“Trust me, you’re not a superhero, bro,” Zack said.
Trini gave Jason some serious side-eye. “Why are you talking to us like you’re the boss?”
Kimberly had a different question. “Wait, hold up. Can any of this Rita stuff be real? Can any of it be true?”
“I don’t know,” Jason replied. “But I know the answer to what’s wrong with us, and what’s happening to us, is here.”
“What are you saying?” Now Kimberly was giving him side-eye, too.
“I think we gotta come back,” Jason said. “I can’t make you come back here. But, four o’clock tomorrow, I’ll be here.”
That was all he had to say. He headed back toward the shimmery water–ceilinged cave.
Rita found her way to a group of people standing around a fire in a barrel. No one would look for her here. She set her prizes on top of another barrel: a wedding band, a bracelet, and three gold teeth. Then a gold coin that looked much like a Power Ranger’s Power coin. One of the men came up to her. “What are you doing?”
“I need gold. I need to build my beautiful Goldar, dig up the Zeo Crystal, and rule the universe,” Rita said.
The man smiled. “Me too!” he said. Rita did not know if he was serious, and did not care. She was entirely focused on the row of gold front teeth exposed by his smile.
She smiled back.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Zack wasn’t sure about any of this, but he rolled with it. Moving right along. He had things to do. He got all of his mother’s pills along with her morning glass of juice and carried a tray into her bedroom. She didn’t look great, but she was sick enough that every day, Zack was just glad when she woke up. “You came in so late last night,” she said.
Sometimes Zack got frustrated that she would only speak to him in Mandarin at home, but now that she was so sick it didn’t bother him anymore. Plus, it kept him in practice.
“Relax, Mom,” Zack said. “Just sit up a little bit, okay?” He set the tray on her lap.
“I was happy just to know you’d come home. You’re going to school, right? Sometimes?” Zack kissed her on the forehead and headed out of the room. “Zack?! You didn’t answer me,” she called after him.
“Make sure you take your pills,” he replied.
Trini’s twin brothers were talking about their basketball game when she came into the kitchen. They got quiet when she came in. “Where were you yesterday?” her mother asked. “Were you with friends? Do you have any friends?”
“This is the problem,” her dad said. “You ask her four questions before she’s answered the first.”
“Well, she’s like a ghost around here. She needs to start communicating. Say something. Anything! Speak!” It was quiet for a minute after that.
Then her dad said, “Trini, let’s start over. Good morning. Please tell me one thing you did yesterday.”
Trini looked up from her phone. “Me and four kids from Angel Grove found a spaceship buried underground.”
“What?” Her mother sounded equal parts angry and surprised.
Trini nodded, playing it cool. “I’m pretty sure I’m a superhero.”
Her mother stormed out of the kitchen. The twins just stared at her. “Cool,” they said together.
“Eat your pancakes,” their father said to them.
Trini’s mother came back with a plastic cup. “Pee in that cup!” she demanded.
You wanted the truth, Trini thought. Well, you got it.
Almost late to school, Jason headed out the door in a big rush . . . and stopped dead when he saw his busted-up truck in the driveway. He walked up to it and ran his fingers over the dented metal of the cab. He looked up and saw his father there. “This to remind me of my screwup?”
“No. The junkyard only offered me three hundred bucks for it.” His dad looked away. “I figured I’d leave it up to you to decide if you wanted to fix it.” He looked back at Jason and smiled. Jason smiled back. Maybe things were going to be okay between them.
A police cruiser pulled up to the end of the driveway, and Sam walked down to meet Captain Bowen. Jason heard part of the conversation. They spoke about one of his dad’s deckhands. The news wasn’t good. If I’d been there, Jason thought, I would have defended them. I would have helped.
At four o’clock, they were all there outside the mine entrance. Together, they went back inside the spaceship and met Zordon in the control room. “You need to follow the three rules to being a Power Ranger. You must never use your powers for personal gain,” Zordon said. “You must never escalate a fight unless your enemy forces you to. And you must never reveal your identity. Ever.”
The kids exchanged looks. This Zordon guy was serious.
“To assume your Ranger identity, you must morph,” he went on. “You all have morphed before, haven’t you?”
None of them were sure what he meant.
“Step into the footprints, please,” Alpha 5 said. “Let’s try this.”
One by one, they did. When they were all in place, Zordon said, “Standing in this circle, as a team, you can easily connect to the Morphin Grid. Do you feel it?”
They looked at each other. Zack spoke for all of them when he said, “Nope. Not feeling it.”
Zordon ignored his sarcasm. “You need to morph to get your armor. Clear your minds.”
“Yes! We get armor!” Billy shouted. “I knew it!”
Zack agreed. “So cool! When do you give us the armor?”
“I don’t,” Zordon said. “It’s already inside of you. You bring it out by connecting to each other and connecting to the Morphin Grid.”
For the first time, Zordon smiled. “Clear your minds. Focus.”
All five of them stood silently.
“The Power Rangers are a legion of warriors sworn to protect life,” Zordon added. “You must become those warriors.”
The lights in the Morphin Grid surrounding the sphere got brighter . . . but after an awkward silence, they were all still just standing there.
“Alpha 5, why didn’t they morph?” Zordon asked.
“I don’t know.” Alpha 5 ran around looking at the grid. “Disturbing. This may take some time. Zordon, if they can’t morph, what are we supposed to do?” Alpha 5 added.
Zordon thought this over for a moment. “They’ll have to train without armor. They need to prepare.”
“Without armor?” Alpha 5 looked to Zordon. “Sir, that will be very painful.”
“Take them to the Pit,” Zordon commanded.
“Oh, brother,” Alpha 5 replied, then, to the others, “All right, follow me. We’re going down to the Pit!”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The Pit? Jason didn’t like the sound of that. But they’d come too far to back out now. Alpha 5 led them into the big open space under the ship. “This is the Pit! Nice, right?”
Zordon’s voice echoed around them. “I invite you all to stand in the Pit, please. Alpha 5, begin the exercise.” Zordon sounded irritated.
“All right, good luck!” Alpha 5 stretched out one arm about twenty feet to the underside of the ship. Lights flashed and rippled as three large rock creatures emerged from the cave floor.
Alpha 5 peered at one of the creatures. “This one looks like Norman.” Then he looked to one of the other ones. “But it’s not Norman because this one is Norman. Hey, Norman!”
“These creatures before you are a simulation of Rita’s army,” said Zordon. “They’re called putties. You must get through them to get to her.”
All of the kids dropped into fighting crouches. Not all of them knew how to fight, but they were going to try.
“Relax,” Zack said. “It’s just a hologram. It’s like a video game!”
The creature backhanded Zack across the Pit. He crashed into a heap.
“That’s a strong hologram,”
said Billy.
Zack nodded in agreement. “Not a video game.”
“This is why you must morph into your armor,” Zordon added. “If Rita becomes strong enough to build them, it could be the beginning of the end. Rangers, welcome to training.”
More of them appeared. Jason couldn’t tell how many, but suddenly they were everywhere. Jason went after them, trying to help his teammates who weren’t good fighters. Billy went down. Then Kimberly. Jason was holding his own against a pair of the creatures, but another one hit him from behind and his legs went out from under him.
Trini was a revelation, the last one standing and completely calm as she punched and spun and kicked. Jason’s head started to clear. She inspired him to get back in the fight . . . but right as he got up, all of the creatures disappeared. Alpha 5 had stopped the exercise.
“Rita uses anything in her environment to make creatures to fight for her,” Alpha 5 explained.
“She can make these things whenever she wants?” Trini asked. “How do you expect us to stop her?”
“Like all of you, she has a coin,” Zordon said. “She’s connected to the Morphin Grid and she knows how to gain power from it.”
“If we can catch her before she is at full strength, we have a chance,” Alpha 5 added.
Zordon’s tone grew somber. “But you must morph first. Or you will die.”
“The news just keeps getting better,” Kimberly remarked.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The five would-be Power Rangers were together in the Pit and once again surrounded by putties.
“Aim for the center mass!” Alpha 5 called out. “Slip the punch! Find their weak side!”
Zack went for the closest putty, but was easily knocked back.
“You need to learn the element of surprise!” Alpha 5 added.
The Rangers struggled to work as a team, each one fighting as an individual—and failing.
“Your team’s journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step,” Zordon called out. “Together. You have to connect to each other. You must shed your masks to wear this armor. Alpha 5, restart the exercise—”
“Wait!” Jason said. “Just wait.” He turned from Alpha 5 to the rest of the kids. “Let’s figure out a way to fight together. I know martial arts, and, Trini? You kicked butt last time.”
“When you’re the new girl, you need to know how to fight,” she said.
Jason nodded. “You heard what Zordon said . . . let’s teach each other what we know.”
And they did. By the end of their third day together, they were doing better. The putties were still winning, but it was more of a fight. The next day, Alpha 5 started fooling around with someone’s phone. “I’ve made an amazing discovery!” he said with delight. “Music!” After that, they trained to a sound track. Everything from classical to hip-hop.
By the end of the fourth day, they were making progress. Even Jason and Zack seemed to have pulled together. In detention that next Saturday, Kimberly, Jason, and Billy didn’t sit together, but they could feel a connection. On Sunday, Kimberly and Trini went to a coffee shop. They were starting to be friends, and it was good to get away from the boys. Zordon was worried that none of them had morphed yet. Kimberly was worried about the news from around town. Fires, weird crimes . . .
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Billy spent a lot of time with a notebook, staring at the weird images in the Morphin Grid and writing things down, determined to learn the location of the Crystal.
“Hey, Billy,” Alpha 5 called to him. “I know we’re trying to find the Crystal and everything . . . but . . . uh, the other guys like me, right?” Billy just looked at him, not sure how to respond. “You think Zordon likes me?” he added.
Billy still didn’t say anything.
“Do you think I’m smart?” Alpha 5 asked. “Billy . . . you listening?”
As a group, they still hadn’t morphed. They were getting better at fighting, at least.
“Think only of each other,” Zordon instructed, “and the Morphin Grid will open to you.” The Rangers looked at each other, not sure what to do.
“If Rita manages to create Goldar and he rips the Crystal from the ground,” Alpha 5 said, “it’ll be like ten thousand nuclear bombs washing over Earth.”
“You bring this up now?” Zack said. “Is this supposed to freak us out?”
“It’s working,” Billy said.
“You keep making this harder,” Jason said. “We’re busting our butts. Feel free to throw us a bone at some point.”
“Yes, yes,” Alpha 5 said. “I see you busting your butts. So I’ve decided to give you some inspiration.” He led them to a rock wall on their way down to the Pit. When they reached it, he gestured toward the top. “What you will find beyond this wall will forever change your lives.”
They scaled the wall, and as the kids got a look at what lay to the other side, Alpha 5 added, “The Zords! Pretty cool, right?”
In the cave beyond the wall stood five huge animal-like machines, keyed to the colors of each Ranger’s coin. A red Tyrannosaurus rex, a blue triceratops, a pink pterodactyl, a black mastodon, a yellow saber-toothed tiger. Like it was Christmas morning, the kids ran among the huge machines, each finding the one that matched their coin. Who needs armor, Jason thought, when you can jump into a sixty-foot mechanical T. rex with some kind of laser guns instead of arms? Wow.
“Zords take on the forms of the most powerful organisms on the planet,” Alpha 5 called out, his voice echoing in the huge space. “When these Zords formed, dinosaurs reigned supreme. They will be an extension of you, and their power will be all but limitless! But you’re not ready yet for this power! Let’s go train. Today’s the day, Rangers. I feel it!”
They were inspired to hit the Pit after seeing the Zords. But when they got there . . .
“Where’s Zack?” Alpha 5 asked.
No way was Zack going to see something like his freaking awesome huge black eight-legged mastodon Zord and not take it for a spin. Training, schmaining. He was Zording! Only problem was, he hadn’t really figured out how to do it. The minute he got into the cockpit, up in the mastodon’s head, it went charging off—through the side of the mountain. Blasting through into daylight, it raced out across the open ground. “Aaaaahhhhh!” Zack was yelling. He tried to get it under control—and did, just before it almost broadsided a church van zooming down the highway. Inside the van, Zack saw the faces of astonished nuns. He waved. He was finally getting a handle on how to drive his Zord!
But he realized he’d better get out of there. People would notice. He turned it around and rumbled back toward the hole he’d made in the mountain.
By the time he got there, he was hotdogging a little, and when he tried to slow down, he wiped out. The Zord plowed into the ground, showering the rest of the Rangers with rocks. He popped the cockpit canopy and jumped out. “My bad! That’s on me, right there.”
Just as his feet touched the ground, Trini was on him. “What’s your problem?” she shouted, poking him in the chest. Then Jason had him by the arm.
“You could have killed yourself!” Jason snapped. “Or us!”
Zack shoved him away. “Back off, boss man!”
Jason stepped back up to him—and the fight was on. They grappled to the ground, both landing punches. Trini tried to wedge herself between them as Kimberly tried to pull everyone apart. Only Billy hung back. He was trying to work himself up to join, but he didn’t know what to do . . .
Finally, he jumped right into the middle of all four of them. “Stop!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. “You’ll kill each other!”
“That’s enough!” Zordon bellowed. “When will you learn to act like Rangers? Training is over for today. Go home. All of you.”
No, Jason thought. That’s not how this goes. He cut through the circle and followed Alpha 5 into
the ship.
CHAPTER TWENTY
He could hear Zordon ranting before he got to the control room. “Jason’s team is failing. I will destroy Rita myself. There must be a way to free me from this wall!”
Alpha 5 stayed patient. “Yes, but the irony is you need these Rangers to morph! If they morph, you can harness that energy to regenerate your body and come back through!”
“There has to be another way,” Zordon growled. “I can’t—”
Jason had heard enough. He stepped into the control room. “You can’t what?” he asked defiantly. “Wait for us dumb kids to morph so that you can come back?” He waited for them to deny it. “That’s what all this has been about, right? You coming back?”
“This has only ever been about protecting the Crystal!” Zordon boomed. “Rita could be building Goldar as we speak!”
“Don’t underestimate me or my team,” said Jason.
“You can’t stop him,” Zordon added. “She will have him dig up the Crystal, and life on Earth will die.”
“And we need you because you were so successful at stopping her last time?” Jason shot back.
“I died burying those coins in the hopes that they would find the next real Rangers!” Zordon raged. “Those who are worthy!”
“Sorry to disappoint you! And I don’t need to stand here and have you tell me what I did wrong. I can go home and get that.”
“Jason, you need me out of this wall. To help lead this team!”
“Your team is dead,” Jason said. “And you’re just as scared as we are.”
Then he left to catch up with the rest of the Rangers.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Power Rangers - The Official Movie Novelization Page 5
