Battle Heroes X Classic: S01E06

No Rest for the Lazy is the sixth episode of the former Battle Heroes X series which aired on TV Nexus, the sixth episode in the first season of the series, and the sixth episode overall. The episode revolves around Julius being forced to defend the city from being robbed and decimated by Bane's forces along with his second-in command Hoji.

## The Episode

Julius was in bed still when morning came...and passed, looking up to the ceiling. Usually he would be drawing on Cloud's face or doing something useful, but here he was. Maybe it was because of the most recent beating Zack gave him. Zack was always on his case about being lazy. Julius rolled to the side, his head on his pillow.

"Maybe I should just lay here. Maybe I can freeze time as well. Being like this forever wouldn't hurt," He said.

Finally, Julius came to an ultimatum. Staying in bed would do nothing for him, but maybe actually doing something productive would make him forget about his failure. Lazy, Zack had called him. Pfffft. He would show him that Julius Vladmire wasn't lazy. Not at all. But how? Julius finally got up and out of bed, getting ready for the day. Once done, he glanced at the clock: 3:30.

"Freaking heck," Julius muttered, heading downstairs to the kitchen. When he entered, he was surprised to see that the entire place was a mess. A window was broken and glass shards were all over the floor. Pieces of cereal and spilled milk were also on the ground.

"...Cloud. Can't be anyone else but him. When I get to him...what's this?" Julius picked up a note that was on the ground among the broken glass and began to read it.

"HEY JULIUS"

BANE SEND GHOSTBOTS AFTER ME SO IM GOING AFTER HIM AND BEATING HIM UP. I WAS GONNA BRING YOU ALONG BUT YOU WOULD PROBABLY BE TOO LAZY TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL, SO ITS YOUR JOB TO CLEAN UP THE MESS THEY MADE WHEN THEY ATTACKED

- ZACK

"Huh, so it was Zack. Jerk," Julius said. He crumpling up the note and threw it in the trash, then grabbed a broom so he could begin sweeping up the mess.

Suddenly, sound of glass and trash being swept up was interrupted by the loudness of an alarm going off. Hidden panels on the wall began to open up and reveal red signaling lights that were turning on.

"Oh shoot! The emergency transmission alarms!" Julius yelled over the blaring of the alarms. A part of the wall slide open, revealing a computer monitor screen, which immediately turned on, revealing a gruff old man with a head of gray hair and a large gray beard. He wore a black jumpsuit lined with red.

"Hello? Is this thing on?" He said in a deep and rough voice.

"Earth SPD Base Commander Roy!" Julius said, snapping to attention.

"Oh, it is. Afternoon, Julius. Get Zack on. I need to speak to him about an urgent situation," Roy said.

"Why do you want just Zack, anyway?" Julius asked.

"Because he's the squad leader and red ranger!"

"Well, uh, actually. I'm the squad leader and red ranger," Julius replied, adjusting his shirt and smirking.

"Get Zack on now. That's an order," Roy said, now unamused.

"Like I said, I'm the new squad leader, Zack isn't. Zack is the green ranger. Even if Zack was the red ranger, what could be so urgent that he's the only one who can see it?" Julius said.

"Something's going on in the center of the city. I fear it has something to do with that guy who's been on your cases lately..." Roy scratched his beard.

"Bane?"

"Yeah, Bane."

Julius began to think. That's probably what caused Zack to leave! Bane attacked and lured him to the city, he thought to himself.

"I was going to have Zack take care of this solo, since he's the best out of all of you, but since *you're* the red ranger and *you're* the one who I told, you're going to do it."

"Alright fine. I'll go down to town and look around for what's causing the ruckus," Julius said as he turned around and walked away. This is gonna be a cinch!

"Hmph. Good then. Get it done, Vladmire." Roy said as he worked with the controls on his side to end the transmission.

MEANWHILE ON BANE'S SHUTTLE...

Hoji was bench-pressing 500 lbs. on the shuttle as Chan watched from behind the wall of his cell.

"C'mon bro! Lemme out! I've got nothing to eat and I need to poop!" Chan yelled.

"You have poop, don't you? Quit being a baby and accept your punishment." Hoji replied calmly as he lifted up the barbell once more.

Suddenly, Bane appeared from the shadows right in front of Hoji.

"Alright Hoji, it's time," He said.

"Finally! Time to crush some skulls!!" Hoji got up, now holding the barbell over his head with both hands.

"Do you remember what the plan is, Hoji? It's ok if you don't," Bane asked, watching his henchman hold up the extremely heavy piece of exercise equipment.

"I probably know, but it wouldn't hurt to get it explained one more time. I don't wanna fail and end up in the doghouse with baby boy failure over there," Hoji grunted as he pointed to Chan in the cell and put down the barbell, slowly taking off the weights and putting them on the rack.

"Go down to the city with some ghostbots and start a commotion. That will attract Zack along with the rest of his friends, then kill Zack in his weakened state. Without him, their offense will falter, which will give you the chance to finish the rest of them off! AND THERE'S NOTHING THEY CAN DO ABOUT IT! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Bane explained before finishing with a maniac laugh.

"Got it, boss. I won't fail you," Hoji said, then left to make final preparations.

Back on Earth, Julius had made his way to city and was sitting at a table at an outside cafe. Sipping from a glass of lemon ice tea, he watched the people go by. Beside the cafe were some badly damaged buildings, mementos of a battle between a "black haired stud" and an "evil alien guy", according to the passing citizens he questioned.

"I've been searching around for anything for at least 30 minutes. Whatever was here, looks like Zack took care of it." Julius stated, sipping his drink..

Suddenly, the peaceful scene was interrupted by a large pillar of red light appearing from thin air and beaming down into the street. Emerging from the beam was Hoji, along with a small army of ghostbots.

"...You gotta be kidding me," Julius groaned, getting up from his seat.

Hoji looked around and noticed Julius at the cafe. "Fire at him!" He yelled to the ghostbots.

Red ranger armor began to surrounded Julius' knees to his feet and he jumped in the air, narrowly avoiding the volley of lasers that destroyed the cafe seat and table he was just sitting at. As he landed, the rest of his armor appeared and he whipped out two blasters. People began to panic and scatter from the sight of the upcoming battle.

Julius got in a fighting stance. "Hoji? Figures. Where's you're brother?"

"Not here, but it'll only take one of us to kill you. Fire again!" Hoji point to Julius.

When the ghostbots began to open fire again, Julius back flipped behind a car, which began to take the full brunt of the ghostbots' fire.

"Ah, crap. What would Zack do in this situation? Probably come up with some plan to stop all the ghostbots and Hoji. Me...I got nothing. Time to wing it!" Julius stepped from behind the car and began to open fire on the ghostbots one by one. He fired a couple of shots at one of them, which exploded. It caused a chain reaction as two others next to it were caught in the explosion. However, more laser shots hit him and he was sent flying backwards and skidded on the ground before rolling to a stop.

The taunting voice of Zack's voice pierced his mind. However, this wasn't actually Zack, rather a product of Julius' mind. "Nice work, Foolius. If you waited for a little while longer, the ghostbots would reload and give you a chance to blow more of them up. Now you're left wide open for them to blow your ass up more."

Julius shook his head wildly and got up. "Yeah, yeah, I'm lazy. How about this?"

He was sent back a decent distance from the ghostbots, so they were forced to go after him. In response to this, he raised his blasters and rapid-fired at them. As they continued to charge, one by one they were shot down and exploded. Then there was one left, who got too close to shoot down. Julius pistol-whipped them and fired, blowing a hole through its chest.

"How about that, Zack?" Julius said confidently. "Easy peasy lemon squeezy."

While celebrating his victory over the ghostbots, Julius didn't notice Hoji charging at him until it was too late. With a single punch, Hoji sent Julius flying again. This time, a car stopped him. It ended his flight painfully.

Julius grasped his shoulder and "Oh yeah, forgot. Hoji."

Hoji stood over him in an instant. He wore all black body armor with with gauntlets sparking with black lightning. He picking him up by the shoulder with one hand. Julius screamed in agony.

"At least *try* to put up a challenge!" Hoji taunted before punching Julius in the chest and dropping him.

Julius laid on the ground, muttering something inaudibly.

"What was that, cupcake? Couldn't hear you over the sound of your sucking."

Julius straightened up. "I said, you're going down!" He swung at Hoji with his one good arm and made contact with his face. Hoji staggered back and felt his cheek, noticing blood on his hand.

"Ha. You actually drew blood. Your last act on this Earth," Hoji said, raising his arms in the air. Metal surrounded them and formed massive laser cannons. He pointed them at Julius.

Julius looked at the cannons aimed at him and tried to get up, but the pain was too extreme. "Oh cr---"

His words were interrupted by pure energy being blasted at him by Hoji. When the dust settled, Julius' wounded body remained with the ruins of the car.

"Well, that's taking out the trash. Time to report to Bane," Hoji said confidently before being beamed back up in a pillar of red light back to Bane's space shuttle.

Unknown to Hoji, however, was that Julius was still alive, but barely. He dragged himself into an alleyway and collapsed on the ground again.

"GOD....DAMMIT. Why did I even bother trying to stop him!"

He beat himself up in his thoughts. "You're a lazy idiot. You let the ghostbots shoot you, which depleted your armor's energy. Plus, why would you even fight Hoji hand to hand? He's the strongest of Bane's minions physically!"

Julius' eyes began to truly awaken to what he had been doing. "I...I shouldn't be beating myself up, I should be beating Hoji up! I have to...I have to try harder!" Now, he would need to try with every ounce of his body to defeat Hoji. A Max Heal materialized in his hand and he crushed it, getting restored to maximum strength.

Now, Julius thought to himself as he got up, I'm gonna need a plan. He began to search through his Weapons Database and surveyed his tools...

Meanwhile, on Bane's Ship, Hoji was enjoying a winner's welcome. Chan was still in his prison cell and Bane nodded in respect to Hoji.

"Excellent work, Hoji. It wasn't Zack, but now he'll definitely come after you. When he does, you know what to do," Bane said.

"Thanks, boss, and I will," Hoji replied.

"Please, you can call me Bane now."

"Gosh, I'm r-r-r-r-really happy for you big bro. I knew you could do it," Chan said from his prison cell, brown marks around his mouth.

Hoji smirked. "It wasn't a matter of knowing, it was a matter of doing, little bro."

Bane chimed in once more. "Speaking of doing, I need you to go down there and find Zack. I don't want any strings attached.

Hoji nodded and beamed back down to Earth, where he was greeted by man in red armor. It was Julius. He had no helmet on, so Hoji could see a look of pure fury in his eyes. Both of his hands were behind his back.

Hoji stood amazed for a second. "How are you even alive? Same thing happened with Zack. You ranger brats are like cockroaches."

He snapped his fingers and a dozen ghostbots appeared.

All according to plan, Julius thought.

"FIRE AT HIM!" Hoji yelled. The ghostbots obeyed, but just as they were aiming, Julius threw two small spherical objects on the ground. In an instant, a wave of smoke washed over him, obscuring him from their view. The ghostbots stood confused, unable to detect and therefore fire at Julius.

"What the hell is he planning?" Hoji said, also confused. Julius was the laziest of the ground, so why would he actually pull off any kind of strategy?

In the smoke cloud, Julius summoned his two blasters and connected the barrel of one with the back of another, creating a high-power blaster rifle. His helmet morphed onto his head, allowing him to see through the fog and aim at the ghostbots. He fired a shot, then another, and another. One by one, the ghostbots were exploding due to a single shot piercing their weak spot; their chest.

This is a pretty good plan, Julius thought to himself. The ghostbots rely on their sensors to detect threats and shoot them down, but without the ability to detect Julius, he can easily shoot them down.

Finally, only Hoji and Julius remained on the battlefield. The smoke faded, revealing the red ranger to Hoji.

Hoji cracked his knuckles. "I'll give that one to you, that was a pretty good plan, but you're dead now. For real this time," Hoji summoned his cannon arms once again.

Julius kept silent, his only action being him dismissing his rifle. The weapon glowed white before vanishing.

Hoji was dumbfounded. "Alright, you wanna get beaten to death, I can do that," He de-activated the cannons and his hands went back to normal. "Now we're even."

Bingo, he took the bait, Julius thought again. Getting in a martial arts stance, Julius used the iconic beckoning gesture with his hand at Hoji.

"With pleasure!" Hoji said triumphantly before charging at Julius, throwing a punch strong enough to crush bones.

Julius side-stepped the strike and countered with a punch to the ribs. Hoji winced.

"You actually dodged this time, this might be fun!" Hoji said, charging in for another punch.

Julius dodged it again, counter striking once more at Hoji's chest.

"That's right...keep it coming," Julius said softly to himself.

"Ok, this is getting annoying!" Hoji ran at Julius this time, throwing a barrage of punches and kicks at him.

Julius blocked every hit and when he blocked the last one, he hit Hoji in the face again. He did the hand gesture again.

"Alright, ENOUGH. No more of your parrying bullshit, I'm blasting you to hell!!" Hoji activated his cannons and began to charge.

"NOW!" Julius yelled, summoning another spherical object and throwing it at Hoji's face. Blinding light flashed around Hoji's eyes, blinding him temporarily.

"I can't see! CAN'T SEE!!" He yelled, flailing with his cannons wildly.

Since he's blind for now, he can't concentrate and get back his regular hands, now's the time to attack, Julius thought to himself.

Julius charged at Hoji and started with a right hook, which connected with his face. Hoji tried to raise his hands to block another punch, but Julius hit him in the gut with his left fist. Zack's voice fueled his rage as he continued to pummel the now vulnerable Hoji. Anger filled him and he punched Hoji harder, then summoned one blaster to shoot him in the knee, which caused him to fall on the other before Julius.

"You're not qualified to be a pro? What do you do, anyway? Nothing?" Zack taunted again. He put down the blaster and brought Hoji's head to his knee, slamming his face on it.

"You're so lazy, you'll never beat me," Zack said. This was the last straw for Julius.

"SHUT UP!!" Julius yelled to the voice that had been plaguing him. He put everything he had into his next punch, hitting Hoji and knocking him out.

Julius stood over him, feeling his knuckles. "It's game over for you, Hoji. You're under arrest."

Before Julius could take him in, however, Hoji was beamed back to Bane's ship, where the fury of his master awaited him.

"WHAT IN GODS NAME HAPPENED DOWN THERE, HOJI?!?!!?" Bane screeched at the top of his lungs, getting saliva all over Hoji's injured face.

"I...I...he had a plan, for once, Bane. What could I--"

"THATS MASTER TO YOU NOW! WE AREN'T FRIENDS! NOW GET IN THE CELL WITH YOUR PIECE OF CRAP BROTHER," Bane yelled once more and pointed to the prison cell with Chan in it. Hoji groaned and crawled into it.

"Welcome to mi casa, bro. Let's set some ground rules. This side of the prison cell is mine..." Chan began. Hoji slammed his head against the prison cell walls and groaned.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Julius was walking home, thinking about what had happened that day. No more did he want to be the lazy, irresponsible team leader. He was going to take care of business, because there's no rest for the lazy. Finally, he entered the house, and went downstairs to the training area, summoning his Weapons Database.

"...Time for some training."

JULIUS DEFEATED HOJI, BUT CAN HE GAIN THE RESPECT OF HIS TEAMMATES AS WELL?

BANE'S INVASION HAS BEEN REPELLED, BUT IS THERE MORE TO COME?

FIND OUT THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS AND MORE ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF BATTLE HEROES X!!!!