Starting Line is the first episode of Hot Wheels Battle Force 5.
Summary[]
In the tiny town of Handler's Corners, a young man, Vert Wheeler, raced through the desert in his car. As he drove through the desert at top speed, Sheriff Johnson apprehended Wheeler in his police car. Johnson ordered him to pull over, but, while he was distracted by Vert, he ignored everything else and ended up crashing into a cactus. Vert kept driving, and, seeing a nearby twister, he drove towards it looking for a fun time. However, the twister turned out to be a Stormshock portal to the mysterious Multiverse, into which Wheeler's car was pulled.
Vert would be transported to a strange lava world, where he got out of his car and rubbed his eyes- but it was all real. Vert saw the Stormshock portal close behind him and screamed in despair. As he began to explore the lava world, he saw from the top of a cliffside that an alien-like being was being attacked by four strange animal-like creatures, who were asking for a Battle Key. Without thinking, Vert swooped down and grabbed the alien being in his car, throwing her in the passenger seat. After managing to outrun the animal creatures, Vert seeked answers.
The being revealed her name, Sage. She explained that her race, the Sentients, had created the Multiverse, a series of Battle Zone that made up a whole universe. However, the animal creatures, the Vandals, and a race of robots, the Sark, seeked domination of the Multiverse, and had ruined the beautiful world created by the Sentients. Vert was fascinated by her story as Sage lead him into the Mobi, a large tank-like mobile command centre, where Sage told him that she was assembling a team to protect the Multiverse from the Sark and the Vandals. Vert immediately agreed to becoming the team leader, and Sage used Sentient technology inside the Mobi to transform his simple drag racer car into an upgraded battle machine, the Saber, named by Vert himself. His new vehicle had a saw attached to the front, and could spin around.
As the Mobi was damaged, they had to disable its cloaking device and leave, however Sage had left a bomb inside the command centre. As Sage and Vert (Sage in Hybernation mode drove off in the Sabre, the Vandal leader, Captain Kalus presumed them across the cliffs of the zone in his vehicle, the Fangore, which was able to fire arrows. With him was a cockroach-like vandal, Hatch, who drove the scorpion-like Scarib. The last two Vandal warriors, Sever the shark-like vandal in the Water Slaughter and Krocomodo the crocodile-like vandal in the Riptile, went into the Mobi, but leapt out when they discovered the bomb. The mobi blew to pieces as Kalus and Hatch chased Vert and Sage towards the new portal which they had activated using Sage's Battle key. Vert and Sage barely managed to escape from the bloodthirsty vandals, and once Sage had awoken, they sealed the portal from Earth.
Back at Vert's garage, Sage had built a whole bottom floor using Sentient technology, which would later serve as their headquarters and base. Sage revealed that several other members had been selected for the team, and were being dropped off at Handler's corners. Sure enough, limos dropped off Agura Ibaden, a skilled hunter, Sherman and Spinner Cortez, computer geeks, Stanford Isaac Rhodes IV, a posh DJ, and Zoom Takazumi, a biker and martial arts expert- each believed they were there for a different event. Zoom though he was at a Martial art competition, Standford believed he was at a party and the Cortez brothers thought they were there for a gaming convention.
Vert, back at his garage, dismissed the idea of a team completely, and went into Alien City Battle Zone alone. He encountered the Sark here; their leader, Zemerik stood with his Zurk minions and his vehicle, the Zelix. Vert also spied his second-in-command, Zug, in his Zendrill, basically a drivable drill. Vert started to reconsider the idea of a team, but brushed it off as he grabbed the battle key and fled from the Zurk's Zentners . After destroying a few Zentners, he stormed through the portal with three Zurk attached to the Sabre. He lands in Handler's corners, right where his teammates were. They helped him destroy the Zurk, Standford accidentally braking his boombox on one of them. Agura kicked the head of a Zurk through the portal right as Vert closed it. Zemerik would later be able to rewatch the Zurk's death using its memory still stored in its decapitated head, and sent it to the Vandals, who received on a device Hatch had taken years to build, which Kalus destroyed in rage upon the sight of the new team.
Wondering what had just happened, the team accompanied Vert back to his garage where Sage explained everything. They obviously didn't believe her at first, but soon all agreed to joining Battle Force 5. One by one, they received their brand new vehicles and Shocksuit. Agura received the Tangler ATV, and be me the team's hunter. Spinner and Sherman would share the Buster Tank and became the team's tactical support. Standford would receive the Reverb, (though it would take him ages to name it) and became the demolitions expert. Finally, Zoom received a bike-plane cross called the Chopper, and was awarded the position of scout. Vert was dubbed team leader, and named them Battle Force 5. Though Spinner pointed out there were six of them, Sherman informed him that they were counting vehicles, not members. The team would visit Zeke's Diner, where they talked to Sheriff Johnson, waitress Grace (who Stanford had a crush on) and owner Zeke, who believed in aliens. When not in duty, they pretended to be test drivers for strange car types. They would, however, soon be called into action again, and headed off to the Stormshock with Vert at the lead. The Sark and Vandals were also seen preparing for entering the Stormshock.
Key Events[]
- Vert Wheeler is introduced.
- Sage is introduced.
- TheVandals: Captain Kalus, Hatch, Sever and Krocomodo are introduced.
- The Hub is created by Sage.
- It is revealed that the Sentients created the multiverse.
- The Sark are introduced, along withZemerik and Zug.
- Zoom Takazumi, Agura Ibaden, Stanford Isaac Rhodes IV, Sherman Cortez and Spinner Cortez are admitted onto Battle Force 5, along with Vert Wheeler.
- The Battle Force 5 is formed.
- Sheriff Johnson, Zeke, and Grace are introduced.
- Battle Force 5 makes Zeke's Diner their regular hangout.
- The team begins their first mission.
Quotes[]
- "These are some hot Wheels."---Vert
- "Wheeler, you're goin' nowhere fast!"---Sheriff Johnson
- "That's strange. Then around here, that's as close as it gets to fun!"---Vert
- "Where in the world--? (seeing visible planets in the sky) "Er, the Universe, am I?"---Vert
- "If it means a free paint job, knock yourself out."---Vert
- "Feel the sting of my Scarib!"---Hatch
- "So long, Roach Boy/ Vandals!"---Vert
- "Who wants to help me destroy a pack of Killer Robots?"---Vert
- (Kalus smashes Hatch's device.) "I spent years building that..."---Hatch
- "There are six of us..."---Spinner in response to the team name Battle Force 5.
- "He's counting the vehicles."---Sherman
- "I knew that."---Spinner
- "I say, we take our sweet new rides and high-tail it out of this dead end town."---Stanford
- "The Sark and Vandals are tyrants. And tyrants must be stopped"---Agura
- "That there's an alien communicator!"---Zeke
- "Oi! Now that's just plain rude!"---Stanford
Gallery[]
