"Dragon…" Hayashi whispered, popping open his Power Morpher. The crackling, mystical aura flowed from the device and his Power Coin, swallowing him up and covering him in his green protective suit, white boots and gloves, and his golden cuffs and chest shield. He peeked his head one of the tall brown bookcases, making sure nobody had walked into the dark section of the room, and he disappeared from the room in a beam of green light.

"Finally alone! I can take care of chrome dome myself!" the Green Ranger told himself as he left the fourth floor of the Feron Grove Library and rocketed downtown. He, his sister, Tracey, and Brock had gotten a call from Zordon saying Ash was in trouble at the athletic fields. Before the group could leave to help him, Alpha frantically told them that Scorpina was down all the way near the Kau Cove Hospital; not only that, but Goldar was starting to attack Feron Grove's central shopping plaza.

"That's it," Lia snarled, gathering the books they'd been reading into her backpack. "I'm getting rid of Scorpina once and for all."

"We'll take her together," Tracey said, checking the room, seeing the only other person at the far end going out the door. "A hospital's no place to go it alone."

Lia nudged Tracey to the side, letting out a sigh. "I don't need a babysitter," she protested. "Just let me do the work."

Tracey closed his eyes in annoyance, wishing he would've found the way to break Eye Guy's spell in the books they had been combing for hours. In seconds, the two teleported out of town, leaving Hayashi by himself.

"Let him go!"

"Drop your weapons!"

Goldar's fangs poked through his big, simianesque mouth, a drop of drool falling down on the back of the elderly man that knelt before him. Hanson and three other police officers surrounded them both, their pistols pointed at Rita's chief warrior, who had the point of his long sword pressed on the back of the shivering man's neck.

"Grandpa!" the small boy hiding behind one of the cops tearfully cried. He held the brand new football his grandfather had bought him close to his side.

Goldar's captive had his face firmly pressed upon the cement, but he was glad he couldn't see his grandson so frightened.

"Just run, Leon…" he managed to say.

"One more word out of you and I'll use that frizzy mop on his head to clean you off of my sword!" Goldar roared at the man; the child shook and buried his face in the officer's waist.

A few seconds ticked away as everyone was motionless, everyone except the person that emerged from the green light from the sky.

"Take your problems up with me," Green Ranger yelled, drawing his Dragon Dagger and pointing it at Goldar.

Goldar sneered, pressing on the man's neck again. "Well, well, the traitor's back! Do you seriously care about this old prune? You broke the ribs of one just like him a few weeks ago!"

The officers glared at the demonic figure in front of them, doing a double take at the Ranger behind them. Green Ranger growled, his finger dancing on the grooved button below the hilt of his blade. He was about sixty yards away from Goldar, but he didn't move a muscle.

"Drop your weapon and I'll let him go. It'll be just you and me."

Hayashi took a deep breath and slowly knelt down, placing his Power Weapon by his side. Goldar chuckled, placing his clawed foot on his hostage's back, poking one claw just through his white vest. With a guttural, he lifted his jagged blade high in the air and dove it down into the cement right next to the man's face.

"I won't waste my energy on you," he said, soon pointing to the boy. "But if I see you or that little whelp again, it will be the last time." The beast pushed the human across the ground a little with his foot, and the elderly man immediately scrambled to his feet, gathering a running Leon in his arms.

"Get them out of here," Green Ranger told Hanson. The senior policeman nodded and waved one of his men to move the two civilians to safety. Another raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're real big, aren't you?" he posed as the unarmed Ranger started toward Goldar. Hayashi grinded his teeth hearing this.

"Marco, come on!" Hanson cut in. "We've got to check those shops!"

"After what he's done? How can you defend him?" Marco protested, throwing his arm up.

Green Ranger heard Hanson trying to explain things, but he didn't care. He was now just a few feet away from the villain stepping in front of him. Just a foot, just a few inches, just an inch until his right fist rose into Goldar's midnight blue jaw and Goldar's palm slammed into his left temple.

"I'll come as soon as I can," Misty spoke into her Communicator. She threw her head back, gulping down some more water from her metal bottle, but her body still simmered with painful heat.

"Please do, Yellow Ranger," Zordon said. "And keep your wits about you. Rita and Dredwing are sure to be watching you somehow."

Misty gasped as a violent pulse shot through her as she cut the transmission. She rose from the bench she was sitting on and started again down the empty dirt road that led to the Riko neighborhood from the last night. A chill wind started blowing as soon as the girl got off the trolley, following her as she reached the area. Only a few people were out and about, all of them with straight-laced expressions or frowns. Misty slowly approached the square, her footfalls seeming heavier and heavier as she walked into the square and up to the shop she and the other Rangers fought in front of.

Walking into the establishment, only two people were inside—a young, thin lady wearing a black leather jacket and the shopkeeper, who jumped a little as the door opened and the little bell rung.

"Oh! Oh…" he sputtered, gripping the countertop; the woman stifled a laugh. "May I help you, miss?"

Misty ran her hand through her hair, her body burning just like its color, and noticed a stethoscope dangling from the lady's neck.

"I heard about all of the trouble here around here," Misty began. "About how the Power Rangers didn't catch the monster that's been biting people."

"Around everywhere, dear," April Collings said. "It's hard to catch something that doesn't stay around for long, even for the Power Rangers. But we're all going to get to the bottom of this eventually." The shop owner frowned, turning away from the two females.

Misty rubbed her bandaged wrist, which also pulsed with energy to try and counteract the venom.

"Well," she began. "Since you're a doctor, I've actually noticed some things, and I was wondering…"

The teenager froze. She clenched her teeth and tried to stay on her feet, but everything was now boiling over, leaving Misty gasping and letting out anguished groans on her hands and knees. The doctor and the man behind the counter went to her aid, but Misty shoved the man to the side and swiped wildly at Collings. The doctor swiftly stepped back, taking note of how pale the girl below her looked. Misty hissed, her face contorted and her bloodshot eyes with pallor. She closed them as another fiery rush filled her physical being, and something new entered her mind, something tinged with Dredwing's almost congenial laugh—a tall building under an increasingly cloudy sky.

At that moment, her internal vision took her inside the building, a hospital. She saw Lia and Tracey fully morphed, squaring off with Scorpina in a hallway. She could hear the demoness cackling as the Pink and Blue Rangers kept trying to back her up. The group inched ever so slowly across the floor until they came across the doorway of a darkened room, the blinds drawn. Scorpina gestured toward the room, and lights in the facility flickered, and a few patients lying asleep in their beds started twitching and breathing in. They spasms grew more feverish as the clouds stretched over Kau Cove, pointed teeth stretched from their gums, and their wild eyes snapped open, sensing all of the life around them, life that suddenly seemed delicious.

NEXT TIME ON POWER RANGERS

With the Power Rangers once again separated, darkness falls literally and figuratively as many vampires rise with a thirst for blood. While the team tries to hold off the new threat in addition to Goldar and Scorpina, Rita and Eye Guy are hard at work putting the next phase of their plan to take back the Amalei Region and the world into action. But even as the Power Rangers do their best to stop the invasion and cure the infected humans, Misty discovers not only the extent of the mysterious Dredwing's interest in her, but his horrific final goal. Can our heroes band together and bring light to a seemingly hopeless situation? Find out next time on the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers!