The Venomous Eclipse Read online

  The Red Ranger shook his head and gave a rueful chuckle. “Come on,” he said, starting to jog toward the crowd. “Keep your eyes open for trouble.”

  As the Rangers got closer, it became obvious that the large group of people really were standing in front of a temporary stage. No one was performing yet, but there were workers on the raised platform doing sound checks.

  “I don’t see Goldar anywhere,” Jason remarked after scanning the crowd. “What is going on?”

  “Look.” Kimberly pointed. “There’s the Archer twins. They’ll know what’s happening.” She raised her voice and called, “Lexi! August!”

  Two teenagers looked around to see who was trying to get their attention. “Hey, it’s Kimberly and Jason,” Lexi said, pushing her wavy blond hair out of her bright blue eyes. “Hi!”

  Her twin, August, whose eyes were the same color blue, but who wore his sandy brown hair cut short, smiled and gave a friendly wave. “What’s up?” he called. “Are you Goldstar fans, too?”

  “Goldar’s here?” Jason asked, checking the crowd again, his muscles tensed for a fight. But everyone seemed calm and reasonably happy. “Where?”

  “They haven’t started yet,” August told him.

  “Wait. What?” Kimberly was confused. “Did you just say Goldar or Goldstar?”

  “Goldstar,” Lexi said with a laugh. “You know, the band.”

  “They are performing here,” August added. “You’re lucky you got here in time because they’re going to start any minute.”

  Lexi cocked her head to one side. “Did you know that? Or are we giving you the news?”

  “It’s news to us,” Jason said, smiling with relief.

  “We had no idea,” Kimberly admitted.

  “That’s okay. You can hang with us,” August told them. “We love this band; it’s going to be great.”

  “Oh, um . . .” Kimberly stammered. “We need to do some shopping. It’s kind of an emergency birthday present situation. But we’ll try to catch up with you later.”

  “Okay,” Lexi said. “We’ll be here. We’re not missing Goldstar for anything.”

  “Come on, Kimberly,” Jason said with a tug on her sleeve. “We’ve got to go.”

  “See you later,” August said with another wave.

  Just then, a woman up onstage approached one of the microphones. “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Goldstar!” A group of men and women clad in elaborate, sparkly gold costumes rushed onto the stage and started playing their first song.

  “We need to call in to the Command Center,” Jason said, “but I think it’s too loud.”

  Kimberly shook her head and pointed at her ear. “I can’t hear you; it’s too loud.”

  “Let’s get to the car,” Jason said, gesturing in the general direction of where they had parked.

  “You can tell me in the car,” Kimberly shouted back. “Once we’re away from Goldstar.”

  Back at the Command Center, Trini was pondering the ring. “I just thought of something,” she said. “You know at the Youth Center with the milk shakes? Right before they reappeared, I had the ring,” she told Alpha and Zordon. “I twisted the top of the ring back to the way it had been. And then Bulk and Skull got drenched with the shakes. At the time, everything was happening so quickly that I didn’t know what was going on, but now I’m thinking differently. I had to have done something to make the shakes reappear.”

  “But we’ve tried turning the ring the other way,” Alpha pointed out. “The stone turns back to yellow, but it doesn’t do anything else.”

  “I know.” Trini nodded her head. “But we’ve only tried it in a controlled environment; I wasn’t holding the ring. You know, really gripping it.” When Alpha 5 cocked his big metal head to one side, she added, “I mean, maybe by squeezing it, I somehow activated it, or pressed something, or . . . I don’t know . . .”

  “Maybe it was the heat from your hand,” Alpha 5 suggested.

  “Maybe.” Trini thought it over. “But I wasn’t holding it for that long.”

  “Let’s try to reenact the scene at the Youth Center,” Alpha said. “We keep making things disappear in a controlled environment, but maybe we need to get a little more hands-on.”

  The Yellow Ranger shrugged. “It’s not the scientific way, but I’m up for anything at this point.”

  “Alpha began clearing equipment off of a table. “We’ve got to get this ring thing figured out.”

  “You know what?” Trini said, scratching her head. “I really didn’t think about it earlier, but Scorpina called it an Eclipse Ring. At least that’s what I think she called it.”

  “Aye-yi-yi,” the robot said, putting both hands on his metal head. “An Eclipse Ring makes sense.”

  Trini’s eyebrows rose high on her forehead. “How does that make sense?”

  Alpha thought about it for a moment. “With an eclipse, it seems like something has disappeared, but it’s really still there.”

  “That’s true.” Trini nodded. “It’s an optical illusion.”

  “So if it’s an Eclipse Ring, then Billy must somehow be concealed, but he’s still really there,” Zordon said excitedly. “Trini, try to remember how you were holding the ring when the milk shakes dumped on Bulk and Skull.”

  The Yellow Ranger walked over and tentatively picked up the ring, careful to keep it pointed away from Alpha and Zordon. “Okay, let’s see,” she said, thinking hard, trying to remember. “The stone was black, like it is now. And I was trying to keep it away from Bulk and Skull, so I was holding it like this.” Trini demonstrated, gripping the ring between her thumb and forefinger. “And I had my hand kind of wrapped around it like this.” She made a fist, with only the ring’s stone peeking out the one end. “I was tapping at the stone, trying to figure out why it changed color. And then I twisted the top. But I was also squeezing the ring pretty firmly; I remember that.” She closed her eyes and just felt the ring in her hand for a moment. When she opened her eyes again, she looked under her thumb at the ring’s design. “I think there’s a little button here,” she said.

  Alpha hurried over. “A hidden button has got to do something,” he noted. “Otherwise, why have one?”

  “Try the ring. We don’t have a moment to lose,” Zordon said. “Zack cannot hold out for much longer, and I haven’t heard from Jason and Kimberly about Goldar.”

  “Okay, stand back,” Trini said. “Here goes nothing.” With that, the Yellow Ranger gripped the ring firmly, allowing her thumb to press the button, and then gave the top a twist. A smoke-colored beam shot out of the ring, illuminating a silhouette of the pliers. And then suddenly they were back, along with a fuse and a burnt-out lightbulb, which were the other things they had made disappear in earlier tests.

  “It’s working!” shouted Trini, doing her best not to hop up and down because she was still holding the ring.

  “Hooray!” Alpha 5 said. “Now we can get Billy back.”

  “We can get Billy back?” Jason asked as he and Kimberly rushed into the room.

  “Yes,” Trini told them. “We’ve discovered the secrets of the ring.”

  “Jason, Kimberly, what do you have to report about Goldar making an appearance at the Angel Grove Mall?” Zordon asked, his voice filled with urgency.

  “It wasn’t Goldar at the mall,” Kimberly explained. “It was Goldstar. They’re a band, and they were doing a free show. You must have somehow picked up something about them.”

  “That’s a relief,” said Alpha 5.

  “And now we can use the ring to bring Billy back,” Kimberly said with a broad smile.

  Trini frowned while studying the ring. “We really should run a few more tests first.”

  “No time,” Zordon’s voice boomed. “The Black Ranger needs your help now. Examine the viewing globe.”

  They rushed over to see an image
of the Mastodon’s cockpit. The multicolored light had faded to almost nothing, and the crystal the Black Ranger had been using to give his Dinozord some extra juice was starting to smoke. The image flickered, and then the viewing globe went dark.

  “Zack,” Kimberly said into her communicator. “Come in. We’ve figured out the ring and we’re coming to help you. Over.”

  There was no response.

  “Black Ranger? This is Pink Ranger. We’ve discovered the secrets of the ring and we’re on our way to the cove to help you out and get Billy back. Over.”

  More dead air.

  Kimberly turned to Zordon. “What’s going on? Is he all right?”

  “I am unsure,” Zordon admitted, sounding concerned. “I cannot get a read on the Black Ranger.”

  “We have to get over there now,” Jason said. “Everyone, are you ready to morph?”

  “You bet we are,” Trini told him.

  Jason held his Power Morpher up to the sky and shouted, “Tyrannosaurus!” A moment later he was in his Red Ranger suit.

  Kimberly did the same, shouting, “Pterodactyl!” She instantly became the embodiment of the Pink Ranger.

  Trini also lifted her Power Morpher. “Sabertooth Tiger!” She instantly morphed into her yellow-clad alter ego.

  Seconds later, there were three colored streaks racing across the sky headed for Angel Grove Cove.

  Zack was not having a good time in the cockpit of his Mastodon. The crystal was no longer giving off a multicolored glow. In fact, it was actually starting to smoke, and the air in the cockpit was becoming thick and making him cough.

  “Think I’d better bail on this technology,” the Black Ranger said, yanking out the crystal, which instantly crumbled into a million charred pieces. “The last thing I need is a fire.”

  Now it was just him and his Mastodon battling Scorpina. The Black Ranger hoped he’d survive long enough for his friends to arrive. But it’d been quite a while, and he hadn’t heard from any of them. That wasn’t typical for the team. Zack hoped nothing had gone wrong at the Command Center.

  Scorpina could sense something was different. She eyed the Dinozord with suspicion. The shimmering glow that had surrounded the Mastodon had disappeared, and the creature appeared to be getting weaker. Scorpina knew that it was time to strike. She coiled back her deadly tail like a whip right before it cracks.

  “This is going to be so sweet,” Scorpina crowed as she closed in on the Black Ranger. “If you’d only given me my ring back, I would have made this quick. But you refused to cooperate, and now you’re going to suffer. And so will your entire planet, since your cowardly friends ran away.”

  The Black Ranger knew this was probably the end of the line, but he was determined to go down fighting. “Bring it, Scorpina!” he shouted. “Give me everything you’ve got!”

  The scorpion creature lashed out with her tail. Without the enhanced agility from the Sabertooth Tiger, Zack’s Mastodon couldn’t dodge the strike. Wrapping the Mastodon in her tail, Scorpina let loose jolt after jolt of electricity. Zack’s Dinozord began to violently shake.

  “I think it’s time for me to bail out,” the Black Ranger said. He hated to abandon his Mastodon, but knew it was better for the world if he lived, so he could keep on fighting.

  Leaping from the cockpit of his Dinozord, Zack plunged to the ground and did a rollout across the sand. By the time he sprang to his feet, the rest of the Power Rangers were standing in front of him.

  “Hey, Zack. Good to see you,” Jason said with some relief, slapping him on the shoulder.

  “Nice of you to show up,” the Black Ranger replied. Turning to the Pink and Yellow Rangers, he said, “Did you figure anything out? Can we get back Billy?”

  “Yes,” Trini told him. “At least we think so.” She pulled the Eclipse Ring off her finger. “Look here,” she said, pointing out the well-concealed button. “If you reset the stone from black to yellow without pressing the button, then nothing happens; you can only make more stuff disappear. But if the stone is black and you twist it back to yellow while pushing this button, then you can make things reappear.”

  “Okay, got it. But where is Billy now?” Zack wanted to know.

  “No idea,” Trini told him. “But why don’t you point this wherever you had it pointed when he disappeared and see if you can bring him back?”

  “Rangers, you must hurry,” Zordon’s voice instructed from their communicators, “before Scorpina has a chance to gather her strength.”

  In her fury, Scorpina was still electrocuting the empty Mastodon. Finally, she let the Dinozord go, and it slowly tilted to one side and then crashed to the ground. Zack couldn’t help but flinch. It felt like he’d lost a friend.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Jason told him. “Just get Billy back.”

  “What are you going to do?” asked Zack.

  “Call up our Dinozords and cause a distraction,” was the Red Ranger’s reply.

  “Got it.” Zack started sprinting across the beach, clutching the ring.

  “Tyrannosaurus Dinozord power!” the Red Ranger shouted, calling up his Dinozord from the molten lava of the earth’s core.

  “Pterodactyl Dinozord power!” Kimberly cried, summoning her Dinozord from an ancient volcano.

  “Sabertooth Tiger Dinozord power!” Trini yelled, bringing her Dinozord from the primordial jungle.

  Zack tried to orient himself exactly like he was when Billy had disappeared. It was difficult to remember, and there weren’t a lot of landmarks on the beach. Plus, they’d been in the middle of fighting a bunch of Putties, so that had been absorbing most of his attention.

  Adjusting the Eclipse Ring on his finger, Zack pointed it in the general direction where he thought Billy might have been when he vanished. “Here goes nothing,” he said to himself before pressing the secret button and giving the top of the ring a twist. A dark beam came shooting out of the ring, outlining several human-size figures. “Yes!” the Black Ranger said, convinced one of them had to be the Blue Ranger.

  Half a dozen Putties took shape and then tumbled to the ground. “Okay, that’s cool,” Zack mumbled to himself, suppressing his disappointment when his friend didn’t appear. “But Billy was leaping into his Dinozord when he disappeared, so I guess I have to aim a little higher.”

  Raising the ring while still pressing the button, he swept the air with the beam. A silhouette appeared, frozen in place as it was leaping into the sky. “That’s gotta be him!” Zack said, holding his arm steady.

  A few seconds later, the Blue Ranger tumbled to the ground. “Billy!” Zack shouted, rushing over to him. “You’re back!”

  “Am I?” The Blue Ranger was feeling a little dazed. Cradling his head with his hands, he said, “That was not fun.”

  “Where were you?” Zack wanted to know, helping his friend to his feet. “Wait! Look out!” he said, dragging Billy out of the way of Scorpina’s tail as she tangled with Jason’s Tyrannosaurus.

  “I’ll have to tell you later,” Billy said. “Right now I think we need to dino up.”

  “Um . . . yeah,” Zack stammered. “I think my Mastodon might be out of commission.”

  “Really?” Billy was surprised; the Dinozords could handle a lot of damage. “Why’s that?”

  “Well, I used that crazy multicolored crystal thingy you were working on in the garage to give my Mastodon extra abilities so I could distract Scorpina while the others were trying to figure out how to bring you back. But then the crystal started to smoke, and my Dinozord got sluggish. I had to bail out.”

  Billy nodded, trying to take it all in and process everything as quickly as possible. “It probably just overheated. Our Dinozords weren’t meant to handle that much power. Hopefully just letting your Mastodon cool off will solve the problem.”

  “I hope so,” Zack said. “We couldn’t form the Megazord
without you. And now that you’re back, we can’t form it without me.”

  Billy gave him a rueful smile. “That’s the double-edged sword of being on a team, I guess. But I bet we can find a way to work together to take this galactic arachnid down.” When Zack gave him a confused look, Billy added, “Scorpions are part of the same family as spiders.”

  “Oh.” Zack gave a nod. “That would explain why this one is so ugly.”

  “Time to call on a little dino-help,” Billy said as he saw Kimberly fly past Scorpina, treating her to a laser blast. “Triceratops Dinozord power!” he shouted, and his faithful Triceratops appeared as if charging across the desert.

  “I guess it doesn’t hurt to try,” Zack said. Then, raising his voice, he called, “Mastodon Dinozord power!” Much to the Black Ranger’s surprise and relief, his Dinozord began struggling to its feet.

  “All right!” the Blue Ranger cheered. “Now let’s see about taking down this eight-legged freak!” With that, he launched into the air, accessing his Triceratops.

  “Right behind you,” Zack told him. “But first . . .” The Black Ranger started waving his arms, trying to get the scorpion monster’s attention. “Scorpina! Hey, Scorpina!” he yelled. When she finally turned her head to look in his direction, Zack added, “Do you want your ring back?”

  Scorpina took a step in the Black Ranger’s direction, obviously eager to get back her possession. Zack cocked his arm. “Well then, go get it!” he shouted, throwing the ring as far as he could into the ocean, where it was immediately engulfed by the waves.

  “Nooooo!” Scorpina shrieked at such an earsplitting volume that all the windows on Angel Grove buildings facing the beach rattled.

  The Black Ranger didn’t pause to savor the moment. He was already sprinting for his Mastodon, and moments later he was launching into the air to access its controls. Much to Zack’s relief, he found his Dinozord was in good working condition. Billy had been right about it just needing time to cool down.

  “Who’s ready for Megazord?” the Red Ranger asked, now that all of the Power Rangers were in control of their Dinozords and had communication access.