he'd reached a computer and coaxed it to the Internet, but he was obviously going to need more than that if he was to survive here.

Fighting the local beasts as a Ranger was one thing. Morph, make some gestures and grunt sounds, and disappear. No one ever had to know he was a foreigner. Getting by in everyday life was an entirely different matter.

Through weeks of struggling (and some pointed haggling with some perhaps-illegal tech), he eventually assembled enough parts to make two prototype translation device, tuned to produce audio translations between English and Japanese. The first one was a modification/extension of his own wrist communicator, a new dome appearing over the surface of it. The second, with red bands instead of his blue, was very similar but lacked the now-defunct teleportation code.

With some help from machine translation, he posted a sign in front of a bench at the local park in English and Japanese:

Please assist a young researcher with a new device. You will be compensated for your time.

Now, all he had to do was sit here, look friendly, and wait. Billy hoped the monsters here weren't as fond of parks as the putties at home had been.

Comments

[cookscleanskicksass]

He responds in passable Japanese, and I smile. Other languages are tricky!

My eyebrows shoot up when his device translates his words. I know a little English, but only a VERY little, and this is amazing. "Very clever," I say slowly and clearly, smiling at him. "My name is Don."

[morphitudinous]

"My name is Billy," I speak into the device, just as clearly. The slowed speech really helps the processing, but I hope to increase its efficiency to the point where natural dialogue rhythms are possible.

"I am testing this device. I require its assistance while I learn your language."

[cookscleanskicksass]

"Good to meet you, Billy," I say politely. "Why are you in Japan? How did you build your device?"

I'm itching to get a look at it! I can hypothesize some of the principles he's used in creating it, but some of the thinking is completely new to me.

[morphitudinous]

I lift my wrist, allowing him to see part of the mini-computer and speaker system attached.

"I was brought here two weeks ago. I don't know why. And the device is a combination of two sound databases and a matching mechanism. It finds ways to match whole sentences if it can."

[cookscleanskicksass]

"...oh," I say, stunned. His situation has overtaken my fascination at his device in my head. Oh, that's interesting.

Apart from recent events, we've never really hidden our identities, and there's no cooperation without trust, and he's a fellow scientist. It's possible -- and would be good -- that someone mysterious is gathering power on OUR side, as well as on the other.

"Billy," I say cautiously. "Do you by any chance fight evil?"

[morphitudinous]

I can feel myself stiffen and force myself to relax. That sort of reaction will give me away! It just means I'm acquainted with the forces of evil, I try to convince myself.

"Do you?" I deflect, searching the other man's face for information.

[cookscleanskicksass]

I break into an unbelieving grin. Oh, he does, this is excellent. I know we were sort of hiding before, but we have a great big pirate ship sailing over the ground and we're all together. Things are different. We don't have to hide now.

"I do! Have you heard of the Gokaigers?"

[morphitudinous]

"I think so. There was something on the news? It's difficult to follow, but I believe I saw a picture. Pirate-like costumes, warriors dealing with the mess here?"

I have to work on my translator's settings. It would be perfect to tune it into the evening news. But..what's he saying about the Gokaigers? Implying that I'm a suspect?

That costume wouldn't suit me at all.

[cookscleanskicksass]

I wait patiently for his translator to finish. It's getting faster. Impressive work! "Yes, that's right," I say eagerly. "There are other teams gathering here, too."

Maybe you're from one of them, Billy? He looks a little scared, so I won't push too hard just yet.

[morphitudinous]

"Wow. So the Power Rangers from home should be arriving soon. I wonder if I'll see them."

I'm going to play coy for a while.

[cookscleanskicksass]

"Power... Rangers?" I repeat blankly, not sure if the translator's working right. "I haven't heard of those ones before! Tell me about them?"

[morphitudinous]

"Yes. They're a lot like your Gokaigers, I believe. But their costumes are based on the shapes of prehistoric creatures rather than pirates."

I was almost tempted to say 'dinosaurs', but that was far from technically accurate.

[cookscleanskicksass]

[ooc: sorry for hopelessness XD]

"Ah! Like the Zyurangers? Or the Abarangers?" I have pictures at home, because I'm trying to expand on the work Gai did, but I don't have any with me.

[morphitudinous]

"Gai was archiving Rangers?" I frown. Neither of the names sound familiar, but I do want to see these pictures.

[cookscleanskicksass]

"Yes, he was," I say, with a rueful smile. Right up until he... died, but Billy doesn't need to be made sad about that. "You're welcome to come home for tea and to see the pictures, if you like? I'd love to know more about these Rangers."