The Venomous Eclipse Read online

  They heard nothing but dead air.

  “His Dinozord isn’t moving,” Kimberly said, flying past the Triceratops again. “I don’t see him. I don’t think he’s in there.”

  Scorpina closed in on the Triceratops, wrapping her tail around it and shooting lightning bolts into the machine. The Dinozord trembled and shook.

  “I hope Billy’s not in there, or he’ll be toast,” Trini said before using her Sabertooth Tiger to shoot several laser blasts at the hideous scorpion monster that Scorpina had become. Even though most of the shots were a direct hit, the monster was unfazed.

  “Zordon, Alpha 5, did you see what happened to Billy?” Jason asked, connecting with the Command Center. “He can’t just be gone.”

  “Negative, Jason,” Alpha 5 said.

  “I’m afraid we don’t see him, Rangers,” Zordon said. “I’m afraid he has vanished.”

  “We need to form Megazord,” the Red Ranger said.

  “But how?” Trini wanted to know as Scorpina retaliated, lashing at her Sabertooth Tiger Dinozord with her deadly tail. “We need Billy, and he’s simply vanished.” The Blue Ranger’s Triceratops faded back to the sand dunes from which it came.

  “I should have never brought this stupid ring,” Zack said, giving Scorpina an icy blast from his Mastodon’s trunk. “Billy said I shouldn’t bring it, and I wouldn’t listen to him.”

  “Well, we need to figure out what happened to Billy, and fast,” the Red Ranger said. “Everyone, get ready to teleport to the Command Center, immediately.”

  “But how?” Trini asked. “It’s not like Scorpina’s just going to let us teleport out of here. Not if she can help it.”

  Fortunately, at that exact moment, Scorpina’s wildly thrashing tail crashed into a boulder, causing her to howl in pain. Seizing the opportunity while the monster was distracted, the Red Ranger shouted, “Alpha, we need to teleport now!”

  “You got it!” said the robot. Moments later there were four colored blurs racing across the sky to the remote location of the Command Center up in the hills.

  “Aye-yi-yi,” Alpha 5 said as the Power Rangers arrived at the Command Center. “I only see four of you? This is very bad. What happened to Billy?”

  “That’s what we’re here to find out,” Jason said. The four of them were back to their regular appearances as average teenagers, no longer in their Power Ranger uniforms.

  Hanging his head, Zack blurted, “I think I might have erased Billy with Scorpina’s erasure ring.”

  “How could this be?” the robot asked, hurrying over to examine the ring that Zack was still clutching. “You don’t usually have something like that happen with a piece of fine jewelry.”

  “It’s the ring that I found at the beach. Billy called it an erasure ring because it can make things disappear.”

  “Disappear like Billy,” the Red Ranger said grimly.

  “How does it erase things?” Alpha 5 wanted to know. “This ring needs closer analysis.”

  “Let’s get to it,” Trini said. “There’s not a moment to lose.”

  Zack slumped into a chair, cupping his head in his hands. “This is my fault. Billy said not to bring the ring because he didn’t fully understand how it works, but I wouldn’t listen.”

  “Hey, hang in there,” Jason said, patting his friend on the shoulder. “We need you focused so that we can get Billy back.”

  “If we can get him back,” Zack mumbled miserably. He knew he had to fight past his feelings of guilt so that he could focus on helping. “Zordon,” he said, looking up. “What do you think? Where’s Billy? Do you have any idea?”

  Zordon, who had been unusually quiet since the Rangers’ arrival, then spoke, his voice booming. “I am still able to detect the Blue Ranger’s life force on the beach that you call the cove, even though he is not visible to the human eye.”

  “So, what do you mean?” Zack walked over to stand directly in front of the clear cylinder where Zordon’s disembodied head appeared as a giant, wavering image. “He’s, like, invisible?”

  “Not exactly,” Zordon replied. “All I know so far is that, even though the Blue Ranger is not physically at the cove, some aspect of his life force is still present.”

  “So then we can get Billy back?” Kimberly asked, walking over to stand by Zack’s side.

  “That is unclear,” Zordon told her. “But I think there must be a chance.”

  “A chance. That’s not great,” Zack said, shaking his head.

  Kimberly gave his hand a squeeze. “Come on, Zack. It’s better than no chance.”

  “Rangers,” Zordon said rather suddenly. “I’m sensing a new threat at the Angel Grove Mall.”

  “Sensing?” Trini asked. Zordon usually had a clear view of any of Rita’s flunkies that showed up on Earth.

  “I don’t have a visual yet,” Zordon explained. “But a large crowd has gathered in the parking lot of the Angel Grove Mall, and it seems to have something to do with Goldar.”

  “Goldar!” the Rangers all exclaimed. He was one of Rita’s most powerful fighters and he’d teleported to Earth before, to fight side-by-side with Scorpina.

  “He’s obviously here to help Scorpina, but why is he at the mall?” Zack asked.

  “That is currently unknown. But we must protect the Angel Grove population,” Zordon said.

  “Plus protect the cove. Plus find a way to get Billy back,” Kimberly pointed out. “How are we going to cover all of that?”

  “I’ll go to the cove,” Jason said, “to keep an eye on Scorpina. Zack and Kimberly, you need to go see what Goldar is up to. And, Trini, you should stay here and try to figure out the ring with Alpha 5 and Zordon.”

  “No,” Zack told him. “You go with Kimberly. I’m the one who needs to face Scorpina.”

  The Red Ranger shook his head. “I know you feel responsible for Billy’s disappearance, but we’re a team. And with a villain like Scorpina, you know it’s going to be an ugly fight.”

  Zack thought about it for a moment before saying, “No, it has to be me. I need to own this. And besides, I think I have a way to get an edge over that golden lobster; at least for a little while.”

  “What is it?” Trini asked. All of the friends were eager to know.

  Zack actually managed a smile. “Just another little mad-scientist project that our friend Billy’s been cooking up in his garage.”

  Zack didn’t like to have to go into Billy’s garage when he wasn’t home, but seeing that the continued existence of the planet depended on Zack being able to keep Scorpina at bay until the rest of the team figured out a way to get Billy back from wherever he’d gone, Zack figured Billy wouldn’t mind.

  “Hmm,” Zack said, rubbing his lip as he stood in the middle of all of Billy’s experiments.

  Where was that crazy rainbow crystal thingy that Billy had somehow managed to make? Zack scanned Billy’s numerous workbenches. He knew that he’d been practicing his uppercut back kick when Billy had asked him to stop.

  The Black Ranger oriented himself in the garage so he was facing the same direction that he had been earlier in the day. But he just didn’t see the crystal anywhere. Zack remembered that Billy had swiftly cleaned up a few things before they’d left to help the team at the cove. He’d probably tucked the Power Crystal away somewhere to keep it safe.

  Zack began quickly and carefully rifling through the wide variety of inventions and equipment. He didn’t want to damage anything, but he also desperately needed something to give him an edge—even a temporary one—while battling the giant scorpion monster. Billy’s experimental Power Crystal was his only chance.

  “Gah!” Zack exclaimed, feeling frustrated, yet trying to treat all the fragile equipment with care. “Where is it?!”

  His hands found a bundle of flannel wrapped around something hard. “Please, please, please,” the Bla
ck Ranger whispered under his breath. “Yes!” He’d found it.

  Billy’s prototype rainbow Power Crystal was there. It had all five colors: red, black, pink, yellow, and blue. Zack had no idea how Billy managed to create half the things he did, but he desperately hoped that the Power Crystal would work.

  Raising his Power Morpher to the sky, Zack called out, “Mastodon!” and immediately transformed into the Black Ranger. Once fully disguised, he activated the teleportation mode on his wrist communicator, remarking to himself, “It’s time to hit the beach.”

  Seconds later, Zack was jetting across the sky at such an accelerated speed that he was nothing but a black blur as he headed to Angel Grove Cove. And not a moment too soon. Scorpina was furious that the Power Rangers had teleported off the beach while she’d been distracted. Her plan had been to lure the teenagers back to the beach so she could finish them off. But how, she wondered, angrily thrashing her deadly tail back and forth with irritation. She needed to smash some buildings or something; that usually brought the Power Rangers running.

  “Uh . . . excuse me, your royal scorpion lady,” Squatt called up to the giantess. He and Baboo had been hiding high up on the bluffs, out of harm’s way during the battle, but he had noticed Zack landing on the beach in his Power Rangers uniform. At first he wasn’t going to say anything, but then he thought it could be something that the scary scorpion lady might like to know.

  “What is it, you blue toad?” demanded Scorpina.

  Squatt was insulted, but he thought it probably wasn’t the right time to point out that he was more closely related to a warthog than a toad. “Well, I just thought you’d like to know that the Black Ranger is back,” he said. “And he’s the one who found the ring in the first place.”

  Scorpina moved her giant monster head back and forth trying to fix her gaze on Zack. He looked so small and vulnerable, standing defiantly on the beach like a mouse confronting an NBA player. “Hey, Scorpina,” he shouted. “How about picking on someone nowhere near your size?”

  The scorpion giantess thought that sounded like a great idea. Raising her great tail, she lashed out at the Black Ranger, causing the hero to somersault into the air. It was only Zack’s lightning-fast reflexes that saved him from a potentially deadly blow. Missing her target caused Scorpina to scream with rage and frustration.

  “Whoa,” Zack said to himself. “I’d better get into my Dinozord, and fast. And hope this Power Crystal does what I hope it does.” Then, in a steady voice, he called out, “Mastodon Dinozord power,” causing his Dinozord to appear as if just emerging from a snow-covered tundra.

  “All right!” Zack whooped as he launched into the air to enter his Dinozord.

  A split second after he’d engaged the Mastodon’s controls, Scorpina struck again, this time wrapping her tail around the Dinozord and giving Zack a zap of electricity that made his teeth rattle.

  “Cool off!” Zack shouted, triggering his Mastodon’s trunk, covering Scorpina with a heavy blast of snow and ice. That loosened the monster’s grip a little, and gave the Black Ranger the space he needed to deploy his secret weapon.

  “It’s crystal time!” Zack said. Taking a deep breath, he inserted Billy’s rainbow Power Crystal into the slot on his Mastodon’s control panel, murmuring, “Here goes nothing.”

  The first hint that Billy’s attempt to combine the essence of all the Rangers’ powers into one crystal was a success was immediate, as a sparkling rainbow glow filled the control room of the Dinozord and then spread over the Mastodon’s entire body.

  “Cool,” Zack marveled as he felt the power of Jason’s Tyrannosaurus, the grace of Kimberly’s Pterodactyl, the intelligence of Billy’s Triceratops, and the fearlessness of Trini’s Sabertooth Tiger coursing through his Zord.

  Scorpina also recognized that something had changed; she took a hesitant step backward, releasing the Mastodon for a moment as she assessed the new situation.

  “Hey, lady,” Zack said from inside the cockpit of the Dinozord. “Time for you to learn to play nice.”

  The scorpion monster had another idea in mind. She raised her giant claw and struck at the Black Ranger’s Dinozord. But with the Yellow Ranger’s added agility, Zack was able to dodge the blow. “Awesome!” Zack said, pumping his fist in the air, amazed at how easily he had avoided being hit. “It’s working!”

  Normally the Mastodon Zord didn’t have access to a variety of lasers, but with Billy’s special crystal heightening his power, Zack was able to shoot Pterodactyl-power lasers from his Zord’s eyes, giving Scorpina a good jolt. “I am loving this mega crystal-power!” Zack said. “I hope it lasts.” The multicolored glow enveloping the Mastodon hadn’t faded yet, fueling the Black Ranger’s confidence.

  “Let’s try a little wrestling of my own,” the Black Ranger said, manipulating the Mastodon controls so that the robot’s trunk wrapped around Scorpina, pinning her arms to her sides. With the added strength of the Red Ranger’s Tyrannosaurus strength, he was able to keep his grip while both freezing her with arctic snow and giving her another laser blast.

  Scorpina shrieked and thrashed wildly, but it took several seconds before she was able to break free from the Mastodon’s grip. Staggering backward, the scorpion creature released an angry cry and tried to clamp Zack’s Dinozord in her giant claw.

  “No, thank you,” the Black Ranger said, using his Dinozord’s trunk to thrust the claw away. But it wasn’t as easy this time. Zack couldn’t feel the full strength of the Tyrannosaurus coursing through his Zord. He still felt stronger, but just not as strong as he had when he’d first inserted the crystal.

  Glancing at the rainbow Power Crystal, Zack thought that maybe it wasn’t quite as brilliantly colored as it had been at Billy’s place. “Sure hope the team doesn’t take too long to find Billy,” the Black Ranger said to himself. “I have a feeling this special crystal isn’t going to last forever.”

  Meanwhile, back at the Command Center, Trini, Alpha, and Zordon were hard at work. “Okay, Alpha,” Trini said. “Is the test object in place?”

  “Ready and waiting, Yellow Ranger,” the robot said, in an almost chipper voice. He loved helping the team, even if he was worried about Billy.

  Trini looked over her shoulder at the robot. He had placed a pair of pliers so they would be in line with a beam from the ring. “Good,” she said. “Let me know when you’re clear.” The Yellow Ranger was glad Alpha wanted to help find Billy, but she didn’t want to accidentally send him to join Billy.

  Alpha 5 distanced himself several feet from the pliers. “Clear,” he said.

  “Test firing Scorpina’s ring, third attempt,” Trini said, lifting the latch and twisting the stone on top. As soon as she did, a golden beam shot out of the ring and surrounded the pliers, making them glow. Seconds later, the tool was gone.

  “The stone’s black again,” Trini said, examining the ring once the beam had ceased.

  Alpha hurried over and stared at the spot where the pliers had just been. “It’s possible that they disintegrated, even though I see no evidence of it.”

  Trini took a moment to consider that depressing possibility. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Zordon said he could feel Billy’s presence still on the beach. He can’t have dis—” She didn’t want to finish her thought. “There has to be a way we can get him back. I mean, we got the milk shakes back at the Youth Center, right? So there’s got to be a way.”

  “Trini and Alpha.” Zordon’s voice suddenly boomed to life. “Have you discovered the secrets of Scorpina’s ring?”

  “We’ve discovered half of it,” Trini said ruefully. “Making things disappear is the easy part. Getting them back is a lot more challenging.”

  “Zordon, how are things going for Zack?” Alpha wanted to know.

  “And are you still able to detect Billy?” Trini added.

  “I can still detect the Blue Ranger at th
e cove,” Zordon told them, “and Zack has been holding his own with Scorpina.”

  “That’s a relief,” said Trini.

  “But,” Zordon added, “I don’t know how much longer the Black Ranger can hold out. He’s been using a special Power Crystal that Billy was working on, but it is only a prototype and is very unstable. I fear the added strength it was giving him has started to dissipate. Look into the viewing globe to see for yourselves.”

  Trini and Alpha gazed at a large, clear globe in the middle of the Command Center. It was about the size of a big-screen TV. Zordon could use the globe to show images from other places on Earth. The team saw Zack’s Mastodon as it battled the supersize Scorpina. The Dinozord had a sparkly multicolored light all around it, showing all the colors of the Power Rangers, but the light wasn’t steady; it was flickering in and out.

  Just then Scorpina lashed out at the Black Ranger with her tail, sending sparks flying. They could hear the air crackle with electricity. The Mastodon managed to avoid most of the strike, but the tip of the tail scraped along its metal hide, leaving a burning trail.

  “I need to teleport over there,” Trini said. “Two Zords are better than one.”

  “Negative,” Zordon told her. “The Black Ranger can hold out for a little longer. You must focus on the ring and finding Billy. Only by forming Megazord will Scorpina be defeated.”

  “Well, what about Kimberly and Jason?” Trini asked, adjusting the rubber band she was using to tie back her hair. “Is Goldar at the mall?”

  By the time Zordon had teleported Kimberly and Jason to the Angel Grove Mall, a crowd had already gathered around a large red-and-white structure that had been erected in the center of the parking lot.

  “That looks like a stage,” Kimberly said, squinting as she peered across the sea of cars. “Maybe Goldar is switching careers to something in entertainment.”