All Fear the Pharaoh Read online

  PENGUIN YOUNG READERS LICENSES

  An Imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

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  Cover illustration by Patrick Spaziante.

  Ebook ISBN 9781524789107

  Version_1

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 1

  In the lobby of the Angel Grove History Museum, Trini Kwan stood looking up in awe at the fossilized skeleton of a sabertooth tiger. The prehistoric beast stood poised to attack, perched on its hind legs, its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth open. The awesome sight reminded Trini of the many times she’d piloted the mighty robotic Sabertooth Tiger Dinozord into battle against the evil forces of Rita Repulsa.

  “Ms. Kwan, don’t tell me you’re daydreaming again,” said an elderly lady with a shrill voice.

  Trini looked back and saw the short and slender woman approaching. She wore a sparkling plum-purple dress with matching cowboy boots. A sash hung from her shoulder, decorated with over one hundred Angel Scout merit badges. Her name was Ms. Gertrude, the highest-ranking Angel Scout leader in Angel Grove.

  “Ms. Gertrude, I wasn’t daydreaming,” Trini said with a nervous crack in her voice. “I was just looking at the—”

  “Excuses, excuses,” Ms. Gertrude interrupted. “When I was your age, I had more discipline in my pinky finger than kids today have in their entire noggins.”

  Trini wanted to speak up in disagreement. She wanted to tell Ms. Gertrude that in school she earned straight As and had an outstanding attendance record. She wanted to tell her how she often organized community-service events. She also wanted to tell Ms. Gertrude how she had worked so hard to become a highly skilled martial artist. Of the many things Trini could have said to defend herself, experience had taught her that disagreeing with Ms. Gertrude would only make things worse.

  “Sorry, ma’am. It won’t happen again,” Trini said.

  Ms. Gertrude began to write notes on a clipboard. “Be sure that it doesn’t. If you hope to pass the Angel Scout leadership exam, you must go above and beyond. Those bright-eyed young scouts will be looking to you for leadership and guidance,” she said, then pointed toward the museum’s main entrance. “Speaking of which, here they come now.”

  Trini smiled brightly as the young Angel Scouts entered the lobby. They were all between eight and ten years old and wore matching purple skirts with decorated sashes over white T-shirts. Their gleaming excitement reminded Trini of the many great adventures she had gone on when she was an Angel Scout. The chance to become one of their trusted leaders was just as important to Trini as her duties as the Yellow Power Ranger.

  As the scouts approached, Trini was delighted to see her cousin Silvia was among them. “I didn’t know you had joined the scouts,” Trini said, giving her cousin a loving hug.

  Silvia smiled and shrugged. “At first I didn’t want to, but after hearing your stories about how great it all is, I thought I’d give it a try.”

  “I think it’s a great thing that you did. I’m going to make sure you have so much fun, you’ll wish you had joined a long time ago,” Trini said.

  Ms. Gertrude glared at Trini over her clipboard. “Watch yourself, Ms. Kwan. Favoritism will not be tolerated.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” Trini said assuredly. “It’s just that I’ve been trying for a long time to get my cousin to join. Besides, you told me that recruiting is a very important part of a scout leader’s job.”

  Ms. Gertrude reluctantly nodded in agreement. “Fine. I’ll award you one bonus point for the new recruit.” She marked down a point on her clipboard.

  For the next two hours, Trini led the scouts through the various halls of the museum. She had spent nearly a week beforehand studying the many exhibits so she would be able to give the scouts the best possible learning experience. They saw art and science exhibits. Weapons and armor from various time periods. Even old computers from the early age of technology. Along the way, Trini tried her best to impress Ms. Gertrude, but somehow she managed to lose more points than she earned.

  Just when Trini thought things couldn’t get any worse, a towering brute stumbled into their path. He had lanky limbs and was wrapped in bandages from head to toe, like a mummy. His musty odor made him smell like he had crawled out of a tomb after a thousand years of slumber.

  The mummy glared down at Trini and the scouts. “Welcome to the Tomb of the Griffin Pharaoh. The master has decreed that you all be put to death.”

  Chapter 2

  The mummy extended its lanky arms wide and let out a roar. Even standing hunched forward, it towered over Trini by two feet. Silvia and the Angel Scouts screeched fearfully and scurried behind Trini for safety.

  Trini, having fought in many battles, was not so easily shaken. With fearless eyes, she glared up at the menacing brute. “Back off, you creeper!”

  The mummy snickered. “How could such a puny mortal possibly stand against my great strength?”

  Trini took a fighting stance. “You put one hand on these girls, you’ll find out I’m not so puny.”

  The mummy flinched nervously and took a big step backward. “Easy, it’s just a game.”

  “What do you mean, ‘a game’?” Trini asked, feeling quite confused.

  Ms. Gertrude stepped between Trini and the mummy. “It means he is an actor.”

  Trini looked around the hall. Several other mythical Egyptian creatures were lurking among the crowd. There was a golden sphinx, a catlike creature, a man-size scorpion, and a serpopard, which was a stra
nge creature that resembled a leopard with the head and extra-long neck of a sea serpent.

  Ms. Gertrude shook her head disapprovingly and wrote more notes on her clipboard. “As you can see, Ms. Kwan, they are merely performers in costumes.”

  Feeling foolish, Trini lowered her fist. “I’m so sorry,” she said to the mummy. “I was just trying to protect the girls.”

  “You’re not completely to blame,” the mummy said. “I must admit I do look quite terrifying in this getup.” He then ambled away.

  Silvia took Trini’s hand. “Don’t feel bad. I think you were very brave.”

  The other Angel Scouts agreed wholeheartedly.

  Ms. Gertrude grumbled. “Fine. I’ll give you one bonus point for bravery and subtract one for poor judgment. Now can we just move along with the tour?”

  Trini led the scouts around the hall, showing them the many amazing artifacts that had been unearthed in the Egyptian desert. There were stone tablets with strange writings. Weapons and armor once used by great warriors. Jeweled crowns worn by the emperors and empresses of the ancient world. Of the many amazing artifacts to be seen, all paled in comparison to a golden statue that reigned tall in the center of the hall.

  “They called him the Griffin Pharaoh,” Trini said as they approached the statue.

  The girls looked up at the statue, awestruck.

  From the waist down, the mighty winged creature had the legs and body of a lion. From the waist up, he had the muscular chest and arms of a man and the head of a mighty bird. In his talon-like hands, he gripped a golden staff with sparkling jewels embedded in the hilt.

  Trini began to read from a plaque at the base of the statue. “According to legend, the Griffin Pharaoh was a tyrant who conquered the ancient world by imprisoning in mystical urns all those who opposed him. He then used his cyclone staff to send the urns soaring away to the far corners of the earth. Each urn was protected by a guardian beast that would attack anyone who dared to come near it. Once all his enemies were defeated, the Griffin Pharaoh used his hypnotic powers to turn everyone into mindless servants. It is believed that he once had hundreds of mystical urns, but now only five of the relics remain.”

  Trini and the scouts stepped up for a closer look at the five urns. They were three feet tall and forged from glossy black metal. Each had the image of a guardian beast carved into the side: a sphinx, a mythical cat, a mummy, a scorpion, and a serpopard.

  Silvia raised a hand. “So how was the Griffin Pharaoh defeated?”

  Trini looked again at the plaque. “That part of the legend doesn’t seem to be included here.”

  “I bet he was beaten by the Power Rangers,” Silvia said. “They fight monsters like him all the time.”

  Another scout named Daisy shook her head. “There were no Power Rangers back then.”

  “There were so,” Silvia said. “Isn’t that right, Trini?”

  Trini could have easily told them the answer, but she had a better idea in mind. “I think you should research the subject. It would be a great way to earn a Historical Research Merit Badge.”

  “Unless you’re afraid you’ll get proven wrong,” Daisy teased.

  “I’m not wrong, and I’m not afraid,” Silvia said and then stomped away.

  Daisy let out a screech and stormed off in the other direction.

  “Girls, wait,” Trini called out, but Silvia and Daisy were already gone.

  “Not good at all,” Ms. Gertrude said. She wrote more notes on her clipboard and strutted away.

  Trini let out a long sigh, certain she had failed the first part of her leadership exam.

  Chapter 3

  In the darkest shadows of the dusty gray moon stood the palace of the villainous witch Rita Repulsa. Standing on the observation deck atop the tallest tower, a delinquent pair of aliens was spying on Trini through Rita’s extreme long-range telescope. One was called Squatt, a short and pudgy creature with a big head and huge teeth. The other alien was a lanky apelike creature with blue skin named Baboo.

  “Oh, this is too perfect,” Baboo said diabolically. Peering through the telescope, he was able to see Trini at the Angel Grove History Museum, still looking at the statue of the Griffin Pharaoh. “That meddlesome Yellow Ranger just gave me a great idea of how we can do away with all the Rangers in one fell swoop.”

  “Let me see,” Squatt said, trying to shove Baboo away from the telescope.

  “Not now, you blubbering fool. I’m busy plotting,” Baboo said, pushing Squatt hard enough to knock him flat onto his back end.

  Finster, an intellectual gray-skinned alien with pointy ears and a long snout, stepped up behind Squatt and Baboo. “You two had better get away from Rita’s telescope before she turns you into a pair of hairless newts.”

  Baboo raised a fist at Finster. “What Rita doesn’t know won’t hurt you. Get my meaning?”

  Finster cowered nervously.

  “It doesn’t matter, anyway,” Squatt said. “Rita is away on secret business, and she left us in charge until she gets back.”

  “She didn’t tell me anything of the sort,” Finster said skeptically.

  “If she had told you, it wouldn’t be a secret,” said Squatt.

  Finster glared at them through his thick glasses. “If it’s a secret, then how did you two come to know about it?”

  “Because she told us not to tell when she left, dummy,” said Baboo.

  “Anyway, we don’t have time for boring questions,” said Squatt. “We’re busy plotting against the Power Rangers.”

  “Now if I could just remember what we’re plotting,” Baboo said, again looking through the telescope. This time he saw that Trini and the scouts were departing from the tomb of the Griffin Pharaoh. “Now I remember. We’re going to bring that Griffin Pharaoh statue to life.”

  “What nonsense are you talking about now?” Finster asked, nudging Baboo aside and peering through the telescope. He saw a security guard turn off the lights. The Griffin Pharaoh looked even more frightening in the dark. “Oh my! He sure would make a formidable nemesis for those blasted Rangers.”

  “Then you’ll help us?” Baboo asked.

  “Yeah, will you?” asked Squatt. He scratched his head in confusion. “Wait, why do we want to bring the Griffin Pharaoh to life?”

  Baboo smacked Squatt on the head. “So we can order him to trap the Power Rangers inside those urns and send them to the far reaches of the world, just like it says in the legend.”

  Finster considered this. “It does sound like a good plan, but Rita would be furious if she found out we were acting without her permission.”

  Baboo stared down at Finster. “We don’t need permission because Rita left us in charge.”

  Squatt grabbed Finster by his overalls. “And what we say goes, get it?”

  “Okay, okay. Just get your brutish hands off me, and I’ll help,” Finster said, struggling to get away from Squatt. “Follow me to my laboratory, and I’ll figure something out.”

  Squatt and Baboo raised their arms in victory.

  “Rita is going to be so proud of us when she finds out we finally defeated the Power Rangers,” Squatt said.

  “She sure will, but first we got to do it, so let’s get to it,” Baboo said.

  Finster led Squatt and Baboo down a dank and dreary stone corridor. They passed several iron cell doors, each with vicious creatures growling and grunting on the other side. They entered Finster’s workshop. Clay molds of vicious monsters lined the wooden shelves. Flames blasted from the sides of his Monster-Matic oven in the far corner; he used the nefarious machine to bring his clay monsters to life.

  Finster scurried over to an old metal chest in the corner and heaved open the top. The chest was filled to the brim with dusty jars and glass vials, all containing rare ingredients used in his many alchemic creations. The bottles clinked and clanked as he se
arched. At the very bottom of the chest, he found a bottle full of black sand.

  “I believe this will do the trick,” Finster said.

  Squatt snatched the bottle from Finster and took a closer look. “How is a jar of dirt going to help us?”

  “Careful! That’s very fragile,” Finster said. He grabbed the bottle back from Squatt and held it up to the light, revealing that the sand grains were moving around as if they were alive. “This rare Nanosand can only be found on a tiny moon over a billion light-years away. It has the unique ability to turn any form of matter into a living being. Not only that, it will take on the personality of the Griffin Pharaoh, just as described in the legend.”

  “How?” Squatt asked, scratching his head in confusion.

  Baboo shrugged. “Who cares how, as long as we can use him to trap the Power Rangers in his urns and send them so far away nobody will ever find them.”

  Squatt jumped around joyfully. “I can’t wait to see the look on Rita’s face when she finds out what we’ve done.”

  “This had better work,” Finster said nervously. “If we fail, the look on Rita’s face will be the last thing we see before she blasts us into oblivion.”

  “You worry too much,” said Squatt.

  “What could possibly go wrong?” Baboo asked.

  Squat and Baboo exchanged a victorious high five and then strutted away.

  Chapter 4

  At the Angel Grove Youth Center, the Angel Scouts were busy hosting a bake sale. Homemade cookies, cakes, and candies filled every inch of two large tables. A long line of buyers waited eagerly to support their cause.

  At the same time, Trini and Ms. Gertrude oversaw a team of scouts who were performing a first-aid training seminar. Ernie, the jolly owner of the Youth Center, sat in a chair as the scouts wrapped his limbs in splints and bandages.

  “Ernie, I can’t thank you enough for letting us use the Youth Center today,” Trini said.

  “Anything to help the Angel Scouts,” Ernie said gleefully. “And you’re doing a great job. You should be proud, Trini.”