“Yeah,” said Zack.
“We’re on it,” Trini agreed.
“Let’s go!” Jason said after dispatching another Putty with a brutal elbow slam.
The Power Rangers raced across the sand, leaving the Putties in their wake. They all knew that if Baboo and Squatt were there, it definitely meant something sinister was about to happen.
• • •
Up on the bluffs, Squatt was becoming alarmed. “Uh, Baboo? I think they see us.”
“They can’t possibly,” Baboo said, brushing some sand off of his monocle. “We’re too far away, and they’re battling too many Putties.”
“Okay, if you say so,” was his blue friend’s reply, “but—”
“Why would you even think such a thing?” Baboo asked, fitting his monocle back over his eye.
Squatt scratched his head. “Um, I don’t know, probably because they’re running right for us.”
“Gah!” Springing to his feet, Baboo shouted, “Why didn’t you say something?”
This confused Squatt. “I thought I did.”
“We have to get out of here!” Baboo wailed.
“But we don’t have the . . . uh . . . thingy that the scorpion lady lost,” Squatt pointed out.
“Scorpina probably found the Eclipse Ring back on the moon,” Baboo insisted as he started to run.
“Oh.” The blue warthog scratched his head some more. “Does that even make sense? I mean, didn’t we see the Black Ranger find it?”
“Don’t talk to me about sense,” his friend shouted over his shoulder as he hotfooted it out of there. “We don’t have time for sense. We’ll make up a better excuse when we get back to the moon!”
“Where’d they go?” Kimberly asked, scanning the landscape when they reached the top of the bluffs. “They were just here a minute ago.” But the bluffs were bare; Rita’s two henchmen were gone.
“They must have teleported when we weren’t looking,” Billy told her. “I thought maybe I saw a flash while we were climbing.” He turned to glance over his shoulder, back at the small beach. “The Putty Patrollers are gone, too.”
“There’s no way Putties could get out of the cove that quickly on foot,” Jason said, looking over the sand as well. “Everyone must be back on the moon with Rita.”
“Yeah, maybe a couple of the Putties teleported during the fight,” Zack said. “It seemed kind of strange at the time, but Rita must have pulled them out of here for some reason. I wonder what she’s up to?”
Trini shrugged, flipping her long hair over her shoulder. “I’m sure whatever it is, she’s up to no good, as usual.”
“We need to update Zordon and Alpha,” Jason said, pressing a button on his wrist communicator. “Come in, Alpha 5,” he said, speaking into the device.
A robotic voice quickly replied, “Hello, Jason. What’s happening? I thought you and the other Power Rangers were spending your afternoon at the beach.”
“We were,” Jason said, keeping his voice low, even though nobody else was around besides his fellow teammates. “But then Baboo and Squatt decided to crash the party, along with dozens of Putty Patrollers.”
“Aye-yi-yi,” the robot said, and the Rangers knew that he probably had both his hands pressed against his big metal head. “Is everyone okay?”
“We’re fine,” Jason assured him. “They just interrupted a good game of power volley, that’s all.”
“What was their objective?” Alpha 5 wanted to know.
“We’re not sure,” Jason replied. “We chased after them, but they must have teleported back to the moon. Will you and Zordon see if you can find out the reason for their surprise visit?”
“Anything for you and the team, Jason. We’ll see what we can find out,” the robot said.
“Thanks, Alpha,” the Red Ranger said with a smile. “Power Rangers out.” And then he ended the communication.
“So what do we do now?” Billy asked. Their fun day at the beach hadn’t turned out to be much fun; their lunch was covered in sand, the rafts were deflated, and the volleyball net was in a giant tangle thanks to the Putty Patrollers.
“Let’s pack up our gear and go get some milk shakes at the Youth Center,” Jason suggested as a way to try to salvage the day. “Zordon and Alpha 5 will let us know if we have anything to worry about from Rita.”
“We probably do,” Trini said. “I doubt Baboo and Squatt would have come to the beach on their own just to catch some rays.”
“But milk shakes sound like a good way to pass the time while we’re waiting to find out Rita’s next evil plan,” Zack added. And then he looked down at his hand. “Oh, and we can try to figure out who lost this ring.”
“Good idea,” Kimberly agreed as the Power Rangers headed back down the bluff to pack up their beach gear. “It’s such an old-fashioned style; I bet it’s an heirloom or something.”
Twenty minutes later and the friends were grabbing a table at the Youth Center. “I’ll order the shakes,” Jason said, before heading over to chat with Ernie at the counter.
“I’m still wondering what was going on with those Putties,” Zack said as he flipped his chair backward and then straddled it. “I’ve never known Rita to teleport Putty Patrollers during a fight. I mean, why would she suddenly care about them?”
“I don’t know,” Billy said, rubbing his chin. “Do you think she did teleport them?”
Zack shook his head and shrugged. “I’m not sure,” he admitted. “It was weird. They were there one minute, and then they were gone. It was like they’d vanished.”
“Curious,” said Billy. “I wonder what happened to them.”
“I’m going to get started making the flyer for the ring,” Kimberly said.
“I’ll help you,” Trini said, getting to her feet. “I know Ernie has some paper and markers behind the counter.” She raised her voice a little to call to the manager of the Youth Center. “Ernie, can we borrow some of your paper and markers? We need to make a flyer for a ring we found.”
“Sure, go ahead, kids,” Ernie said affably. He really liked Trini and her friends. “Help yourself to whatever you need.”
Across the room Skull elbowed Bulk and nodded toward Trini and Kimberly.
“What are they up to?” he asked in a low voice. Skull was skinny with greasy hair and an oily personality to match.
“Guess we better find out,” was Bulk’s reply as he hauled his immense frame out of his chair.
“What’s this?” Skull said, snatching up the flyer that Kimberly and Trini were starting to block out. He squinted at the words, trying to make them out. “Found: Gold ring.”
“Is this it?” Bulk asked, grabbing the ring with the yellow stone before Kimberly could stop him.
“Give that back,” Kimberly demanded. “And mind your own business.”
“But this is my business,” Bulk insisted. “I lost my ring. This ring. I’m so glad you found it.”
“That’s not your ring,” Trini said, glaring at him. “Now give it back.”
“Sure it is.” Bulk saw no reason not to get a free ring; especially one that was made out of gold and had a fancy yellow stone.
Kimberly crossed her arms. “So if that’s your ring, where did you lose it?”
“Well . . .” Bulk stalled for time while he tried to think. “I’ve been so many places today that I’m not really sure . . .”
“Where did you get it?” Trini asked.
“It’s a . . . it was my grandmother’s,” Bulk told her, feigning confidence.
“No it’s not.” Kimberly tried to make a grab for the ring, but Bulk tossed it in a high arc over to Skull.
“Milk shake order, coming through,” Ernie said, balancing five frothy milk shakes on a tray. “Will someone please close the shades? Gosh the light’s bright in here,” he said, trying to shade his
eyes from the glare with one hand and keep the order balanced with the other.
In the blink of an eye, the milk shakes vanished. One second they were there on the tray and the next second they were gone. “Where’d they go?” Ernie asked, doing a double take. “What happened to the milk shakes?” Ernie rubbed his eyes, convinced he was seeing things.
“Give me that!” Trini said, snatching the ring away from Skull. “It’s not nice to try to take things that don’t belong to you.”
Bulk wanted the ring and he wasn’t afraid to deploy a little muscle to get his way, but just then he happened to catch a glimpse of Principal Strickland walking past the window.
He didn’t want to take a chance that Strickland might come inside. So instead he just shrugged. “You can’t blame me for trying.”
Kimberly narrowed her eyes and glared at him. “Why can’t I?”
“Hmm,” Trini said, noticing that the brilliant yellow stone in the ring had turned to black. “That’s odd.” She tapped at the stone and then gave the top of the ring a twist. The stone turned back to its original brilliant yellow.
Ernie was still searching for the five missing milk shakes and growing more confused by the second. He even went so far as to examine the underside of his serving tray, as if the shakes could somehow have gotten stuck down there. But he happened to do so just at the exact time that Trini twisted the ring. The milk shakes reappeared, but with Ernie inspecting the wrong side of the tray, they ended up dumping all over Bulk and Skull’s heads.
“Hey,” Ernie said, growing instantly annoyed. Bulk and Skull were always trying to cause trouble. “Stop horsing around, you two. You have to pay for those.” He yanked the bill for the milk shakes off his pad and stuck it to Bulk’s sticky forehead.
Kimberly and Trini hurried back to their table, nimbly leaping over the spilled shakes. “Did you see that?” Trini asked, after they’d taken their seats. “There’s more to this ring than meets the eye.”
“How so?” Billy asked, putting on his glasses to have a closer look.
“Well, after the milk shakes disappeared, the stone turned black,” Trini explained. “Then I tried tapping at it and jiggling it around a bit. After that, I managed to twist the top and the stone turned yellow again.”
“Yeah,” Kimberly added. “And that’s when the milk shakes reappeared.”
“Interesting,” said Billy.
“Cool,” said Zack. “Let’s give it a try.”
“No, wait.” Billy put out a hand to stop Zack before he could take hold of the ring.
“Hey,” Zack said, mildly annoyed. “I’m the one who found it. I can look at it if I want to.”
“I know,” Billy told him. “But if that trinket is more than just a ring, then we don’t know what it can do. I need to take it back to my garage and run a few tests in a controlled environment. We wouldn’t want anyone accidentally getting hurt.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Zack had to agree. “But if you’re going to your lab, then I’m coming with you. I want to know what’s going on with this ring.”
“I wonder if it has anything to do with why Baboo and Squatt were at the cove,” Kimberly said, thinking it over.
“It’s got to be somehow connected,” Jason agreed. “Tell you what,” he addressed the group. “Why don’t Kimberly, Trini, and I go back to the cove and look for clues as to how the ring got there and if it has anything to do with Rita. Zack will go with Billy to his garage to run some tests and try to figure out how the ring works.”
Everyone was in agreement. Zack nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Whoa!” Squatt wailed, crashing into his friend as they landed back at Ria’s fortress on the moon. Having fled Earth in such haste to get away from the Power Rangers, their return was a bit rough. It was a little embarrassing, but neither one of them was particularly known for bravery.
“Ouch!” Baboo cried after being knocked over by his klutzy friend. “Watch where you’re going, you clumsy oaf!”
“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Squatt apologized, rolling off his fellow minion. Grabbing Baboo by the arm, he tried to yank his friend to his feet.
“Where’s Rita?” Squatt wanted to know, glancing around. She was usually in her observation room, squinting through her telescope at Earth, and at Angel Grove in particular.
“I don’t hear her charming voice.” Baboo looked around the empty observatory, as well. “She must be somewhere with Scorpina. After all, they are old friends, you know.”
The half warthog–half blueberry thought it over, rubbing his enormous blue chin. “Wouldn’t it be funny if they were braiding each other’s hair?”
Baboo took a swat at his fellow minion, but missed. “Don’t say things like that!” he snapped, causing Squatt to giggle.
Then, from somewhere deeper in Rita’s lair, angry voices could be heard. “How could you have lost it?! How could you have lost the Eclipse Ring? You only had it for five minutes and now it’s gone?!” Rita didn’t believe in hiding her emotions. “This is exactly like the last time, when we were conquering the Xelton Galaxy!”
“Zelton Galaxy!” Scorpina shouted back. “And that was not my fault. You try keeping ahold of jewelry while fighting a multi-eyed, gassy swamp monster. I needed one hand free just to plug my nose.”
Rita wasn’t backing down. “You could have tried using the ring on the swamp monster. Did that ever occur to you?” she bellowed.
Scorpina wasn’t backing down, either. “That was completely not my fault, and you know it!”
“Well,” said Squatt, rubbing his ears to stop them from ringing. “They’re here. I guess we’d better tell Rita and Scorpina that we know what happened to the ring.” He started to head toward the door to search for their overlord.
“Wait,” said Baboo, catching up to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. “What if we didn’t?”
“Didn’t what?” Squatt asked. He was never the first to catch on. “What do you mean?”
“Well . . .” Baboo adjusted his monocle. “If we tell Rita that the Power Rangers found Scorpina’s ring, what do you think will happen?”
“Well . . .” Squatt repeated, thinking it over. “Rita will probably order Scorpina to get it back.”
“That’s right.” Baboo nodded. “And how do you think she’ll get it back?”
Squatt squinted his tiny eyes and rubbed his giant blue chin; he didn’t have a good brain for answering questions. “Um . . . I guess she’ll go down to Earth and maybe fight the Power Rangers to get it back.”
“And who do you think Rita will want to send with Scorpina to fight the Power Rangers?” Baboo asked.
This really threw the big blue warthog. “Uh . . .”
“Us!” Baboo hissed. “You and me. Rita will demand that we go with Scorpina down to Earth. And you know the Power Rangers aren’t going to just hand the ring over.”
“Yeah,” Squatt agreed. That’s pretty much how he imagined things would go.
“And then Scorpina will probably want to fight the Power Rangers,” Baboo pointed out.
“I bet she will,” his blue friend agreed. “For someone so cute, she can be kind of cranky.”
“And she’ll expect us to fight with her,” Baboo replied. “And if we don’t do everything exactly the way she wants, we’d better watch out.” He pantomimed a scorpion’s tail with his arm and pretended to sting.
“Oh!” Startled, Squatt jumped back, his eyes wide with fright. “I don’t want that. I don’t want to do any of that.”
Baboo nodded vigorously. “So why don’t we simply tell Scorpina that we don’t know what happened to her ring?”
“Yeah, but we do.” Squatt still wasn’t clear on the whole plan.
“But we can pretend like we don’t,” Baboo pointed out. “And I can offer to make her a new one. A better one. One with more jewels.”
“One that can fly!” Squatt added, still confused, but getting caught up in the excitement.
“No, not one that can fly, you nitwit.” Sometimes Baboo found his friend to be quite frustrating. “But as far as Rita and Scorpina are concerned, we don’t know anything about who found the ring.”
“Who found the ring?!” Rita demanded as she came sweeping into the room, her long staff in one hand and her robes trailing behind her.
“Where is it? Who has it?” Scorpina demanded, entering the room hard on Rita’s heels. “Just name a name and I’ll make them regret the day they tried to steal from me,” she said, running a hand over the handle of her gold, crescent-shaped sword.
“What ring?” Squatt said. “We don’t know anything about a ring.”
“He means we don’t know where the ring is, Your Majesties,” Baboo said, quickly giving his friend a sharp elbow.
Rita glowered at them. “Now, why do I get the feeling that you’re not telling me the truth?” Her free hand tightened into a fist. “And if I did find out you were lying, then I don’t even want to think of how angry I would be,” she snarled, banging the bottom of her long wand on the marble floor and causing the fortress to rumble with the echo.
Baboo’s knees instantly started to tremble. “I mean that we don’t know where it is at this exact moment,” he insisted, completely abandoning his plan. “But we did happen to see one of the Power Rangers find it while they were playing their weird game.”
“The Power Rangers have my ring?!!!” Scorpina shouted so loud that it probably even hurt her own ears. “Where are they? I will crush them into sand!”
“Well, it’s funny you should mention sand, your scorpion-ness,” Squatt said, “because—”
“Because the Power Rangers found your ring on the beach,” Baboo said, cutting off his friend so that he could be the one to share the news. “They found it almost exactly where we landed.”
“And you birdbrains didn’t take it back?” Rita demanded, practically shouting in their faces.
“We tried,” the minion insisted. “We sent the Putties, but the Power Rangers managed to fight them off.”
The Venomous Eclipse Page 3