“Your turn,” he said to Kimberly. “Do it fast before the other one gets out.”
“Got it,” she said. Zack shoved open the door, and she flung in the Wormazam. It hit the back wall over the sink with a splat. Zack slammed the door again. They both heard the Wormazams mashing themselves against the door.
“Think they can turn the knob?” Zack wondered.
“I don’t know. They don’t seem too smart,” Kimberly said. “Plus they’re probably too slimy to make it turn.”
“Still, we should make sure,” Zack said. “I’ll stay here and guard them. You go help Tommy. And we all need to think up some way to get rid of the big one.”
“Okay,” Kimberly said. She ran back toward the science lab. Over her shoulder she said, “Make sure you let us know if they get out again.”
“I will,” he said. “Go!”
Chapter 14
Zedd appeared in the canyon near the Red Ranger’s Thunderzord and the fallen Goldar. “Goldar, get up!” he screamed.
The Thunderzord turned its head. “Yes, Red Ranger,” Lord Zedd said, raising one clawed hand. “Lord Zedd is here to destroy you!”
He surrounded himself with a brilliant flare of light and grew until he was the same size as the Thunderzord.
“Your Thunderzord is no match for my powers!” Lord Zedd pointed his staff at the Thunderzord, and a blaze of energy burst out, blasting the Thunderzord and pushing it against the canyon wall. More rocks tumbled down from it.
Inside the Thunderzord, Jason was briefly stunned by the blast . . . and by the appearance of Lord Zedd. Unlike Rita Repulsa, Zedd never fought his own battles. This was something new, a challenge unlike any the Power Rangers had faced before. But that was all right. As long as they stuck together, they could handle anything.
He got the Thunderzord under control again, and turned it to face Lord Zedd. “You’re seeing this, right, Zordon?”
Zordon’s voice was grave. “Yes, Red Ranger. Zedd is a deadly opponent. Beware of his staff. It has a number of different powers.”
The Thunderzord, still in Warrior Mode, picked up a boulder and threw it at Lord Zedd, who blasted it to gravel with his staff.
“The other Power Rangers are battling the monster Zedd created in the school,” Zordon went on. “You must hold out against Zedd until help arrives.”
“Goldar!” Lord Zedd screamed again. “Get on your feet!”
Goldar stirred and started to get to his feet. A falling rock bounced off his shoulder.
“Oh, Lord Zedd,” he said. “Now that you are here, the Power Rangers won’t stand a chance!”
Lord Zedd pointed his staff at the Red Ranger. “Don’t just stand there. Attack!”
More boulders slid down from the canyon rim. Goldar ducked, and they crashed around him, but Jason knew they wouldn’t stop him for long. “Now I’ve got Goldar to deal with, too,” Jason said. “Power Rangers! Where are you?”
Zack was first to answer. “I’m guarding two of the little Wormazams.”
“Billy and I are on our way to help you,” Trini called.
Tommy and Kimberly didn’t answer.
“Wormazams?” Jason echoed.
“That’s the monster Lord Zedd created,” Zack said. “It calls itself Wormazam. And it split up into a bunch of little monsters. We just stuck some of them in a closet. I’ll be there as soon as we make sure they can’t get out.”
“Stay and guard them if you have to,” Jason said. “I can handle this.”
Goldar crashed into him from the side, but Jason’s Thunderzord shoved him away. “Afraid to face me on your own, Lord Zedd?” he challenged.
“You flatter yourself, Power Ranger,” Lord Zedd said, laughing. “Lord Zedd fears nothing!”
He raised his staff again, in both hands this time. Energy began to crackle around its Z-shaped head. At that moment, Billy and Trini appeared in their Blue and Yellow Ranger suits. They both charged toward Lord Zedd. Trini landed a karate chop on his elbow, and the energy around the head of the staff fizzled out. Billy was right behind her, whirling through the air to land a kick on his other shoulder. The surprise attack caught Lord Zedd off guard, but he gathered himself and swatted them both to the ground with his staff.
“Goldar!” he barked. “Destroy these Rangers, and leave the Red Ranger to me. The rest will be easy once he is defeated.”
So that’s his plan, Jason thought. That’s why he finally decided to come down to Earth himself and take us on directly. He thinks that if he can bring down the Red Ranger, the rest of the Power Rangers will fall apart.
That didn’t worry Jason. He believed in himself, and he wasn’t afraid to face Lord Zedd. But he also knew that the Power Rangers were a team. The Red Ranger might be the leader, but every member of the team was just as important. Lord Zedd, who ruled through fear, would never understand that.
Teamwork was the Power Rangers’ biggest strength. That was what let them create the Power Blaster. That was what let them create the Thunder Megazord. When the chips were down, the Power Rangers banded together.
Goldar leaped across the canyon floor and landed with an earthshaking boom near the Yellow and Blue Rangers, putting himself between them and Lord Zedd. He towered over them, brandishing his sword, but they faced him, unafraid. Jason heard the Yellow Ranger’s voice.
“We’ll lead Goldar away,” she said. “Can you handle Lord Zedd?”
We’ll find out, Jason thought. But he couldn’t let the rest of the Power Rangers hear his uncertainty. “I‘ve got this,” he said. “You guys get up the canyon.”
Together, the Blue and Yellow Rangers flashed into a quick teleport up to the head of the canyon. Goldar stomped after them, raising his sword to attack. Jason took his chance. The Red Dragon Thunderzord scooped up another huge boulder and threw it at Goldar. The boulder struck Goldar square in the back and knocked him flat on his face. Then the impact caused another landslide that buried him under tons of stone.
“Yeah, Red Ranger!” the Blue Ranger said. “We’ll call our Thunderzords and join you!”
“We’ll all need to face Lord Zedd together,” Jason said. “But we can’t have monsters loose in the school. That’s your first objective.”
“Prepare to face Lord Zedd, Red Ranger . . . and prepare to face your ultimate doom!” Lord Zedd’s voice boomed through the canyon.
Jason knew he had to take a stand against Lord Zedd before Goldar dug himself out of the landslide. In Warrior Mode, the Tyrannosaurus Red Dragon Thunderzord spun to face him again. It raised its staff in a challenge. Lord Zedd raised his own staff in defiance, and the battle was on.
Chapter 15
Bulk and Skull knew the Power Rangers were in the school somewhere. That was a lot more interesting than the science fair. Skull had the idea that if they could get a picture of the monsters, they could probably sell it for a lot of money. Also, if they were lucky, they would find out who the Power Rangers really were.
“I think they went back this way,” Skull said, pointing up the hallway away from the gym.
Ahead of them, they heard a bang like something had just hit one of the classroom doors from the inside.
“That’s the spot,” Bulk said.
They got to the door. It was a science lab. Bulk and Skull had both taken a class in there. They didn’t remember much about it, though. School wasn’t something they paid a lot of attention to.
“Let’s check it out,” Skull said. He opened the door.
One of the monsters came flying out and knocked Bulk over. A split second later, another one followed it, knocking Bulk over again. Skull stood amazed . . . and then he was scared, as the monsters turned and slapped their tentacle-like arms against a bank of lockers. They were looking right at him.
They started to get closer. Bulk was trying to get to his feet, but he had so much slime all ove
r him, he kept slipping. Skull grabbed his shirt and tried to pull him up. They both slipped again and hit the floor. “Oh man, this is it,” Skull moaned. The two monsters were almost close enough to get them . . .
The Green Power Ranger came flying through the doorway and smashed into one of the monsters. It hit the lockers with a splat. The other lashed out its arms and grabbed his legs. He jackknifed and pounded away at it, kicking free. The first monster jumped on his back. He grabbed it with both hands and brought it down with another slimy splat on the floor.
Bulk and Skull had gotten to their feet. That was too much. They ran.
Chapter 16
The Black Ranger was fidgeting outside the janitorial closet, anxious to join the real fight. The little Wormazams couldn’t get out of the closet; that was clear. If they could have, they would have already. Static flared out of his wrist-communicator, but he couldn’t tell who was trying to get through. He raised his wrist, trying to hear. Then Bulk and Skull came skidding around the corner from the direction of the science classroom. They goggled at the Black Ranger.
“Another Power Ranger!” Bulk said.
A moment later, the Green Ranger, knotted in the arms of both little Wormazams from the science lab, came thrashing down the hall and barreled into the wall. Bulk and Skull started running again. The little Wormazams had the Green Ranger down. The Black Ranger ran to help. They let the Green Ranger go and attacked the Black Ranger instead, slapping at him with their powerful arms. Each blow was like getting pounded with a big rubber hose. By themselves they didn’t hurt that much, but taken all together, they added up to quite a beating. The Black Ranger hung on and fought back against the Wormazams when he could.
The Green Ranger knocked one of the little Wormazams off the Black Ranger and kicked it away against the lockers on the other side of the hall.
The other one kept beating on the Black Ranger, but by itself it couldn’t slow him down for long. He got back to his feet and started fighting back. It was like punching a rubber ball, but eventually the mini Wormazam started to wear down . . .
And then the pair of little Wormazams showed they had more surprises in store. They jumped at each other, tangled their limbs together—and merged into a single, larger Wormazam!
The Black Ranger thought of the janitorial closet. “Uh-oh,” he said. “You think the ones in the closet did this, too?”
He and the Green Ranger tried to keep the Wormazam cornered, but now that it was bigger, they had to be more careful.
“I don’t know,” the Green Ranger said. “But if we put them all back together, they sure would be easier to keep track of.”
“Also harder to fight, maybe?” The Black Ranger wasn’t sure it was a good idea. “These things could do a lot of damage to regular people. We have to keep them away from the fair . . . starting with this one.”
They grabbed it and started wrestling it down the hall toward the janitorial closet.
“When does the science fair start?” the Green Ranger asked.
The Black Ranger grunted with the effort of holding on to the Wormazam. “I think it already started.”
They got the Wormazam to the janitorial closet. The Green Ranger shoved the door open and felt it thump against the other creatures inside. The Black Ranger pushed the Wormazam in, and the Green Ranger slammed the door.
“Let’s find Jason,” the Black Ranger said. “Hopefully this holds them for now.”
“One thing we have to check first,” the Green Ranger said. He ran back to the science classroom, the Black Ranger right with him. “That’s what I was afraid of,” the Green Ranger said. “I had to help Bulk and Skull, but when I came out . . .”
They both looked through the classroom door.
Wormazam had escaped.
Chapter 17
Finster was ready. He had made all the final adjustments, and the timing was perfect. Lord Zedd battled the Thunderzord down on Earth. In a moment he would see how useful Finster could be. Certainly Finster could do more to help Zedd than any worm creature. Finster was a genius, after all! Rita Repulsa had recognized his brilliance. He had to make Lord Zedd recognize it, too, or he was going to end up inside a space Dumpster next to Rita Repulsa sooner or later.
All he had to do now was aim the antenna. He worked a lever on his lab table, and outside the Moon Palace, an antenna shifted and pointed across space toward Angel Grove. When Finster had it locked in, he made one last check to see that he had all the settings correct.
He did, of course.
He pushed the button. The device came to life. A beam of orange light shot out from the antenna across thousands of miles of space. It hit the Power Rangers’ Command Center, high in the hills outside Angel Grove.
Finster watched the glowing sphere to see if the device was working. A moment later, he smiled and rubbed his hands together as the wave pattern showed he had found the right frequency.
“Yes,” he said. “I have done it!”
He whirled around to see if Baboo and Squatt were there. They weren’t, but he had a feeling they were watching from somewhere nearby.
“You see?” he called out. “I have done it!”
Then he returned to the machine. Alpha 5 was his to control . . . and it was time to start issuing commands.
Chapter 18
“Okay,” the Pink Ranger said. She had joined up with Trini and Billy, and all three Rangers stood at the head of the canyon. “Maybe we should head back to the school and finish off Wormazam so we can focus on Lord Zedd.”
“If we defeat the big Wormazam, all the little ones will disappear,” the Blue Ranger said.
“Yeah, that’s what Zordon said, right?” The Pink Ranger looked around.
“But if Goldar digs out from under that rockslide, we’re going to need to call our Thunderzords,” the Blue Ranger said.
“I think so, too,” the Yellow Ranger said. “We need to take our chances. Let’s take care of Wormazam before that happens.”
There was a flash of light from up in the sky. For a moment the Power Rangers thought it was one of the monsters or one of Lord Zedd’s minions. The flash of light had looked like his teleportation power.
But no other monster or enemy appeared. In fact, things got quieter. It took them a minute to figure out why. The Pink Ranger pointed. “What’s wrong with Jason’s Thunderzord?”
The Tyrannosaurus Red Dragon Thunderzord sat limp against the canyon wall below them.
“What happened?” the Black Ranger wondered.
“Rangers!” the Green Ranger called from inside the school. “Wormazam is loose in the school! And I can’t get through to Zordon.”
“Jason’s Thunderzord is down,” the Pink Ranger said. “It didn’t get hit; it just . . . went limp.”
“Alpha 5,” the Blue Ranger said. “What’s wrong with the Tyrannosaurus Red Dragon Thunderzord? Why can’t we get through to Zordon?”
“Aye-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi . . . aye . . . yi-yi-yi-yi . . .” Static flared and cut off Alpha 5.
“I’m going to the Command Center,” the Green Ranger said. “Sounds like something’s wrong with Alpha 5. That’s a lot of yis. And since I can’t summon a Thunderzord, anyway . . .”
The Green Ranger’s powers had been low for some time. He could morph and use the Dragon Dagger, but not his Thunderzord. Zordon and Alpha 5 were still trying to discover why. So if he couldn’t help the rest of them regain access to their Thunderzords out here, it made sense for him to see what he could do in the Command Center.
“What about Wormazam?” the Pink Ranger asked.
“I’ll handle Wormazam,” the Black Ranger said.
Below them, Lord Zedd advanced on the fallen Thunderzord. “That’s it,” the Yellow Ranger said. “Sabertooth Tiger Griffin Thunderzord Power!”
Nothing happened.
“Aye-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi . . .” Alp
ha 5’s voice was barely audible through the static from the Command Center. To the Blue Ranger, it sounded like Alpha 5 was stuck in some kind of loop . . . and all of a sudden the interference was only focused on the Command Center . . .
“I have to get to the gym!” the Blue Ranger shouted. The rest of the team looked at him. How could that be more important than the threat of Lord Zedd?
“The flash of light. It was a signal. Alpha 5 has been hacked! That’s why he’s stuck in a loop, saying ‘aye-yi-yi’ over and over again. That’s why we can’t call our Thunderzords and why Jason’s won’t work. My experiment can counter the attack,” the Blue Ranger went on. “That’s what I built it for! I just didn’t know I would need it so soon.”
“Are you sure?” the Yellow Ranger asked. She was ready to take the fight to Lord Zedd right there, Thunderzords or no Thunderzords. The odds would be against them, but they had to do something.
“One hundred percent,” the Blue Ranger said. “I know I can do this. I just need a minute to readjust the disrupter.”
“What is the experiment, anyway?” the Pink Ranger asked.
“It’s a targeted anti-dimensional energy coherence disrupter,” Billy said.
The Pink Ranger paused. “A what?”
“It finds enemy signals and jams them,” the Yellow Ranger explained. “Like radio jamming, only it targets dimensional energy signals instead of radio waves.”
Below them, the Red Ranger appeared next to his fallen Thunderzord. Lord Zedd advanced toward him. “I hear you, team,” the Red Ranger said. “Billy, if you think you can get Alpha 5 back online, do it.”
The Blue Ranger disappeared, teleporting to the back wall of the school, where he could morph back to his normal appearance without anyone seeing him.
“You and me,” the Yellow Ranger said to the Pink Ranger. “Let’s go.”
Mayhem from Moon Palace Page 4
