The Rescue Mission (Lost Ninjas)

The Rescue Mission is the fourteenth episode of Power Rangers: Lost Ninjas.

Synopsis
Susana and Kerri plot to rescue Easton, only to run into an apparently-converted Reggie.

Last time we saw the Ethereal Rangers...
Tauza set about repairing the captured Ethereal Zords, secretly monitored by the Rangers. After one such spying trip, Susana retreated to a lake for some time to think, only to get into a fight with Easton over her wandering off alone and his irrational fear of lakes. After he left, Susana accidentally scratched her leg so it bled, and decided to go back to the cave the trio were staying in. A monster, Bl00dhound, tracked her back to the cave, but she and Kerri were able to destroy it. After the fight, the girls found Easton's morpher abandoned in the snow: he'd already been captured.

February 8th, Tauza's Ship, Airspace Above the Himalayas, 5:30 am
Easton heard footsteps, and looked up. In the cell doorway stood Reggie, looking him up and down. Easton's hands were chained up over his head to the wall, at just the right height so he couldn't sit down, just kneel or stand. At the moment, his feet hurt more, so he'd chosen kneeling on one knee.

"Good morning," Reggie said, striding into the cell. He grinned. Easton said nothing. Stopping beside him, Reggie sat down. "Uncomfortable, isn't it?"

"What do you want?" Easton asked, voice and expression flat.

"To talk. About your two friends—Susana and Kerri, I believe?"

Easton said nothing. Rolling his eyes, Reggie reached over, grabbed Easton's jaw, and yanked his head back. The chain jingled with the movement. The Terra Ninja's brown eyes were hard, and the grin looked more like a grimace.

"Vat I vant to know is vat these girls are like."

Easton frowned a little, clearly confused. Reggie's expression changed to a scornful smirk. Releasing Easton's chin, he sat back, leaning against the wall.

"Since your escape, I have studied ze files on all of you. I know your fighting styles, your powers, your skills, your backgrounds, every misdemeanor and accomplishment—but zis is not you. Zis does not tell me vat you vill do under great pressure, as you have all been zese last few days. Zis does not tell me how to understand you, to predict your actions. So tell me about Susana and Kerri."

Easton said nothing for a long minute, brow furrowed. Abruptly, he spat a large glob of saliva at Reggie, hitting him square between the eyes. Reggie didn't even flinch, just quirked an eyebrow as it slid down the side of his nose.

"Really? You are older than I am; zis is embarrassing."

"I have more," Easton offered, switching to his other knee. Scowling, Reggie smacked Easton's leg aside so he fell forward, the chains jerking his wrists up and back. It drew a grunt from him, but he pushed himself upright again, glaring at Reggie. "And I'm not afraid to use it."

"I see," Reggie said, rising to his feet. With a gesture, he summoned his Terra Bo, letting one end thunk on the floor. Easton didn't even look at it: he kept his gaze trained on Reggie. The evil Ranger's smile widened. "I think I vill enjoy zis."

Former Ethereal Academy, 9:20 am
"I thought you had a plan!" Susana hissed, glaring sideways at the girl crouching beside her. She couldn't really see Kerri's face under the helmet, but she didn't seem bothered. Even that sick, weak feeling seemed to have faded; at least, she'd stopped complaining about it. The two morphed whenever they left their hideout now despite Kerri's problem, just in case.

"Me? You and Easton are the smart ones," Kerri replied. "But seriously, do you think they're done with the Zords? I can't hear any building noises."

Susana peeked up over the rock. Sure enough, the crater stood silent before them. A few Snipers patrolled the area, but none seemed to be working on the Zords—they hadn't even shoveled any of last night's snow off them.

"Yeah, looks like they're all done," she said, sliding back down. "But that doesn't tell us how to get to them, or even where Easton is."

"We could make a break for it, jump in and attack."

"Yeah, and maybe blow up Easton or get taken down by that evil Zord. Again," Susana replied, rolling her eyes.

Kerri cocked her head to one side. "Can you hear that?"

"What?"

Kerri held up a finger, shushing her. After a moment, she said, "Footsteps. Someone's running."

A burst of Sniper fire interrupted her. Susana looked again, and saw the foot soldiers converging on a space between the Goldfishzord and Pandazord. Focusing, she tried to feel for the emotions of whoever they were chasing. All she could distinguish was Kerri's curiosity; everything else blurred together into a mess of confusion and fear.

Out through the gap shot a teenager. Struggling in the shin-deep snow outside the crater, he tripped and fell flat. Snipers surrounded him as he struggled upright.

"What's going on? All I can see are blurs," Kerri said.

"Snipers are chasing down a guy," Susana said. "It doesn't look like Easton."

"Should we help him?"

"We don't even know who he is."

The foot soldiers cocked their guns in a series of clicks. Panting, the teen drew himself up.

"If you're not going to help him, I will, morphing trouble or not," Kerri said. There was no reply. She looked around at Susana—but the Sapphire Ranger wasn't there anymore. "Susana?"

A volley of shuriken struck the Snipers, sparking and making them stagger. Before they could recover, a blue blur struck the line from the side, knocking several flat. Susana whirled her Projection Blade and sliced through an oncoming Sniper at the waist: it collapsed in two smoking pieces.

"Okay," Kerri said, and sprang over the rock. Reaching the scene, she quickly realized there was nobody for her to really fight. Spinning, she punched out one Sniper just starting to recover from a shuriken attack. Its head exploded, showering bits of metal everywhere. With a shrug, she grabbed the teenager and ninja-streaked away.

Susana decapitated the last of the Snipers, backed up, and looked around. Her Projection Blade buzzed electrically. She didn't see any more Snipers coming, but decided not to wait and take her chances. Quickly, she ninja-streaked after her fellows.

A mile or so down the hill, Kerri had already helped the stranger sit up, and he was catching his breath. Soot and bruises dotted his body, some showing through the rips in his clothes.

"Who are you?" Susana asked.

The stranger caught his breath. "Reggie Anvil, Black Terra Ranger."

Susana drew her Projection Blade again in a quick gesture, swinging the blade up to his throat. "You're the guy who's been attacking us!"

"Vait!" He threw up his hands. "Vait, please. You have every right to kill me, but please, let me explain first."

Susana hesitated. Kerri, who still had a hand on his shoulder, looked from one to the other.

"They did try to kill him," she pointed out.

"Fine," Susana said, lowering the sword. "Talk fast."

"My Academy vas attacked a veek ago, like yours, but ve surrendered to avoid bloodshed. Ze space ninjas—"

"The what?" Susana interrupted, staring incredulously at him.

"Space ninjas. Zose are ze attackers. Zey've been capturing Ninja Academies across ze globe. Zey demanded I vork for zem. At first, I refused. Zen zey . . ." he seemed to be having trouble getting the words out. Drawing in a breath, he said in a rush, "Zey had also captured someone I cared about very much. Zey threatened to hurt her if I rejected zeir offer. I had no choice."

"So why'd you turn on them?" Kerri asked.

A pained expression crossed Reggie's face. "After ze battle vith ze three of you, zey vere furious I had let you escape. Zey punished her for it—but zey vent too far. Now I have no reason to continue serving zem. I ran. I vould be dead if not for you."

He looked up at the two, waiting for their response. Silently, Susana turned away and started pacing. Kerri sighed, and gave his shoulder a squeeze.

"I'm so sorry," she said quietly.

Finally, Susana faced them again, and sent the Projection Blade back into storage. Reggie's shoulders slumped in relief. Coming closer, the Sapphire Ranger crouched down at his eye level.

"You've been inside their base?"

"I have."

"Can you get us inside?"

Reggie drew back, eyes wide with alarm. "Go back? Zey vill—"

"They've captured one of our team," Susana interrupted. "We want him back. You want to prove you're on our side? Help us save him."

Reggie looked from one to the other. Slowly, he nodded. "All right. But first ve vill need a plan."

10:30 am
A few Snipers hid behind ridges and in the alleys between Zords, keeping watch on the hills. The landscape had been silent and peaceful since the escape of the Rangers. Out on a nearby slope, snow suddenly fountained up with a bang like a firecracker. A few Snipers noticed, and then a few more as another snow flume erupted on the other side of the crater. And another behind a large boulder. And yet another near the first.

The foot soldiers abandoned their posts and ran to investigate as small explosives went off all around them. With the coast clear, a few blurs ninja-streaked down into the middle of the construction site.

"Zis vay," Reggie hissed, leading the two girls towards the center of the crater. "I estimate ze flares vill run out in ten minutes. Ze transporter should be easy to activate."

After a few seconds, they rounded the corner and reached a round metal platform, with a blue glassy center. Reggie tapped a few commands into the control panel sticking up from one side, and it began to hum. The two female Rangers climbed onto the glass, which vibrated beneath their feet, and Reggie joined them.

In a burst of blue-green light, the trio vanished off the platform, materializing on an identical one inside a dark room—in the middle of a ring of Snipers. Before either female Ranger could react, Reggie darted between the Snipers and faced them, laughing.

"What?" Kerri exclaimed, looking this way and that.

"I should have known," Susana muttered.

"Come now, vasn't I convincing?" Reggie said. "I knew you vould fall for a good zob ztory. Never mind; zis is no time for zmall talk. Hand over your morphers, or I'll take zem off your cold, dead bodies."

Susana didn't move. At Reggie's nod, the Snipers cocked their rifles in a staccato of clicks.

"Any idea on where Easton is?" Kerri asked. "I can't hear him."

"A couple of rooms down, I think—he's the only one having any unselfish emotions," Susana replied.

At once, both girls ducked and delivered spin-kicks. The Snipers fired, but only a few shots hit the pair. Somersaulting between two, Susana drew her Projection Blade, and whirled to catch several laser shots on the glowing blade.

"Can I have some of your shuriken? My weapons aren't working," Kerri called, from where she'd grabbed a Sniper and was using it as a human shield. Swinging it out to arm's length, she slammed it bodily into one of the others, bowling it over.

"Sure. We should get that fixed," Susana replied. "Ethereal Shuriken!"

She hurled four or five of the metal stars at Kerri, taking out several Snipers surrounding her. The Diamond Ranger dove to retrieve them, and two more foot soldiers slammed into each other over her head. Springing up, she knocked them aside.

"Terra Storm, Ranger Form!" Reggie yelled.

Reggie crouches in a dark cave, in full ninja uniform. He somersaults and slams both feet into the floor, splintering the gleaming metal floor. His uniform splinters, falling away to expose his Ranger suit. The flying fragments of metal form a helmet around his head, and he strikes a fighting pose.

"Metal Suruchin!"

A length of silvery rope materialized in his hands, either end weighted down with a black metal ball the size of his fist. Whirling one, he advanced on Susana. She rose, attacking with an overhand swing. The cord wrapped around her sword hand, and he yanked it down, throwing Susana off-balance. The other ball shot towards her head—but she threw up an arm in time to block it.

Dragging her in close, Reggie kicked Susana in the solar plexus, and she doubled over. The Sapphire Ranger grasped the rope and pulled back, rolling sideways to take Reggie over with her. Shaking the cords off, she slashed him across the back, and he fell, suit sparking.

"Kerri, find Easton and get back here!" She yelled. "He's down the hall to your left—pretty sure he's the only guy who's breathing outside this room for yards!"

"Right!" She bulled through a row of Snipers and bolted.

At that point, the silvery rope wrapped around Susana's throat. She tried to grab it, but it yanked tight, trapping her fingers against her throat. Unable to loosen it with that weak grip, she choked. Swinging her Projection Blade back, she caught his shoulder, but he twisted aside, slamming her sword arm into a nearby pillar. The sword dropped out of her hands, energy blade sparking as it hit the floor.

"Nice try," Reggie hissed in her ear, "But you're just a beginner. I'm ze best. You never had a chance."

Susana dropped to her knees, clawing feebly at the cord. Laughing, Reggie jerked it tighter. Abruptly, the Sapphire Ranger stopped resisting, and fell back against him. They both fell over, and Susana twisted around, tearing the rope off and slamming an elbow into Reggie's solar plexus.

Into the room darted Kerri and Easton, the latter morphed and wielding a spiky mace. As a new squadron of Snipers ran in the opposite doorway, Easton raised a hand and threw a ball of energy at them. They fell like dominoes.

"Come on!" Kerri dragged Susana away from Reggie and up to the platform. Shoving her on it with Easton, she ran to the panel and punched a few buttons.

"You fools! You don't know how to use—" Reggie began, flipping himself upright.

"Shut up!" Kerri called back, not even sounding annoyed. She hit another sequence of buttons, and the platform started to glow. Hurling herself onto it, she and the other two teleported away before the Snipers even started shooting.

Scrambling off the other platform, Susana caught Kerri by the elbow. "How did you do that?"

"All the buttons make different noises. I noticed the pattern when Reggie typed it in. I thought it might be backwards, but turns out you do the same one to get back down," Kerri replied. "Cool, huh?"

"Definitely," Easton said, and threw another energy blast at the platform. It exploded, and the trio ducked as debris flew everywhere. "To the Zords!"

Overhead, Tauza's ship dropped through the atmosphere, and one by one, the Zords hummed to life. The space ninjas had done a fine job; all three Zords ran like clockwork, as if they'd never been damaged.

"Everyone follow me, I know where we can hide until they lose track of us," Easton said, from the cockpit of the Goldfishzord.

"No arguments here," Kerri replied.

"Seconded."

With a nightmarish shriek, the Screech Owlzord dropped out of the sky—only to be met by a volley of lasers from all three Zords. It flapped and wobbled under the assault, long enough for all three Zords to get a head start.

Leaping out of the snow, the Goldfishzord sprayed snow into the Screech Owlzord's face, and then slapped it a few times with its tail for good measure. Blinded, the evil Zord had to land. By the time the space ninja ship dropped out of the sky, the three Zords had vanished as if by magic. The evil Zord let out a single, piercing screech.

Villains

 * Tauza
 * Snipers