All too soon, Ash found himself back on the ground, having taken another spinning back kick from Goldar. For such a large, lumbering opponent, he was surprisingly swift and limber when the occasion called for it. Clearly, matching Rita's general move for move would not be the best strategy. But what was?
Goldar let out a guttural noise and stood over Ash, the Dark Dimension's mist barely shrouding him from view.
"Isn't this so much fun, Ranger?" he asked, dusting off his paws. "Soon, you'll be too tired to draw from your morphing power. And that's when the party really gets started!"
"We'll see about that!" Ash roared, rolling back on his shoulders. Thrusting his hips up, the boy kipped up and dropkicked Goldar square in his bulky chest, sending him to the ground. He immediately turned south to go get his Power Morpher when Goldar's claws gripped his ankle, forcing him down. As Ash met the hard floor again, Goldar shuffled up and brandished his sword, driving the blade into the surface; Ash barely had a chance to roll out of the way.
"Guys," he said weakly. "I need your help…"
"I grow tired of this game!" the monster growled, getting ready to attack again.
On shaky legs, Ash got back up in a fighting stance, spotting the rushing Goldar. He breathed hard and counted down the seconds until impact. Three. Two. One. As the beast swung his blade, the human sidestepped the blow and grabbed Goldar by the shoulders, whirling around and sweeping him at the legs. Goldar snarled as he tumbled, and Ash, tried to brush away the perspiration from his brown eyes, only to slink down to the ground as well.
Back on Earth, the Power Rangers' problems were only persisting. Misty and Lia were doing their best to hold their ground as Scorpina, now the size of a Greek titan, stomped through the sand near Kau Cove's boardwalk, and she was much uglier to boot. After Rita's wand had done its magic, the hauntingly beautiful lady warrior's face was now contorted into something grotesque, sporting wide eyes and a beak filled with needlelike fangs. The top of her head branched off into two sharp stingers, and another one hung from her back as a tail.
"Feel the wrath of Rita Repulsa!" she cried, spewing flames from her appendages. The out-of-control blasts hit the sand, boardwalk posts, and the roofs of a few shops, causing everyone still in the area to run for their lives. Earlier, the Yellow and Pink Rangers had played a cat-and-mouse game during their battle; now it was a full-on assault on the citizens.
Lia, who was kneeling on one knee thanks to a slice from Scorpina's sword, said, "Brock and Tracey are on their way."
"But what did Goldar do with Ash?" Misty asked, gripping her Tiger Daggers even more tightly than during their fight with Scorpina, who had spent her time mocking her as she dodged each swipe.
"We'll get him back," Lia said back, gripping Misty's shoulder and noticing the grip she had on her daggers. "Alpha's working on finding both him and Zordon. We need to stay calm."
As Scorpina let out a saliva-tinged cackle, she suddenly let out a scream as something razed her side. The Saber-Toothed Tiger Dinozord had leapt onto the scene and swiped its limbs at the monster, landing on the boardwalk and bounding off to a sandy dune, doing no damage to the former location. As she tried to recover and stomp down on a nearby shop, Pterodactyl flew in from the far away and struck her with bolts from its wingtips.
"Alright!" both the Pink and Yellow Rangers shouted, leaping high in the air to enter their Zords.
Scorpina groaned and stumbled about as the Pink and Yellow Rangers got ready to stage a defensive strike. She then laughed and let herself fall back. A few straggling civilians saw the demoness' huge body plummeting to the earth, unable to stop their impending demise. But just as Scorpina's spiky body was about to crush the people, she was stopped dead in her tracks, gargling and flailing her arms. The group of beachgoers turned around and darted away from the scene, cheering as they saw the Triceratops Dinozord in the distance, its Power Hooks locked into Scorpina's shoulders. With one mighty thrust, the mech reared back onto its hind end, hoisting Scorpina up and tossing her into the ocean waves. She hardly had time to raise her beastly head before Mastodon Dinozord rammed its skull into hers, knocking her back into the water.
"You got here just in time!" Pink Ranger called out as she routed the Pterodactyl to Scorpina's location.
"Nothin' to it but to do it!" Black Ranger replied, backing his Zord off into the sand.
"Right," Blue Ranger added, bringing his robot in-step with the Saber-Toothed Tiger. "Maybe if we corner her, she'll tell us where Ash is."
"No chance, Earthling!" Scorpina screeched. The giant stretched to her feet and whipped her tail around, flogging Mastodon, Triceratops, and Saber-Toothed Tiger with a charged sting, rattling all three.
"That's it!" Misty shouted, throwing the controls far left. Her Zord evaded another lash from Scorpina's stinger and lunged at her, sinking its fangs into her right arm. Scorpina took her left arm, which was formed into a pincer, and grabbed the Dinozord by the tail, wrenching the robot off of her and throwing it into the Triceratops, but not before Misty fired a beam of yellow plasma from the Zord's tail. Scorpina chuckled and instantly summoned her sword, deflecting the blast and sending it at the Pterodactyl, which began to descend.
"Aw man, I can't raise her!" Lia yelled as the Pterodactyl chirped and chirped. She was just inches above the water and was flying far out over the ocean when she finally regained control.
"Alright, girl, we've finally…" she began, when the Pterodactyl kept calling out. "What's wrong?" The symbol of Lia's dinosaur that sat behind her in the cockpit wall began to glow and her onboard computer began to show a message: DINO ENERGY SIGNAL LOCATED.
"Wait," Lia thought. "Does that mean…"
"Guys!" she cried, transmitting her information. "Guys, I've got an energy signal! It might be the Dragonzord!"
"Really? Now?" Brock questioned, maneuvering his bulky fighting vehicle to hook the enemy with its tusks.
"Just a second," Tracey said. "Dino Crystal! Lightning Lashes!"
Sticking his gem into the controls, the Triceratops shone with blue energy and released its silver horns, the chains surging with electricity, and began to duel with Scorpina's appendages. "Wait…my Power Coin's glowing!"
"Mine too!" Misty added, getting in front of the Mastodon as Scorpina shook it off. She formed her Dino Crystal and brought forth a Sonic Scream that buffeted the scorpion beast further into the dunes.
Lia brought Pterodactyl Dinozord into the sky, scanning the area below her. Her computer produced a vector graphic of the Dragon Dinozord, showing the distance to reach it.
"It's five miles under the sea," she reported. "But our Zords aren't meant for underwater exploration…"
"We've got to find the Dragon Dagger!" Black Ranger interjected. "That'll summon it from the sea."
"But Scorpina's here, and…" Blue Ranger started. "Hold on… I've got two energy signatures coming in from the north. One's static, but the other…"
His feed suddenly cut out, followed by a massive explosion. Lia looked over to see the Triceratops bellowing and knocked on its side, a long tear in its side; Mastodon was trumpeting as it tried to help, but was knocked to the side. Saber-Toothed Tiger snarled as Scorpina started to step giant strides away from the scene, but that Zord also crashed to the ground, a huge gash on the top of its head.
"You're going down just like your little boyfriend," a voice said.
"Hey, what?" Pink Ranger uttered. A burst of green fire exploded near the beach, then suddenly the lights in her cockpit began to furiously blare, everything becoming heavier.
There was Green Ranger, perched atop the front of the Pterodactyl Dinozord and dangling his Sword of Darkness above the cockpit window.
"And the same goes for you," he spoke.