Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The constant blips of high-pitched noise made one of the only sounds in the hospital room. Several Pokémon lay on gurneys either resting or waiting for the nurses to take them to their human companions.

Misty and Lia were the only two such people in the room. Lia sat next to Tracey's Azumarill, stroking its blue cheeks as it propped up against her arm. Squirtle and Marshtomp were already discharged and were splashing around with other creatures in a pond outside. Their happy cries and the splashing came through the window just like the rays of the afternoon sun.

"I'm so glad they're out there having fun," Lia remarked.

Misty nodded, turning her gaze away from outside and back to her Starmie and squeezing one of its arms. The large purple starfish was still unconscious after Scorpina shattered its facial ruby. Misty used to be able to see the colors of the rainbow shimmer across the shiny face, but now a mass of bandages was all that was there.

"Yes," Misty said, still squeezing. "And Azumarill should be good to get up by tomorrow. But Starmie…"

"Will be okay," Lia interrupted, coming over to the young redhead. "At least the internal bleeding's healing up."

"But it's going to take weeks for Starmie to be back to full strength!" Misty snapped. Lia didn't budge an inch as her friend yelled. "We should have recalled them as soon as we saw the Putties. I just don't understand. We've trained our Pokémon so well and for so long…they've faced so much. How did she just run through them?"

Lia sighed and put her arm around Misty. Her shoulders were rock hard, she was so tense. "There's always someone stronger. But that'll be us in the end. It always is."

"Yeah," Misty growled. "Until that Green Ranger shows up again. I'm going to make sure they all pay!"

Lia reached into her backpack and pulled out Amalei's Hidden Treasures, frowning. "I just don't understand," she whispered. "Alpha said his power is the same as ours. Rita must be doing something to him."

"Nothing as bad as what I'm gonna do to him," Misty spoke. She bent over and kissed Starmie, then got up and left the room, Lia following close behind.

Minutes later, the pair of females were sitting on a trolley that was taking them to the beach boardwalk. As the little vehicle chugged to the seaside, Lia looked over at Misty, her face hard and determined as ever. She needed something to break the ice.

"Well, outside of hunting for magical artifacts," she began, kicking her sandals off. "Kau Cove is the real awesome part of the beach border. There's so much to do on the boardwalk, and it's a really good place to take a date." She emphasized the last few words, playfully batting her eyes at Misty.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Misty asked, her cheeks starting to glow.

"I mean, I'm sure Hayashi isn't always working on something," Lia answered. "He does have free time on his hands to teach you swing dancing, after all."

"Lia… Do I look boy crazy to you?" Misty shot, raising her voice as the trolley rolled to a halt at its next stop, a mile away from Kau Cove's beachside.

"I didn't say that, but your cheeks tell a different story," Lia said, giggling and then whispering. "And who you just might really prefer."

But before Misty could rebut, a shrill scream rang out the air, startling many people inside the vehicle.

"What was that?" the driver asked, peering out the door.

"What the…sounds like someone's getting murdered," another person said, pressing his face up against the window. Aside from a few buildings and houses dotting the landscape, there was nothing but pure white sand dunes overlooking the ocean blue.

"Isn't that what lifeguards are for?" a young man with a beard muttered, turning up the volume on his MP3 player.

Misty and Lia looked at each other and immediately left their seats, getting off the trolley with the other few people disembarking. They stood at the stop until the trolley took off toward the boardwalk, then removed their footwear and bolted for the seaside. As they approached the crest of one of the sand dunes, both girls gasped as they saw a lone lifeguard sitting in his high tower. A young woman was splashing about in the water, facing away from the shore.

"Help! HELP!" she cried, disappearing under the waves.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Lia screamed to the lifeguard. "We have to save her!"

"I'm sorry," the lifeguard said, pushing back his blonde hair. "But lifeguard season is over." As he finished his sentence, he was swallowed up by a flash of gray light, revealing himself as a Putty Patroller. Out of nowhere, five more goons flipped onto the scene, their craggy appendages ready to crush.

"It's Morphin Time!" Lia and Misty shouted, raising their Power Morphers to the sky and opening them.

"Pterodactyl!"

"Saber-Toothed Tiger!"

Energy from the Morphing Grid erupted from their devices and Power Coins, clothing the girls in light and encasing them in their suits and helmets. The Putties set to work trying to fell their targets, but their full frontal assault was clearly outmatched. Yellow Ranger flipped into one attacker, hooking its head between her feet, and flipped it over to the sand. Pink Ranger intercepted another Putty, spin kicking it in the gut and flooring the thing with an uppercut. The previously incognito alien leapt from its perch and joined the other standing Putties in ambling around the Rangers and closing in. The duo ducked their lunges and flipped away.

Misty turned to the ocean and saw the helpless girl come up for air for a second, only to sink again.

"Lia, get the girl!" she shouted, blocking a swipe from one of the creep's bladed arms.

"I'm on it!" Lia answered, dashing away to the water. As she did, the Yellow Ranger took a shot from one of the foot soldiers, rolling to the sand. As the clay menace came in to finish her off, the heroine grabbed its shoulders and pushed it off of her with her feet. Misty soon got to her feet, crying out and leaping through the air to tackle another one.

The Pink Ranger dove headfirst into the crashing waves, and within seconds, she had grabbed the young lady from the depths and brought her up to the surface.

"Don't worry," she said as the victim coughed and sputtered, her face covered by a soaked mass of black hair. "I've got you."

"No, no…" the girl gasped, turning her devilish smirk at Lia. "I've got you."

As the girl spoke, Lia's HUD instantly scanned the individual, coming up with the name:

CLASSIFICATION: Scorpina

The young lady began to glow, her grip on Lia turning viciously tight. But Lia was ready.

"Back off!" she shouted, jamming her fist in Scorpina's trachea. The demoness, now in her real form, flew back into the deep, Pink Ranger following suit. Scorpina swam far back to face Lia, still smiling. Her sharp gauntlets glinted in the depths of the ocean as she propelled herself to impale her prey.

Lia gritted her teeth and put her hands together, forming her Dino Crystal. She dove under Scorpina as he closed in and, her Dino Crystal having surrounded her with its lustrous power, brought forth an underwater Aerial Eruption. Columns of boiling hot water blasted up from below, knocking the screeching scorpion lady into the air.

As Lia came up to go join Misty, Scorpina was coming down to earth, rolling through the air and sticking a landing in the sand.

"What is with her?!" she breathed. "Misty, watch out!"

The Yellow Ranger had just tossed a Putty into one of its brethren when Scorpina ran up to her and whipped her scaly arm at her head. Misty plummeted to the ground and Scorpina put her foot on her chest, summoning her three-pointed blade.

"Hey look," the monster rasped. "Splayed out like a starfish!"

As Scorpina drove her sword downward, she flew to the side as Lia came in and dropped her with a flying side kick. Scorpina rolled and got up, but she was met with a swift forearm to her mouth from the Yellow Ranger.

"That one was for Starmie," she said as the enemy scuttled back. "And there's plenty more for everyone else, you witch!"

Scorpina grimaced and backed up to the guard tower, dark purple blood flowing across her teeth. "I prefer a busier arena!" she called out, jumping into the air. "See you at the boardwalk!" And with that, she vanished.

"Man! She keeps doing that!" Yellow Ranger yelled.

"Yeah, but she's not getting away," Pink Ranger assured her, activating her Communicator. "Alpha, come in! Scorpina's going to attack the Kau Cove boardwalk!"

"I read you, Rangers," the robot responded. "We…ack!" a spurt of static and combustion could be heard over the device.

"I hear you, guys," Tracey cut in. "I'll be right there. Alpha, don't worry about the link now. Keep scanning the Gamma Quadrant… Wait… oh no… Brock!" The Command Center feed abruptly cut out.

"Tracey! Alpha, come in!" Lia cried. "What just happened?"

"He said something about Brock," Misty said, tuning her Communicator's frequency. "He must be in trouble. "Brock, this is Misty! Come in!"

"Misty! Good!" Brock's voice said, his breathing ragged. "I just called Tracey. Things are…whoa!" A metallic clang rang out over the transmission. "I heard about Scorpina. Get her, but call Ash! He isn't answering…"

Another metallic clang cut through the call, followed by a growl that sounded like Goldar's as well as a familiar voice.

"You won't escape my sword again, Ranger," the Green Ranger snarled.