DISCLAIMER

Power Rangers belongs to Haim Saban and Nickelodeon. Smerg and how to kill him belongs to Michael Ende. I only own subplots previously mentioned.

In the Command Center, Trini had noticed the difference in Kimberly's story.

"Hey, what's up with the book?" she wondered.

"It would appear that Kimberly, Tommy, and Rocky's idea of retracing their steps to Mondo the Magician in order to have Grumble de-spelled has caused the tale to elucidate in order to follow their journey," Billy answered.

"You mean it's rewriting itself?" Adam queried.

"Affirmative," Billy confirmed.

"That's great! That means they're trying to find another way out," Aisha commented.

"Trini, do you think you can finish the toys you started?" Adam asked.

"Yeah," Trini responded.

"Will you the toys appear in the book when she's finished?" Zack queried.

"I think so," Alpha responded. Trini once more sat down with her colored pencils and resumed drawing. When she was finally done, she set the tools aside. There was a shimmer, and the drawings faded into the book. Tommy shook his head. I can't believe he won't even listen to us, he thought to himself. He turned around.

"Hey, you guys. Look," he said. The others turned to see the toys. As Grumble started celebrating, Kimberly laughed.

"Way to go, Trini," she complimented.

"How do you know it was Trini?" Rocky wondered.

"Trust me, I know her drawing style," Kimberly replied.

"Now you can deliver the toys to the kids," Tommy said. Grumble laughed and they headed on their way. In the Command Center, Aisha flipped through the pages and she and the other Rangers watched as Tommy, Kimberly, and Rocky walked through the woods.

"It worked. Way to go, Trini," Aisha said.

"I always said that her profiency with complex illustrated characterizations was quite impressive," Billy added. Trini grinned proudly.

"Yeah, it was morphinominal," Jason added, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Now we just have to hope they make it to the end," Adam commented.

"Relax, man. They will," Zack assured. The Silver Ranger nodded, but still looked worried.

"Hey, you kids know that old saying 'I couldn't have done it without you'? Well, I could've," Grumble told them. Suddenly, he stopped. "Uh-oh," he said.

"Grumble, why are you stopping?" Rocky wondered.

"Quiet," Grumble cautioned. "Mondo's on this page too and if we wake him up, we'll all end up as quickie-drink fruits." They continued on their way, being quieter than before, unaware that Mondo was following them. On the moon, Zedd burned red with rage.

"NOOO! WE'VE GOT TO STOP THEM!" Zedd roared.

"Will you relax? Even if they make it out of the book, the monster I released will crush them to smithereens," Rita told him. He keeps this up, he's liable to give himself heart failure…not that it wouldn't be to my advantage, she thought. Zedd continued to rage, even going as far to order Goldar to go into the book.

"I don't think so," he responded.

"WHAT?" Zedd roared.

"I am not getting trapped in some dumb kids' book. After all, how would I be able to be of service to you if I can't get out?" Goldar continued.

"He has a point, my darling. Goldar is too valuable a warrior to risk," Rita oozed, sidling up to the overload.

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Zedd grudgingly agreed. In the book Mondo traipsed through the woods, brandishing his sword. However, he didn't find who he was looking for and went back home. At the orphanage, Grumble was passing out toys to the kids.

"Here you go, little girl. Does that make you happy, or does that make you happy?" he asked, handing her a stuffed animal.

"Thank you, Mr. Grumble," she said, squeezing it tightly. A shade of red light shimmered on the elf's face. Whoo-hoo, boy. Do I feel strange, he thought. Kind of lightheaded and tingly all over just like a glass of milk, he continued.

"Hey, what's going on with Grumble?" Rocky wondered.

"I think the spell's wearing off," Kimberly responded.

"Finally," Tommy sighed, only to be elbowed in the side by his girlfriend.

"Look at all of these cute kids. They look so happy. I love seeing them all so happy," Grumble said.

"I guess we all learned something, huh?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, that the one thing that can bring us a lot of joy is happiness," Kimberly answered.

"And make us good people too," Rocky added.

"And giving to others," Grumble finished. "Now that you got the moral of the story, you can get out of my book…I mean, go home."

"Thanks, Grumble," Tommy said. As they demolecularized once more, they heard Grumble say, "Come on kids! Come on and gather around. I want to tell you the story about the elf who helped out some weird humans." Seconds later, they found themselves back at the Command Center.

"Whoo. We're back," Kimberly said with a laugh.

"Just in time. Smerg's destroying downtown Angel Grove," Jason told them.

"Who?" Tommy questioned.

"From The Neverending Story?" Kimberly and Rocky chorused.

"Yep," Jason answered.

"It's morphin' time!" Tommy called. "Tigerzord!"

"Brachio!" Rocky hailed.

"Pterodactyl!" Kimberly finished.

"Back to action!" Jason called. Once there, they once again called for their zords. Smerg roared and lashed out at them. The zords each took a strike at the dragon, who roared in pain and anger at each blow. Smerg's retaliation was to let out a breath of fire that surrounded the zords. The White Ranger barely had enough time to load the thunderbolt and fire it. It exploded on impact, but otherwise made no dents.

"Man, what is this thing made of, lead?" the Silver Ranger groaned.

"Lead?" the Red Ranger queried. "THAT'S IT! THAT'S IT!" The other Rangers stared in the direction of their leader.

"Uh, Jase, you okay?" the Black Ranger asked.

"You've got to cut off all of his heads with a lead ax."

"Well, I don't know if the Power Ax is lead, but it's worth a try," the Black Ranger answered.

"Jase, you'll help us create a diversion so that Zack can get destroy Smerg," the White Ranger ordered.

"Right," half of the group said.

"Morphin'," approved the other half. Man, I hope the smoke's all I'm going to have to clean out of these things, the Red Ranger thought to himself. Then, he and the others launched rapid-fire attacks at the dragon as the Black Ranger jumped from his zord, brandished his Axe, and approached the trio of heads. Okay, small heads first, the Black Ranger determined. Then, moving quickly, he sliced the two smaller heads, resulting in a screech of pain from Smerg.

"We gotta hold the head!" Hearing this, the Blue Ranger unleashed the grappling hooks from his zord, wrapping them around the creature. Seeing his chance, the Black Ranger swiftly swung his Ax, destroying the last head. He jumped down in triumph.

"Way to go, Zack!" the Pink Ranger congratulated. On the moon, Zedd and Rita let out enraged yells. In the youth center, everyone cheered as they saw the live coverage of the monster being destroyed.

"Way to go, Zack," Angela said softly. Everyone turned to each other and began chattering excitedly. Some minutes later, the Rangers entered the youth center.

"Cousin Trini!" Sylvia shouted happily as she ran over to hug the girl.

"I'm sorry I'm so late. Come on, let's get to the book fair. We still have some time," Trini told her.

"I thought you forgot."

"Never." With that, she and the others headed out. At Angel Grove High, Angela took Zack to a secluded corner.

"What's up?" he asked.

"They were reporting live. I saw the whole thing."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." She leaned in and gave him a kiss. Then, pulling back, "It was really brave." She reproachfully punched his shoulder. "Stupid…but really brave." She kissed him again. Sometimes I don't understand this girl, Zack thought to himself. Meanwhile, the other Rangers were walking around.

"So, what was it like being inside that book?' Adam wondered.

"Yeah, how did it feel?" Aisha added.

"Did you guys get hurt?" Skull questioned. If someone hurt Kimberly, he thought to himself.

"We were fine, Skull," Kimberly assured with a smile.

"Uh, I never really liked fairytales," Tommy admitted at the same time. "But, hey, uh, this one was pretty exciting."

"That's putting it mildly," Rocky stated.

"I just hope Rita and Zedd are out of the storytelling business for good," Kimberly declared.

"Yeah, their kind of plot twist was a little too intense," Tommy agreed. They all laughed.

"DUDE! THIS IS PERFECT! THIS IS PERFECT!" they suddenly heard Jason yell.

"Okay, that's it. No more caffeine for Jason," Kimberly declared. Curious, they went in the direction that they had heard the boy.

"What'd you find man?" Justin wondered.

"An old copy of Black Beauty. It's one of my mom's favorite books and she's been complaining that her copy's trashed," Jason answered. After a few more purchases, they started cleaning up. Presently, Ms. Appleby and Principal Caplan walked up.

"Hey, Ms. Appleby, Mr. C," Jason greeted.

"Well kids, I think we can safely say that the book fair was a big hit," Ms. Appleby announced. They cheered.

"The sales should really help out the library," Tommy surmised. Skull grabbed Kimberly's book.

"Skull, what are you doing?" she asked as Bulk came up beside her.

"Grumble The Magic Elf. Isn't that nice?" he queried. He opened the book. Grumble turned and waved at them.

"Hiya, boys," he greeted.

"What the heck?" they asked.

"I guess there were some side effects from us being in there," she stated. "It'll probably fade soon," she predicted.

"Ah," they said. Kimberly smiled and held the book close to her.

THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTE

In case people are confused why some of the old Dinozord attacks are being used, remember that in "Where There's Smoke, There's Fire" I brought them back.