A swarm of Putties came charging down from the bluffs. They immediately had the Power Rangers surrounded on three sides.

Glancing over his shoulder, Jason saw that behind them there was nothing but ocean. The teens were either going to have to fight their way out of the cove or swim for Hawaii.

As usual, the Putties were completely gray—except for the one that was wearing the old-lady disguise.

“Why are they attacking us?” Kimberly wanted to know. It seemed very random for just a sunny afternoon at the cove.

“I don’t know,” Jason said. “Maybe they wanted to use this part of the beach.”

“They could have just asked,” Zack added. “We would have shared.”

The air was filled with the strange little burbling noises the Putties always made. The Power Rangers assumed it was their way of communicating with one another, but it made no sense to human ears.

“Should we morph?” the Pink Ranger asked as the Putties got closer.

“No,” Jason told her. “It’s just a bunch of Putties. It’ll be good to practice without the Ranger Powers.”

“You got it,” said Zack, taking a crane stance, balancing on one leg, with the other leg bent and resting on his knee. He was ready to kick any Putty within leg’s reach.

“No problem,” said Billy, assuming a back stance, his weight on the leg he had positioned behind him so that he was prepared to kick or punch.

“We’re with you,” agreed Kimberly, striking an hourglass stance, her weight distributed so she could move forward or backward quickly and with equal ease.

“Let’s do this,” Trini said, posing in a cat foot stance with one foot poised in front of her, ready to strike.

The Power Rangers had all assumed a defensive position as the Putties initiated their assault. “Come on, team,” Jason said from his power stance. “Let’s show these Putties that picking a fight with the Power Rangers is no day at the beach.”

“Hi-yah!” Trini said, launching into the air and executing a fierce flying front kick that sent a Putty staggering.

“Yah!” shouted Jason, taking out two Putties with a spinning split kick.

A Putty came at Kimberly and she did a quick aerial, deploying her gymnastics skills to avoid the creature. Then she took the Putty down with a well-placed spinning back kick and a palm-fist strike.

“Eat sand, Putty Patroller!” she said, coiling her body into a tiger stance in anticipation of the next attack.

Three Putties were coming at Jason, but the Red Ranger wasn’t worried. He snatched up one of the beach towels and taunted the Putties with it like a matador waving a cape.

“Toro, toro, toro,” Jason said, just like the bullfighters do in Spain. His attackers fell for it and they were quickly staggering from a series of blows.

Concerned that he might lose the ring, Zack stuck it on his finger as the Putties were closing in. But he was quickly confronted by six Putties, so all thoughts of looking out for someone else’s property were driven out of his head.

The Black Ranger always loved incorporating dance moves into his fighting whenever he could, so he did a quick step spin to distract his assailants. It worked—the Putties were confused and mesmerized—but Zack didn’t notice that he’d also accidentally bumped the latch on the ring.

By the time the spin was over, there were only two Putties trying to fight him.

“Hey, weren’t there a few more of you a moment ago?” Zack asked with a frown. The Putties only burbled as they came charging at him. Zack was confused, but decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. He quickly dispatched the duo by grabbing the first one by the arm and flipping it at the second.

With his opponents temporarily out of commission, Zack scanned the area to see if any other members of the team needed help. They appeared to all be holding their own. The ring was a tight fit, and he twisted at it, trying to give his finger underneath some circulation. When he looked back at the Putties he’d been fighting just seconds earlier, they were gone.

“W-what?” the Black Ranger stammered, scratching his head. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? But there was no time to puzzle over the mystery because Billy was quickly being overwhelmed by several Putties.

“Hey, Zack,” Billy called as one of the Putties lunged for the radio. “I think they like your music.”

“Why are they going after that?” Zack wondered aloud. It was just a cheap radio, after all. The best thing about it was Billy’s modifications.

“I don’t know,” the Blue Ranger told him. “Maybe they’re interested in solar power. Why don’t you come over here and help me figure it out.”

Billy leaped into the air, executing a split kick that knocked two of the Putties to the ground. “Find your own tunes,” he told them.

But then another Putty grabbed the radio, looked underneath it, shook it, and then threw it on the ground. Zack frowned. “I guess they’re not trying to steal my tunes, after all.”

“But what are they doing here?” asked Trini as she did a knife hands block and then struck back at her opponent. “They’re not here just to catch some waves.”

“Maybe those two know,” Jason said, indicating the top of the bluffs, where Baboo and Squatt were watching the action, safe out of harm’s way, as usual.

“I think maybe we should ask them,” Zack said, spinning a Putty around and then sweeping its legs out from underneath it with a heel hook.

Kimberly did a series of handsprings to avoid the Putty trying to grab her, but then the creature snatched up a beach towel and shook it, instead. “Come on,” Kimberly said. “Let’s go find out why the flying monkey and the blueberry warthog are here.”

“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!”