Mind over Magic Read online

  As the Zord hopped around to keep its balance, the giant skull spun and floated up right in front of the Dragonzord.

  “This time, you’re finally going to lose. I can feel it in my bones!” the skull said. “No, scratch that, I can feel it in your bones! Ha-ha!”

  “Really? Because I think you just made a big mistake!” the Green Ranger said back.

  The Dragonzord grabbed the flying skull in its massive hands and held on tight.

  “Let’s see if you can get back together while I’m holding on to your head!” he added.

  “What? Let go!” Bones cried.

  He had his arms and feet punch and kick the Dragonzord, but Tommy did not let go.

  Watching from below, the other Rangers rooted him on.

  “Go, Green!” the Red Ranger said.

  “Now that you have the head,” the Yellow Ranger said, “you have to destroy it!”

  “Okay . . . how?” the Green Ranger asked.

  The Blue Ranger thought. “Last time we fought Bones, we used the high-intensity heat of a lava pit. Of course that was in another dimension,” he said.

  “Where are we going to get a lava pit in the middle of Angel Grove?” the Pink Ranger said.

  Suddenly, Alpha 5’s chirpy voice came through their communicators.

  “Attention, Rangers! Zordon and I have been monitoring the battle and have found just the thing!” he said. “There’s a partly active volcano seven hundred miles off the coast. It’s not dangerous to the inhabitants, but the molten lava inside should be hot enough to destroy Bones. I’m sending the Green Ranger the coordinates.”

  “I don’t think even the Dragonzord can kick that far!” the Green Ranger said.

  Zordon’s calm voice responded, “It is possible, but it will require a stronger connection to the Dragonzord than you’ve ever achieved before. I am confident you can do it, if you’re sure of who you are again.”

  “I hear you, Zordon,” the Green Ranger said. “And yes, I know who I am!”

  Bones’s arms were still punching and his legs were still kicking. But as much as the blows shook the cockpit, the Green Ranger managed to keep his grip on the monstrous head.

  But can I do what comes next? he wondered.

  Only the double flying kick could produce the sort of force he’d need. He’d mastered it as Tommy. He’d even done it in Bones’s body. But he’d never even thought of trying it with the Dragonzord.

  Zordon was right. The split-second timing would be twice as difficult using the controller. At the same time, Tommy had spent the day not only seeing things from other perspectives but finding his true self.

  If ever there was a time he was prepared to try it, it was now.

  Ready, he told himself.

  The Dragonzord let Bones’s skull drop. In the fraction of a second before it could fly off, the Green Ranger had the enormous living machine lean back on its tail for support, raise its knee, and kick. Using the momentum to lift the Dragonzord’s body, he extended its second powerful leg until the heavy heel slammed into the skull, completing the second kick.

  Bones’s jaw flapped open long enough for him to say, “What the . . . ?”

  Then his spinning head sailed off into the blue sky, swirling into the distance until it looked like a strange flying saucer.

  The Green Ranger tracked it on the Dragonzord’s radar. It hurtled along in a huge arc and finally came down, hundreds of miles away, smack into the center of the distant volcano!

  Before the evil magic in the head dissipated, Bones screamed, “I should have quit while I wasn’t just a head!” before being consumed by lava.

  Back in Angel Grove, the rest of Bones’s body collapsed. The skeleton warriors, also exhausted, disappeared.

  The Green Ranger exhaled with relief. He was happy to hear his friends cheering through his wrist-communicator, “You did it!”

  “We did it,” he corrected.

  “You mean because I gave you the volcano coordinates, right?” Alpha 5 piped in.

  “That, and the way you’ve all believed in me. In the end, it was the faith you had in me that pulled me through,” the Green Ranger said. “Thanks.”

  “Well,” the Red Ranger said, “you’re welcome!”

  Rita shook her wand and shouted, “I’ll get you yet, you puny, punk Power twerps!”

  In a burst of magical energy, she teleported back to the safety of the Moon Palace.

  All that was left of her schemes was wreckage that could be easily repaired.

  Chapter 26

  A few days later, Tommy was standing outside the Angel Grove Youth Center. As he watched the masons finish patching the hole, a cheerful Kimberly strolled up beside him.

  “Hard to believe the gym and juice bar are already back open, huh?” she said.

  Tommy nodded, saying, “They’re just doing some cleanup on the outside.”

  Before either could say another word, Bulk and Skull appeared, carrying Stinkerbell and Lady Fluff. The pets seemed fine. The bullies did not. They were looking around nervously, jumping at every shadow. Apparently they were still a little skittish after their mind-swapping experience.

  All the same, Skull brightened when he saw Kimberly.

  When they stepped up, Kimberly petted both the cat and the dog.

  “They’re not wearing their little costumes anymore,” she noticed. “Have you given up on your Pet Fu project?”

  “Actually,” Bulk said. “we have a new idea. We’re going to have them star in a horror film. It will make us rich.”

  Tommy frowned. “A horror film starring a cat and a dog?” he asked.

  Bulk turned up his nose and said, “As if a loser like you could appreciate my artistic sensibility!”

  Tommy stifled a grin. “Forgive me, but I am eager to learn, especially lately. What’s it about?”

  Though dubious, Bulk warmed to the attention. He put out his hands to paint a picture. “Well,” he said, “in our new film, an innocent cat and dog fall prey to an evil scientist who switches their minds!”

  Kimberly blinked and nudged Tommy. “That sounds familiar,” she whispered.

  “They say the best writers work from experience,” Tommy whispered back.

  “Yep!” Skull said. “There’s only one problem.”

  “What’s that?” Tommy asked.

  “We have to teach Stinkerbell to meow and Lady Fluff to bark,” Skull said.

  Bulk slapped his friend’s shoulder. “And it’s not going to happen while we’re standing outside chatting, is it? Come along!” he said.

  As they went in, Kimberly called, “Good luck!”

  Bulk kept his back to her, but Skull spun around long enough to wave and say, “Thanks.”

  “They’re going to need it,” Tommy muttered.

  After hesitating a little, Kimberly turned back to Tommy. “We never did get together for juice,” she said. “Well, I guess I did, but it wasn’t exactly with you. If you’re not doing anything, I could text the others to meet us. What do you say?”

  Smiling, he shook his head. “Sorry, not today,” he said. “I’m waiting for Billy. He’s going to teach me chess.”

  “Really?” Kimberly said. “I thought that wasn’t your kind of game.”

  Tommy shrugged. “It’s not,” he said. “But everything I went through really showed me how valuable it is to see from new perspectives. I figured, why not give it a try?”

  “Good for you,” Kimberly said. “Mind if I watch?”

  “Only if you promise not to laugh when I lose!” Tommy said with a smile.

  “Never!” she said. Leaning in closer, she whispered, “After all, Rita and Bones were defeated, thanks to you!”

  He shrugged and said, “Like I said before, it’s really thanks to the Power Rangers. We’re all part of something big
ger than ourselves. A team.”

  She smiled and nodded. “That’s something I don’t think Rita will ever be able to understand,” she said.

  At the same moment, far off in the Moon Palace, Rita was pointing at Finster, Baboo, Squatt, and Goldar, shouting at each, “Our defeat was your fault! And your fault! And your fault! And your fault!”

  Rather than anger her further, her minions were forced to agree.

  “Yes, your highness!” they said in unison.

  And though the minions had never even tried to see things from another perspective, they were all thinking the same thing: I hope she gets tired eventually.

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