"No!" Misty cried, tears instantly escaping her eyes. She gathered her battered Starmie in her arms and stepped back from the riverbank, away from the shards of her companion's shattered ruby and the danger on the other side of the water.

"Squirtle, return," Ash said in a hushed voice, drawing his Pokéball and using its beam to bring his friend into the protective capsule, who was writhing in pain from the sparks that flew from Scorpina's blade. Misty did the same with Starmie.

"We need to get them out of here and to a Pokémon Center," Misty muttered, wiping her eyes and balling up her hand. "Starmie and Azumarill can't fully heal without help."

Meanwhile, the scorpion villainess stepped past the trees, running her fingers up her boomerang-shaped blade as the other teens stood shocked.

"Bubble Beam now!" Brock yelled as his Marshtomp, backing Lia and Tracey up as the two wrapped Lia's jacket around Azumarill's wound, Tracey using his Pokéball to bring his animal to safety for the time being. The frog-like being inhaled and released a wall of watery spheres at Scorpina. The warrior walked straight through the barrage of bubbles and came up close to Marshtomp.

"Agility…" the Pewter City native began to command, but it was too late. Scorpina already lifted Marshtomp up by its neck, clenching her claws tightly. Roaring, the creature's trainer bolted toward the two and wrenched Scorpina's arm away from his Pokémon. He had just enough time to recall Marshtomp into its ball before Scorpina clawed him across the shoulder, sending him to the ground.

"How dare you?!" Tracey growled, pulling Brock back closer to the river, getting him to his feet.

"Is that a real question?" Scorpina retorted, pointing her sword toward the group. She ran her hand up the weapon's topmost point, causing it to shine again. "How dare I? Maybe this answer will satisfy you!" She whipped her sword back and flung it toward the five, who darted off of the land and into the depths of the Ko River. As the weapon hovered over the water, ready to strike whoever surfaced first, the clear liquid suddenly glittered with a rainbow of light, and out soared the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, side by side and with Blade Blasters in hand.

As all five Rangers were about to descend where Scorpina stood, they swung their sidearms horizontally, casting razor-thin beams from the blades that formed one large slash that hit Scorpina and sent her flying into the trees.

"You've had it, Scorpina!" Red Ranger Ash shouted at the prone warrior. "Tower Formation!" He, Blue Ranger Tracey, and Black Ranger Brock stood together while Yellow Ranger Misty and Pink Ranger Lia flipped onto their shoulders. But before they could bring their Blade Blasters together to create a final blast, Scorpina's blade had caught up with them and surrounded all of them with sizzling sparks and energy, setting off sparks from their protective suits and toppling the tower.

Scorpina recovered her weapon and laughed. "Let's stop this now," she said. "You're obviously no match for Rita Repulsa."

Yellow Ranger held her head and ran her hand over one of the saber-toothed tiger fangs that surrounded her visor. "Don't get cocky, you overgrown bug!" she challenged. "We've beaten creeps like you before!" Snarling, she and the Black Ranger flipped to either side of the enemy, the Pink and Blue Rangers coming in through the front. She blocked their hand-to-hand attacks and countered swiftly with strikes from her sword, but the Power Rangers were so charged with anger and adrenaline that they leapt back at their foe, pummeling her arms and stomach with kicks and punches. Ash tried to come in with a tornado kick to her head, but the lady warrior chuckled and jumped back further into the trees.

"That's the last time I give you free shots. You clearly don't make the most of them!" Scorpina catcalled, backing away from the group as they prepared to attack again; she still kept a pleased look on her face. "I wanted to send you all to a watery grave, but I'll make you a deal. I will give you one hour to surrender to me and pledge your allegiance to Queen Rita. Your miserable pets and this island will be spared as it once again becomes our earthly home. If you refuse, you will all suffer humiliation and a fate worse than death."

"Then do your best to destroy us now…" Tracey said, his voice rasping furiously. "You won't get away with this…"

"Your other monsters have tried to threaten us and we've never given up!" Lia fired at her. "No one in Feron Grove will ever bow to Rita!"

Scorpina laughed yet again and thrust her arms up to the sky. "That's not a very wise choice, children!" she replied. "I suggest you ask Zordon for some advice. I'll see you in one hour!" And with those words, she vanished in a sickly orange glow of energy.

The heroes stood astonished. Brock went next to a tree and levied a fist at the thick trunk. "She's gonna pay for hurting our Pokémon!" he nearly screamed. "Why'd we let her get away?"

"It's okay, man," Ash assured him, gripping his oldest best friend's arm. "We'll be able to find Scorpina and stop whatever she's planning." He raised his left arm up to his face, pressing the button on his Communicator underneath his glove. "Zordon, this is Red Ranger. Come in." There was nothing but an error tone and static. "Zordon, Alpha, come in!"

"Something's wrong," Tracey reported, trying his Communicator as well, but to no avail. "Scorpina must have jammed our signals."

Suddenly, the high-pitched, six-beat tone blared from Misty's Wrist Communicator. "This is Yellow Ranger. We read you," she announced.

Again, static played, but a distorted, squeaky voice started to come through. "Power Rangers…help…help Power Rangers…" it said.

"Alpha?" Misty said. "Alpha, is that you?" Then the tone went dead again.

"He obviously in distress," Lia added. "Alpha, we're coming!"

The Power Rangers cupped their hands around their Power Morphers and prepared to teleport, but nothing happened. An error message appeared on their HUDs that read, "TELEPORTATION LINK DISABLED."

"Okay, this is really bad," Brock huffed out, bringing his palms together to form another solution. "Dino Crystal!" A glimmer of violet energy started to form as he drew his hands out, but it quickly fizzled. "Huh? My crystal isn't forming!"

The other Rangers tried to summon their Dino Crystals, but the transformation didn't work for them either.

"We've got to get to the Command Center now!" Pink Ranger cried.

"But we've got to get our Pokemon some medical attention!" Yellow Ranger protested. "Where's the Center you retrieved them from again?"

"Too far," Lia answered. "I got them for you from Professor Oak via a PC when I was in Riko with my mom a couple days ago. We can't go there and to the Command Center in under an hour without the Dinozords."

"And that would draw too much attention," Blue Ranger posed, snapping his fingers. "But I remember there being an emergency Pokémon transfer computer at the hospital where we tried fought Goldar a while back. We can make it there and tell them we found the Pokémon hurt in the ambush, and that's true."

"Then let's go," Ash said. "We've got a long run ahead of us."