Kimberly took it. “Thanks.” She put her other hand on Trini’s shoulder. “And I’m really sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” Trini asked—just as Kimberly got a grip on Trini’s backpack and pulled her over the edge, into the abyss.
CHAPTER TWELVE
All five of them floated in the dark water. The only light came from a faint glow around each of the kids, each of them in a different color. Trini was trying to hide a smile. “Check out how we glow!” Jason said.
“I’m blue,” Billy said as he scanned his body. “It’s not my favorite color, but it’s cool!”
“I’m black,” Zack called out.
“No. You’re not,” Billy replied.
“I am!” Zack said.
Billy looked down into the water. “Hey guys, there’s something down here. Follow me!”
He jackknifed under the water and they followed. At the bottom of the chasm was a mirrored surface. Billy reached out and touched his reflection. His hand pushed through it . . . then the rest of him went through. Jason, Kimberly, Trini, and Zack bumbled after, falling through the bottom of the water!
They landed in a cave, stunned and amazed at what they had just seen. Billy looked up. The ceiling of the cave was rippling water.
They walked slowly down the passage in the near-dark. “Do you hear that?” Kimberly looked around. There was a humming noise in the cave, but they couldn’t tell where it was coming from. She turned on her phone flashlight.
Jason ran his hands along the cave walls. He found an opening. “C’mon, there’s something out here.”
Billy was the first one through. The humming was louder. The other four followed him, and what they saw amazed them even more than the watery ceiling.
“That’s amazing!” said Billy.
They had come out into a larger cave, bigger than a football field. And smack in the middle of it, half buried in the ancient stone floor, was a spaceship. It was huge, silvery, and rounded, almost like it had been grown instead of built. The size of it . . . It seemed as big as an aircraft carrier down there in the cave. “This has probably been here for millions of years,” Billy said. He pointed. “The rocks . . . they’ve grown around it.”
Zack pointed, too. There was a portal up on the side of the ship. It looked like it was jammed half open. There was other damage to the ship, too, like it had crashed.
“I don’t like this place,” Kimberly said.
Then Jason noticed that his coin was glowing red. “Hey, guys!” he said. “Check this out!”
Suddenly the door to the spaceship opened all the way.
Jason and Kimberly looked at each other for a somber moment. “Okay,” they said, and they all climbed up and went through the portal.
Inside was a huge open sphere. Dim lights glowed along the walls, but the size of the ship was scary. Anything could be in there.
“Are there, like . . . aliens here?” Zack whispered.
Jason turned to look at him. “Just be quiet, Zack.”
Billy’s voice was shaky. “Jason, is this real?! Are we really in a spaceship?”
“I think so,” Jason said. “Just breathe.” Billy was hyperventilating. He needed to calm down.
The girls caught up to them as Billy got himself together. “Hey, we’ve all seen enough here,” Trini said. “We should go now?”
Zack reappeared from the shadows with a huge grin on his face. “We’re gonna be famous!”
“What’s wrong with you?” Kimberly snapped back. “We don’t even know what this is yet.”
Jason heard something. “Quiet!” He held up a hand. “There’s someone here. Listen.”
Looking up, they saw the tiles of the ceiling shifting and whirling into place. The ship seemed to be coming alive around them. Behind them, the portal suddenly latched closed.
“What’s that?” Jason asked as he spun around. “What’s going on?”
Billy looked at the closed portal. “The door,” he called out.
“Oh my god,” Kimberly cried. “There’s no way out!”
Jason scanned the room and saw a walkway leading away from them. “Let’s go!” he called out, and led the way.
Scared, they fled into the tunnel. They heard a strange metallic scraping, like a huge machine was grinding toward them. There was light coming from the same direction as the sound. A long shadow fell across the walkway. What was it? Now there was a weird kind of drilling sound . . . and all of a sudden Trini cried out, “It’s got me!”
The others turned and saw her being dragged across the floor into the center of the enormous room.
“Dede, I’m coming,” Zack mistakenly called to Trini as he ran after her.
The lights came up a little more, and they saw she was in the grip of a robot. It was about four feet tall, and sort of humanoid in shape. Even a little potbellied. It had glowing eyes on stalks sticking out from a disc-shaped head, and its limbs looked like they could extend and retract. It had stretched all the way out to get Trini, and dragged her back, without ever moving its feet.
“Hello,” the robot said.
Zack charged it, and the robot smacked him across the room with its free arm. They all surrounded it.
“So happy you’re here,” it added.
“We’ll kill you,” Jason threatened.
“Kill me. Yeah, I wouldn’t do that,” the robot answered.
“There’s five of us,” Kimberly pointed out.
“Yes,” the robot said. “I know. I have been waiting for you. Wait, where’s the other one. One, two, three, four—there he is. Come here, buster!” It shot out an arm and dragged Zack back toward the group. “All of you.”
“In a spaceship buried underground?” Billy asked. “How long have you been waiting?”
“Is today Monday?” the robot asked.
“Yeah,” Billy replied.
“Then about sixty-five million years! Is that a long time?! I don’t know.” The robot looked them over. “You guys are young. This is not good.”
There was only one reason the robot could have been expecting them, Jason thought. “This has to do with the coins?”
“Yes, the coins. The mysteries of the universe!” The robot got excited, talking faster and not making any sense. “I have so many questions! Did you find the coins or did the coins find you? Can you daydream at night? Do vegetarians eat animal crackers? If man evolved from monkeys, how come we still have monkeys?! Anyone? Don’t answer that!”
It released Zack and Trini, then pointed past them. “Turn around. Proceed!”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Let’s focus on getting out of here,” Kimberly said. “Stay together and when we see a chance . . .”
“We run,” Trini finished.
“Okay,” Jason agreed. “If we don’t get a chance . . .”
“Then we kill it,” Zack said.
The robot interrupted them. “You guys know I can hear every word you’re saying, right?”
Looking around, they appeared to be in some kind of control room. In a smaller room off to the side and up a few steps there was a big pilot’s chair surrounded by consoles. In the middle of the big room was a glowing blue sphere surrounded by five raised platforms. On each platform was a set of footprints.
“Please step into the footprints,” the robot said.
None of them did. “Hey—question . . . What are you?” Billy asked.
“I’m Alpha 5, at your service.” The robot looked at all of them.
“What?” Jason asked.
“He said he’s Alpha 5,” Billy replied as he stepped up to the platform.
As he placed his feet on the footprints, it acknowledged his presence. The others watched, waiting for something terrible to happen.
“You all must be in place for it to work,” said Alpha 5. “Let�
�s go.”
Zack was next. He confidently strode over to his set of footprints. The others looked at each other before moving.
“Take your time, guys,” Alpha 5 continued. “I’ve only been here for sixty-five million years. Why do you guys keep looking at each other? Is that some sort of human thing?”
The rest of them stepped on, Jason last. As his feet met the prints, a deep thrum rolled through the ship and lights around the room blazed to life. The kids ducked and flinched away from the light, but Alpha 5 spun excitedly and faced a spot on the wall. When nothing terrible happened, all of the kids looked, too.
Part of the wall came to life, rippling in three dimensions like a holographic version of one of those pin-board toys you could push your hand into and see a raised shape on the other side. The shape became a huge human face surrounded by a bright light. He looked closely at Alpha 5 and spoke in an unknown language. Alpha 5 answered. As the conversation went on, the robot said “Zordon” several times. Was that the holographic man’s name?
They got off the platforms and clustered together, scooting away. It still hadn’t noticed them.
Jason waved for them all to follow him, and they started sneaking toward the door. Suddenly, Zordon shouted in the alien language, and the door closed in their faces.
“Come forward, please,” Alpha 5 said. He added something else to Zordon in the alien language.
“Do we have a choice?” asked Kimberly.
“I don’t think so,” Jason replied.
As they moved closer, Alpha 5 turned to them. “Look, it’s Zordon.”
Sensing their confusion, Alpha 5 turned back to the hologram. “Zordon, I don’t think they know who you are.”
Zordon looked them over.
“These are them,” he said. “They are so small.”
Alpha 5 replied, “Funny, I said the same thing, actually.”
“You mean to tell me that the fate of the universe has been placed in the hands of these . . . children?”
“They’re teenagers,” Alpha 5 corrected him. “Somewhere between infancy and full maturity. Very hard to explain, really.”
“Show me the coins,” Zordon said. They did. He looked at them all and said, “The Morphin Grid is never wrong. If the Power coins returned to the ship with these . . .”
“Teenagers,” Alpha 5 prompted.
“Then these teenagers are . . . the Power Rangers.”
“The Power Rangers!” Alpha 5 exclaimed.
“Quick question,” Zack said, half raising one hand. “Hello. Hate to interrupt, but did I just hear you say that we are ‘Power Rangers’?”
“Yes,” Zordon said. “You are the Power Rangers. Any other questions?”
Zack held his blank expression. “No, I think I’m good.”
“Good,” Zordon replied.
Billy was practically vibrating with excitement. “I’m Billy, weird Billy Cranston, and . . . well, um, kids used to call me—”
“Billy!” Jason said. They locked eyes.
Billy slowed his breathing. He pointed at the pulsating energy sphere. Images flowed through it. They showed some kind of battle. People trying to get . . . What was that? Some kind of Crystal? “The images here, in this sphere . . . tell a history, and it looks like the Power Rangers are a team that protects life.” Billy looked puzzled. “But life is a bright piece of light?”
“Yes, yes! Very good, Billy. It’s called the Zeo Crystal,” Zordon said.
Alpha 5 perked up. “Oh, I love this part! This is good!”
“And every planet in the universe that has life has a piece of the Crystal buried inside it,” Zordon continued.
“Sixty-five million years ago,” Alpha 5 added, “Zordon’s team died defending the Crystal here in what is now Angel Grove.”
“The coins have chosen you five,” said Zordon.
“You five!” exclaimed Alpha 5.
“Now you must protect the Zeo Crystal and life on Earth!”
“Because we are the Power Rangers?” Jason asked.
“They’re small and stupid,” Alpha 5 said.
There was a brief silence. Then Kimberly started to laugh. She tried to control it, but she couldn’t, and soon enough all five of them were cracking up.
“I’m sorry,” Kimberly said, “but . . . is this a joke?” She waved an arm around at all of them. “I’m standing here with a wet wedgie, my socks are soaked . . . we’re talking to the wall . . . I mean, seriously . . .” She started laughing again.
Zordon let her go on for a while, but then the light surrounding his image grew so bright, it nearly blinded them. The low background hum of the ship got louder, too. “SILENCE!” Zordon thundered.
An invisible force picked up all five of the teenagers and held them in midair, flat on their backs. Jason felt himself falling . . .
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
And a moment later, he sat up on the couch in the living room of his house. Everything seemed normal. An after-school cartoon played on the TV. He must have fallen asleep . . . Man, what a dream. Jason went to the front door and opened it—and somehow found himself standing on Main Street in downtown Angel Grove.
Everything was dead. People seemed to have turned into dust statues. Buildings looked like a sneeze would knock them over. Jason stopped and looked around. He saw only one other person.
She was wearing some kind of green costume, walking down the middle of Main Street with a gold staff that rang on the pavement with each step. Jason thought she was beautiful, but scary. Time slipped and she was suddenly right in front of him, smiling in a way that made his stomach flip.
She reached up like she was going to stroke his cheek. He stepped back as her hand made contact, knocking over some of the ash people. They disintegrated as he felt his life drain . . .
Jason snapped back to awareness. He and the rest of the group thumped to the floor as Zordon let them go. “Sir, I’m detecting elevated heart rates,” Alpha 5 said. “They’re scared.”
Jason sat up, angry and frightened. “I don’t understand. Why would you show us this nightmare?”
Zordon met his gaze and didn’t blink. “It’s not a nightmare. It’s the future.”
“Was it for real?” Kimberly asked.
“It felt like it,” Trini replied.
“Who was that woman?”
“Her name is Rita Repulsa. She will create Goldar, a huge monster who will rip the Crystal from the Earth, and all life on your planet will die. With the Crystal, Rita will have the power to create and destroy worlds.”
The kids digested this for a moment. Looking at their faces, Jason could tell they’d all had a similar vision, or nightmare, or whatever. They’d all seen this Rita Repulsa.
“So, let me guess,” Trini said. “You want us to kill this evil woman? Rita?”
“She must be stopped,” Zordon answered.
“When is she coming?” Kimberly asked.
“She’s already here!” Alpha 5 replied. “My best guess is we have eleven months. I’m sorry—days! Days. Eleven days.”
“If we’re Power Rangers, and this is our ship,” Trini said. “If I walk to that door, will it open for me?”
“Of course,” Zordon said.
She headed for the door. Zack was right on her heels. Billy and Kimberly followed. Jason paused and looked at Zordon.
“Jason, my Ranger team died defending the Crystal from Rita,” Zordon said. “It’s why I’m in this wall.”
Jason started to fire back another sarcastic reply, but . . . “How’d you know my name?”
“It’s you, Jason Scott,” Zordon said. “You’re the Red Ranger. You’re the leader.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
In the Morphin Grid, a hologram of the Red Ranger appeared. Jason knew it was crazy, but something about Zordon’s story was gettin
g to him. Destiny. Maybe he could be more than a high-school quarterback with a blown-out knee. Maybe . . .
Zordon continued the story as the sphere showed a Green Ranger. “She was a Ranger, too. She was on my team. We were close, but she grew restless . . .” Jason recognized her: an uncorrupted version of the woman in the nightmare. He could tell from Zordon’s voice that there was more to the story, but all Zordon said was, “She lost her way. She’s now pure evil.
“You must bring them back, all of the Rangers. You must train your team to stop her before she has enough strength to find the Crystal.”
Jason put up his hands. “Okay, I’m leaving and I only speak for myself when I say—”
“NO!” Zordon was in thunder mode again. “YOU SPEAK FOR ALL OF THEM!” Jason stayed put. “You need to lead this team,” Zordon went on, more quietly. “You know deep down that what I’m saying is true. You were born for this.”
“Sure,” Jason said. “Got it. Good night.” He started to walk away. Coin or no coin, he was out of there.
“EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE YOU’VE EVER KNOWN WILL DIE!” Zordon boomed.
Jason was surprised to find that the rest of the group was waiting for him when he came back out into the cave. “You all waited. Even you,” he added, to whatshername with the tough-girl act. “Who exactly are you?”
“Really? Now you’re gonna ask me who I am?”
“Her name’s Dede,” Zack said.
“Trini,” she corrected him.
“She’s new at school,” Kimberly said. “Transferred in a month ago. We have English together.”
“I’ve been at Angel Grove for over a year. We have biology together. Good talk.”
She started to walk off, but Jason called after her. “Wait. Look, none of us really know one another. But somehow we were all in the same place, at the same time, when Billy found the coins.”
“Wait, wait, wait! Can I ask a question? Are we really like superheroes?” Billy asked. He was getting excited again. “Are we more like Iron Man or Spider-Man? I kinda felt like I got bit by a spider, but I mean, I feel really good.”
Power Rangers - The Official Movie Novelization Page 4