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  The Blue and Black Rangers had already removed several of the heavy concrete chunks. The Pink Ranger used both arms to help, but her helmet was still buried.

  “She seems fine. Our enhanced resilience and the uniform helped protect her,” the Black Ranger said. “I think she’s trying to tell us something, but her helmet-communicator’s been damaged.”

  “Keep working,” the Red Ranger said. “We’ll fan out and try to find Bones.”

  He put out his arms and began walking slowly around the room.

  “Watch your step,” Bones told them. “He’s a tricky one. Probably the fiercest monster we’ve ever fought.”

  “I don’t know about that,” the Yellow Ranger said. “But of course we’ll be careful.”

  “Really?” Bones asked, feeling a little offended. “Who do you think was stronger?”

  “Goldar, for one,” the Yellow Ranger said.

  “Goldar?” Bones said, stifling a laugh. “That piker?”

  “Not now,” the Red Ranger said. “Focus!”

  As they searched, a few loose rocks trickled down the debris pile.

  “There!” Bones said. Without another word, he fired the Dragon Dagger.

  “Careful! You’ll hit the others!” the Red Ranger warned.

  Though Bones wished otherwise, the green energy didn’t hit anyone. It did, though, raise a big cloud of concrete dust.

  “Look at the dust!” the Yellow Ranger said, pointing. “You can see him! He’s reassembled himself!”

  A vague figure could be seen within the cloud.

  Realizing he’d been spotted, Tommy put himself between the Pink Ranger and the others, then turned visible again.

  This could be my last chance to convince them who I am, he thought.

  But the little voice had grown stronger since he’d turned invisible. “What would you want to do that for?” it said. “Forget that silly hero stuff and just go with the flow!”

  The Blue and Black Rangers crouched over the half-buried Pink Ranger, ready to protect her in case Bones dared to come closer.

  But he didn’t. Instead, Tommy said, “You’ve got to believe me! I am the Green Power Ranger!”

  When the false Green Ranger moved to fire again, Tommy tensed.

  The Red Ranger stopped him in his tracks, grabbing his wrist.

  “Huh?” Bones said. “Let go of me!”

  “No! Hold your fire!” the Red Ranger ordered. “You might hit one of us. Besides, I want to hear him out.”

  At those words, the air filled with a high-pitched squeal. It was coming from somewhere outside.

  “Hear him out? No!” the voice said. “Don’t do that! What are you waiting for? Fight! Fight!”

  Tommy looked through the hole and saw a familiar robed figure on an overhanging section of the roof. She was bouncing up and down on an old-fashioned bicycle, shaking her fist.

  “Rita!” Tommy said. “You did this! You swapped my mind with Bones’s!”

  As soon as he spoke, he realized the evil witch wouldn’t just admit it.

  In fact, without skipping a beat, she pretended Tommy was Bones.

  “What’re you talking about, Bonesy?” Rita said, smiling wickedly. “Such a big kidder, you wacky numbskull, you! Quit ribbing them. You know who you are!”

  “You’re Bones!” the little voice in Tommy’s head said.

  It was getting harder to ignore, but he steeled himself against it.

  There’s still a chance to turn the tables, Tommy thought. The longer I keep Rita talking, the more likely she’ll give something away. If nothing else, the others will realize I’m not her pawn.

  Tommy shouted back, “Confess, Rita! Tell them who I am!”

  A sniggering Rita waved him off.

  “Joke’s over, bonehead,” she said. “Go on, everyone, don’t mind me! Fight!”

  She’s impatient, Tommy thought. If I get her angry enough, the truth might slip out! But what would make her angry?

  Once again, Tommy tried to put himself in another’s shoes, but imagining what it was like to be an evil egomaniac was particularly hard.

  “Whose plan was it to switch my mind with Bones’s, Rita?” Tommy shouted. “Finster’s? Baboo’s? You couldn’t have come up with this all on your own; you’re not smart enough!”

  Even from this far away, he could see Rita’s eyes narrow and feel the anger well in her voice.

  “Oh, you know better than that, Bones! All the good ideas are mine!” she said.

  “Even this one?” Tommy asked.

  Grunting, she hopped off the bike, clenched her fists, and paced.

  “Oh-ho-ho!” she said, wagging a finger in the air. “You’re trying to trick me, but it won’t work! If I say the mind swap was my idea, that means there was a mind swap! But I’m not falling for it,” she said. She tapped a long fingernail against the side of her conical hairdo. “Because I’ve got too much brain up here, Tommy boy!” she said.

  “Wait!” the Black Ranger said. “Did she just call him Tommy?”

  “Uh . . . no,” Bones said. “I think she said mommy’s boy. You know, like, a human insult.”

  “A human insult?” the Yellow Ranger said, staring at him.

  Rita stomped her feet. “Bones! I meant Bones!” she said.

  She spread her arms and screamed. “Aghhhh! Fine! But it was my idea, all of it! My idiot lackeys would lose their heads if they weren’t attached, and in Bones’s case, that’s a big problem!”

  At that precise moment, Lady Fluff chased Stinkerbell back into the gym. Bulk and Skull, huffing and puffing, appeared behind them, stopping short when they realized where they were.

  “Agh! Did they have to run back here?” Skull whined.

  Trying to stay out of the way, the bullies knelt and waved frantically at the pets.

  “Stinkerbell!” Bulk said. “Heel!”

  “Lady Fluff!” said Skull. “Please, come here! Pretty please?”

  Meanwhile, the Rangers stared at Bones, Tommy, and Rita.

  The Red Ranger slammed his fist into his palm. “It is true!” he said. “She switched their minds!”

  “Whatever your plan is, you won’t succeed,” the Blue Ranger said.

  “We’ll stop you!” the Yellow Ranger added.

  “Blah, blah, blah!” Rita said, rolling her wicked eyes. “Y’know, power punks, at this point, even I can’t remember what my evil plan was! But don’t you think for a second that means I’ve lost! Not as long as I have this!”

  From the folds of her robes, she took out the Mind-Swapper.

  “See how much you like your pals when you have to walk them!” Rita said.

  Aiming at the Blue Ranger and Lady Fluff, she fired. Aiming at the Black Ranger and Stinkerbell, she fired again. Suddenly, the Blue Ranger was rolling on the ground, trying to lick his arms through his helmet. The Black Ranger got down on all fours and ran in a circle, as if chasing his tail.

  The Rangers and the animals had swapped minds!

  But Rita wasn’t finished yet.

  “And I think you two droolers have had all that power long enough!” she said to the Red and Yellow Rangers. “How about we give some other teens a turn?”

  She fired, first at the Red Ranger and Bulk, then at Skull and the Yellow Ranger. In an instant, they had all swapped minds, too!

  Chapter 20

  Throughout the world, fans of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers daydream about what it might be like to be Rangers themselves. As long as they realize it’s a daydream, it can help them live up to the virtues the Rangers represent and be heroes in their own lives. But for the real Rangers, the wise sage Zordon selected a particular group of teens with attitude.

  Skull and Bulk had an attitude, sure, but it wasn’t the right attitude. While the bullies may have imagined being Power
Rangers would be incredibly cool, the actual feeling of being zapped into someone else’s body and suddenly given enhanced powers was pretty terrifying.

  “I’m a Power Ranger!” Skull said, staring at his arms. “And I think I’m a girl!”

  He looked up. His body was just a few feet away, looking just as confused as he was. “And . . . and . . . that’s me over there, standing next to you!” He called to the person he thought was his friend, “Bulk, you’ve got to help me!”

  But Bulk’s form straightened and said, “I’m not Bulk, I’m Jas—uh, the Red Ranger!”

  Meanwhile, the body of the Red Ranger, which was standing right next to Skull, said, “I . . . I think I’m over here, Skull!”

  “Eep!” Skull said. “What are we going to do? Fight evil monsters? I don’t want to fight evil monsters—they get giant!”

  “I don’t want to fight them even when they’re small!” Bulk cried. “Let’s get out of here!”

  Bulk and Skull tried to run. Never having had enhanced strength and speed before, they slammed into each other very, very hard and wound up a tangled mess on the floor.

  The bodies of Bulk and Skull, meanwhile, inhabited by the minds of the Red and Yellow Rangers, rushed up to defend Tommy.

  The Red Ranger put his hand on Tommy’s shoulder. “No matter whose bodies we’re in,” he said, “we’re still Rangers inside, and we’re with you!”

  The Yellow Ranger glared at Bones and said, “You’re going down!”

  “Seriously?” Bones said. “Have you looked at yourselves? What do you think the three of you can do against me? Other than lose?”

  He fired the Dragon Dagger at them.

  Tommy’s friends were no longer protected by uniforms or even their trained bodies. To protect them, he quickly separated his arms and tried to block the attack. Though he took the brunt of the damage, the Red and Yellow Rangers found their new bodies thrown backward.

  As soon as they landed, the Red Ranger said, “Don’t worry about us. It just takes a little getting used to!”

  It was clear, though, that he was having trouble getting Bulk’s body back on its feet.

  But Tommy couldn’t stop to help. Bones was running right at him. He went into a high kick that slammed into Tommy’s jaw and knocked his skull off.

  “Heads up!” Bones said.

  The skull went flying, landing sideways on one of the arcade games across the room.

  But the Yellow Ranger had some ideas of her own. While Bones was busy, she’d lifted a piece of broken mirror from the pile of debris.

  “Green Ranger!” she shouted. “Eye-blasts!”

  Tommy was torn. He was reluctant to use this body’s powers, but it not only felt good to be called the Green Ranger again, he also trusted the Yellow Ranger—so he fired at the mirror. The Yellow Ranger held the glass at just the right angle so when the twin beams hit, they bounced off and hit Bones when he least expected it.

  Knocked off his feet, Bones landed with a thud. The loud noise made Stinkerbell, who was in the body of the Black Ranger, yip loudly and race out on all fours. Hissing, Lady Fluff, now in the body of the Blue Ranger, followed.

  Nearby, a terrified Skull and Bulk had finally untangled their Ranger bodies. Bulk, rising first, grabbed his friend’s uniformed shoulders and pulled him up.

  Deeply confused, he stared at the Yellow Ranger’s body and said, “Skull, you’re really in there?”

  Skull nodded rapidly. “Maybe we’re dreaming,” he said. “And if we pinch ourselves, we’ll wake up!”

  Desperate, the two started frantically pinching each other’s arms.

  “It’s no good,” Skull said sadly. “I can’t feel anything through the uniform!”

  “Keep trying,” Bulk said.

  But things for the Rangers were about to get much worse. Tommy’s skull sat sideways on a pinball machine. He saw dozens of ominous shadows rising just outside the hole in the wall.

  It’s the Skeleton Warriors! he realized. They’ve regrouped!

  Tommy began to reassemble his body, but the skeletons were already swarming in. As the pieces tried to fly together, some of the warriors grabbed his torso and arms, keeping them from reconnecting.

  Scores more advanced on the Red and Yellow Rangers, swords out.

  How can they even try to fight back in those bodies? Tommy worried.

  But in the next instant, he learned that he’d underestimated his friends. Using one of their practiced strategies, the Red Ranger lifted the Yellow Ranger under her arms and swung her. As she kicked outward, a slew of skeletons fell back.

  Strange as it was for Tommy to see Bulk’s and Skull’s bodies execute the maneuver, it made him realize that there really was more to being a Ranger than what was on the outside.

  It’s time I did my part, he thought. Even if my parts are all over!

  Making his free leg hop along, he used it to kick the warriors that were holding his arm and torso until they let go. As soon as they did, he put himself back together.

  “That’s the way to do it, Bones!” the little voice inside him said.

  Before Tommy could argue, Rita called to him from the rooftop.

  “Come on, buddy!” she said. “Drop those losers and come back to my side! Sooner or later you’ll be serving me again, anyway! Why wait when you can avoid the rush?”

  Remembering the horror of being under her spell, he shouted at her, his voice full of defiance.

  “Bones will never join your side again!” he said.

  Tommy gulped. “I mean, the Green Ranger! The Green Ranger will never join your side again!” he said.

  Had he been in the body too long?

  Was Tommy forgetting who he really was?

  Chapter 21

  When Rita heard Tommy call himself Bones, she grinned so widely, her lips nearly cracked.

  “Don’t deny it!” she said. “It’s happening! You know it; I know it! You’re starting to think you are Bones! Pretty soon, all the Rangers will forget who they are!”

  Eyes wide, the Yellow Ranger turned to Tommy.

  “Is what she’s saying true?” she asked in Skull’s high-pitched voice. “Unless we change back, I’ll start to believe that I’m . . . Eugene Skullovitch?”

  Tommy nodded. “I heard Baboo say the same thing when they had me imprisoned at the Moon Palace,” he said. “It’s a side effect of the mind swap.”

  Even as he spoke, the little voice inside of him insisted, “You are Bones!”

  No! I’m not! he thought.

  “Are too!” the voice said.

  “No!” Tommy said out loud, falling to his knees.

  Seeing his struggle, the Yellow Ranger and the Red Ranger knelt at his side. They wanted desperately to help their friend, but weren’t sure what they could do.

  “We can’t even ask Zordon for help!” the Red Ranger said. “Our communicators, our Power Coins, everything is with our original bodies!”

  Bones scratched his helmet. “Hmm. This is most interesting. Does that mean I’ll start to think I’m a Power Ranger?” he asked.

  “No, numbskull!” Rita said, scowling. “It only happens to humans, not monsters! Now hurry up and attack those rotten Ranger teens while they’re confused, or I’ll start to think you’re a complete idiot!”

  “Of course,” Bones said. Raising the Dragon Dagger, he went for them.

  Seeing him coming, the Red Ranger said, “Remember, we’re still Power Rangers!”

  “Got it!” the Yellow Ranger said, nodding.

  Rather than run away or hold their ground, they both raced at Bones, planning to meet his attack halfway, but the untrained bodies of Skull and Bulk were sluggish and difficult to move.

  A charging Bones laughed at their bravado. “You may be Rangers on the inside,” he said. “But I’m bad to the bone!”
r />   At the last instant, two pink-and-white gloved hands reached up from the debris and grabbed the ankle of the false Green Ranger.

  “What?” Bones said. He went crashing forward, trying to kick himself free of the Pink Ranger’s grip. But she held on tight, using the momentum of his fall to pull herself out.

  Her helmet-communicator working again, the Pink Ranger said, “Trip or treat!”

  Seeing the chance the Pink Ranger had given him, the Red Ranger leaped toward the fallen Bones. Bulk’s heavy body landed flat on their foe, the weight forcing the air from his chest.

  “Ungh!” Bones said, gasping. “And here . . . I’m not used to breathing . . . at all!”

  As the false Green Ranger fought to get the Red Ranger off of him, the Yellow Ranger grabbed Bones’s sword arm. Knowing the right pressure points, even in Skull’s body, she was able to twist the arm hard enough to make Bones drop the Dragon Dagger.

  “We haven’t won yet,” the Red Ranger said as he worked to keep Bones down. “I can’t hold him for long like this, and more Skeleton Warriors are pouring in!”

  Tommy was still on his knees, so the Yellow Ranger took his arm and tried to get him to his feet. “You’ve got to help us!” she said.

  But Tommy was struggling and, it seemed, losing the battle.

  “No, you don’t!” the voice said. “Help Rita!”

  “Who do I help? Who . . . am . . . I?” Tommy said.

  Watching his pained efforts, the Pink Ranger immediately used her wrist-communicator to contact the Command Center.

  “Zordon!” she said. “The Green Ranger is stuck in Bones’s body and losing his identity. How can we help him?”

  The ancient sage’s voice responded calmly, as always, but didn’t offer much hope.

  “We have been watching, but there is nothing Alpha 5 and I can do from here,” Zordon said. “I am proud that you all understand that being a Ranger is more about who you are inside than it is about power. I can feel Tommy fighting to remember that, but the effect of the mind swap is strong. He needs us now more than ever. The only chance is for you to help him hold on to who he is.”

  “I think I understand,” the Pink Ranger said.