Scorpina slashed at Zack again, electricity shooting out of her tail’s stinger. The Black Ranger managed to dodge the blow, two Putties getting zapped by the bolts of lightning in his place.
Zack scanned his surroundings again. Billy was nowhere to be seen. “Team,” he said, contacting the others with his wrist communicator. “Can anyone see Billy? We were just about to access our Dinozords, but now I can’t find him anywhere.”
“I’m not seeing him,” came a reply from the Red Ranger. “His Triceratops isn’t moving. Get in your own Dinozord immediately. We can’t fight a supersized Scorpina from the ground.”
Leaping into the air, Zack entered the cockpit of his Mastodon. “I’m in,” he updated the team. Glancing down at what he had clenched in his hand, he noticed something that made the bile rise in his throat. The stone on top of Scorpina’s ring was black, indicating that it had recently been fired. Zack had accidentally deployed the erasure beam. “Oh, no,” he said, feeling a cold ball of dread building in his belly. “I think I might have accidentally erased Billy with the ring.”
“What?” Kimberly yelled from her Zord as she soared through the sky. “You couldn’t have. But I can’t see him anywhere.” And then she tried using her communicator. “Billy, this is Kimberly. We need you to call in. Can you hear me? Billy, if you’re out there, we need you to make contact right now.”
They heard nothing but dead air.
“His Dinozord isn’t moving,” Kimberly said, flying past the Triceratops again. “I don’t see him. I don’t think he’s in there.”
Scorpina closed in on the Triceratops, wrapping her tail around it and shooting lightning bolts into the machine. The Dinozord trembled and shook.
“I hope Billy’s not in there, or he’ll be toast,” Trini said before using her Sabertooth Tiger to shoot several laser blasts at the hideous scorpion monster that Scorpina had become. Even though most of the shots were a direct hit, the monster was unfazed.
“Zordon, Alpha 5, did you see what happened to Billy?” Jason asked, connecting with the Command Center. “He can’t just be gone.”
“Negative, Jason,” Alpha 5 said.
“I’m afraid we don’t see him, Rangers,” Zordon said. “I’m afraid he has vanished.”
“We need to form Megazord,” the Red Ranger said.
“But how?” Trini wanted to know as Scorpina retaliated, lashing at her Sabertooth Tiger Dinozord with her deadly tail. “We need Billy, and he’s simply vanished.” The Blue Ranger’s Triceratops faded back to the sand dunes from which it came.
“I should have never brought this stupid ring,” Zack said, giving Scorpina an icy blast from his Mastodon’s trunk. “Billy said I shouldn’t bring it, and I wouldn’t listen to him.”
“Well, we need to figure out what happened to Billy, and fast,” the Red Ranger said. “Everyone, get ready to teleport to the Command Center, immediately.”
“But how?” Trini asked. “It’s not like Scorpina’s just going to let us teleport out of here. Not if she can help it.”
Fortunately, at that exact moment, Scorpina’s wildly thrashing tail crashed into a boulder, causing her to howl in pain. Seizing the opportunity while the monster was distracted, the Red Ranger shouted, “Alpha, we need to teleport now!”
“You got it!” said the robot. Moments later there were four colored blurs racing across the sky to the remote location of the Command Center up in the hills.
“Aye-yi-yi,” Alpha 5 said as the Power Rangers arrived at the Command Center. “I only see four of you? This is very bad. What happened to Billy?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out,” Jason said. The four of them were back to their regular appearances as average teenagers, no longer in their Power Ranger uniforms.
Hanging his head, Zack blurted, “I think I might have erased Billy with Scorpina’s erasure ring.”
“How could this be?” the robot asked, hurrying over to examine the ring that Zack was still clutching. “You don’t usually have something like that happen with a piece of fine jewelry.”
“It’s the ring that I found at the beach. Billy called it an erasure ring because it can make things disappear.”
“Disappear like Billy,” the Red Ranger said grimly.
“How does it erase things?” Alpha 5 wanted to know. “This ring needs closer analysis.”
“Let’s get to it,” Trini said. “There’s not a moment to lose.”
Zack slumped into a chair, cupping his head in his hands. “This is my fault. Billy said not to bring the ring because he didn’t fully understand how it works, but I wouldn’t listen.”
“Hey, hang in there,” Jason said, patting his friend on the shoulder. “We need you focused so that we can get Billy back.”
“If we can get him back,” Zack mumbled miserably. He knew he had to fight past his feelings of guilt so that he could focus on helping. “Zordon,” he said, looking up. “What do you think? Where’s Billy? Do you have any idea?”
Zordon, who had been unusually quiet since the Rangers’ arrival, then spoke, his voice booming. “I am still able to detect the Blue Ranger’s life force on the beach that you call the cove, even though he is not visible to the human eye.”
“So, what do you mean?” Zack walked over to stand directly in front of the clear cylinder where Zordon’s disembodied head appeared as a giant, wavering image. “He’s, like, invisible?”
“Not exactly,” Zordon replied. “All I know so far is that, even though the Blue Ranger is not physically at the cove, some aspect of his life force is still present.”
“So then we can get Billy back?” Kimberly asked, walking over to stand by Zack’s side.
“That is unclear,” Zordon told her. “But I think there must be a chance.”
“A chance. That’s not great,” Zack said, shaking his head.
Kimberly gave his hand a squeeze. “Come on, Zack. It’s better than no chance.”
“Rangers,” Zordon said rather suddenly. “I’m sensing a new threat at the Angel Grove Mall.”
“Sensing?” Trini asked. Zordon usually had a clear view of any of Rita’s flunkies that showed up on Earth.
“I don’t have a visual yet,” Zordon explained. “But a large crowd has gathered in the parking lot of the Angel Grove Mall, and it seems to have something to do with Goldar.”
“Goldar!” the Rangers all exclaimed. He was one of Rita’s most powerful fighters and he’d teleported to Earth before, to fight side-by-side with Scorpina.
“He’s obviously here to help Scorpina, but why is he at the mall?” Zack asked.
“That is currently unknown. But we must protect the Angel Grove population,” Zordon said.
“Plus protect the cove. Plus find a way to get Billy back,” Kimberly pointed out. “How are we going to cover all of that?”
“I’ll go to the cove,” Jason said, “to keep an eye on Scorpina. Zack and Kimberly, you need to go see what Goldar is up to. And, Trini, you should stay here and try to figure out the ring with Alpha 5 and Zordon.”
“No,” Zack told him. “You go with Kimberly. I’m the one who needs to face Scorpina.”
The Red Ranger shook his head. “I know you feel responsible for Billy’s disappearance, but we’re a team. And with a villain like Scorpina, you know it’s going to be an ugly fight.”
Zack thought about it for a moment before saying, “No, it has to be me. I need to own this. And besides, I think I have a way to get an edge over that golden lobster; at least for a little while.”
“What is it?” Trini asked. All of the friends were eager to know.
Zack actually managed a smile. “Just another little mad-scientist project that our friend Billy’s been cooking up in his garage.”