High Noon

High Noon is the twenty-eighth episode of Power Rangers: Lost Ninjas.

Synopsis
Nico's school decides to challenge his ownership of the Stone Morpher.

Last time we saw the Terra and Shinobi Rangers
Nico and Chris destroyed a monster who had previously been one of Nico's old classmates, and the daughter of the Sensei of the Metal Ninjas. Korassil promised her revenge, and the two Rangers parted ways, Nico acting on seeds of doubt planted by Alex, who'd befriended him out-of-morph.

February 17th, Northern Castle Ridge, 10:43 am
Hands shoved in his pockets, Nico looked over the row of gleaming new motorcycles. His Mom still refused, point-blank, to let him get one, even for Ranger work—and she said that would be suspicious anyway. She seemed to care more about preserving his secret identity than he did.

Nico lost his train of thought when someone shoved him from behind, hard. Instinctively, he whirled and dropped into a fighting stance, only to see a perfectly ordinary guy his age standing behind him. Well, not quite ordinary; something around his ankle made a lump under the right leg of his jeans.

The other teen glanced back, and to his surprise, Nico recognized him.

"Qing?" He asked incredulously.

The other boy went to shove Nico against the storefront, but he ducked and headbutted Qing in the stomach. As he doubled over, Nico picked him up by the waist and threw him over his shoulder. He hit the snow heaped up on the sidewalk and crumpled with a grunt.

"What are you doing?" Nico demanded, as the Chinese teenager picked himself up painfully. "We're on the same side."

"What makes you think that?" Qing raised a fist, and it turned into granite with a rumble.

Nico's eyes widened, and he ducked the first punch, catching Qing's following hook on his own now-stone arm. "You're working for Korassil?"

"I'm trying to get what's rightfully mine!" Qing gave a significant look to the morpher on Nico's wrist.

Nico responded by shoving Qing back, and then delivering a solid axe kick to the side of his head. The other Terra ninja fell, and Nico ninja-streaked away. He finally stopped near the northernmost coal refinery, and caught his breath.

"What was that?" He asked himself aloud. "Korassil sending other students after me? Then why not just turn all stone and then attack?"

"Good question." The cold female voice behind Nico made him jump. A rock hand clamped down on the back of his neck and swung him around, slamming him into the chainlink fence. It rattled. Nico found himself on the other end of a hard glare.

"Juliet? What's going on?"

"What Qing said."

Juliet swung Nico around again, but this time he had the sense to turn his body into stone before he hit the ground. She brought a foot down on his chest with a dull boom. Catching her ankle, Nico thrust his entire body upwards to throw her off-balance, and then rolled over. Sure enough, Juliet fell, and Nico pinned her beneath him.

"That's not good enough," he said, as she struggled. "Who put you up to this? Korassil?"

"Sensei Giry," Juliet snapped. She arched her back, hooking a leg around one of his, and pushed. Both of her feet cracked the frozen ground as she flipped upright, tossing Nico flat.

"Is this about Angela? I didn't have a choice about that," Nico retorted.

"That was just the final straw!" Juliet lunged, fist aimed at Nico's head, but he rolled. She buried her arm up to the elbow in the ground. As she struggled to free herself, Nico scrambled to his feet and ninja-streaked away once more.

This time, he landed in the park. He barely had a chance to breathe before getting body-slammed to the ground. He couldn't even breathe for a long minute, and then pain shot through his ribs, making him wheeze. As his newest attacker held him down, slender fingers began prying at the morpher on his wrist.

"Okay, okay!" Nico yelled, swatting at the hand. "Didn't want to do this, but I'm out of options. Terra Storm, Ranger Form!"

Blue light enveloped him, and the morpher thief fell back. Strengthened by the transformation, Nico shoved the other attacker away and flipped himself upright. The thief, a much younger and scrawnier boy, ran to help the brawny guy who'd knocked Nico down.

"What's going on!?" Nico yelled at them. "I've been trying to help, taken down monster after monster, but one mistake and everyone turns against me?"

"I was trying to make a point," a woman's voice rang out. As Nico watched, a silver streak of liquid metal slithered through the snow like a snake, rearing up between him and the other ninjas. It formed into Master Giry, still in uniform, not even a hair out of place. Unlike the others, she wore no ankle tracker.

A little mollified, but still confused, Nico left his fighting stance. He didn't demorph, though. "What point?"

"That if we wanted, we could run you ragged through sheer force of numbers," Master Giry replied. "So you'd understand that when we offered you single combat for your morpher, you wouldn't laugh it off."

Nico folded his arms. "Single combat?"

"You choose the time and the place. You will face one of your fellow Stone ninjas. Whoever wins receives the morpher you stole," Master Giry said.

"Meaning if you win, Korassil gets the whole set," Nico replied.

Master Giry quirked an eyebrow at him. Nico sighed in exasperation. "Fine. Tomorrow at noon, the practice field. If this is a trap—"

"Korassil has promised not to interfere, and he is a being of his word."

A distant rumble interrupted the conversation, and Nico looked around. In the distance, almost too far away to see, a giant samurai in golden armor rose. With a roar, the Tigerzord leaped to meet it, claws extended and fangs bared.

Nico cracked his knuckles, and glanced back at Giry. "I won't be late."

She gave a single nod of acknowledgment, and Nico ninja-streaked away.

City Limits, Castle Ridge, 11:06 am
Straddling the railroad tracks, the giant samurai raised his sword with both hands. The washed-out winter sunlight made his blade glow white. Streaming energy, he brought it down on the Tigerzord's head, slicing through the Zord's hull and knocking it down. Inside the cockpit, Chris was thrown against his console hard enough to knock the wind out of him.

Before the samurai could strike again, the Cougarzord slammed into him from behind, claws tearing at his armor. The samurai swung around, dragging his new attacker off-balance. Panting, Chris stood, and checked his Zord's systems. Damaged, but he could still fight.

"Thanks," Chris panted, as the Tigerzord picked itself up. "This guy's the Solar Samurai; he gets power from the sun."

Nico didn't say anything; his Zord held on for dear life as the Solar Samurai tried to get a good angle to strike. Every movement flattened a row of trees with splintering crashes. Chris looked down at his own katana, and drew it. The blade almost hummed out of the sheath.

"Let's try something new, Asamune. Battle Mode!" Whirling the sword, Chris sheathed it in a slot in the console, and pushed forward. The control panel shifted, and the Tigerzord's inner workings rumbled. Before him, the Solar Samurai finally managed to shake the Cougarzord off, and it slammed into the ground with a boom.

Slowly, the Tigerzord rises upright on its hind legs, forelegs folding to the sides. The paws open up, and hands materialize in the undersides, beneath the claws. With the pops and whirring of gears, its' knees bend the other way. The head slides up and back, jaw dropping to expose a face inside the mouth.

Raising clenched fists, the now-humanoid Tigerzord rabbit-punched the Solar Samurai in the chest. Its claws gashed his armor, but he caught the last blow on his sword. The Cougarzord, upright once more, sprang and bit down on the Solar Samurai's leg. Katana flashing in the sunlight, the monster sent a beam of fiery light into the Cougarzord's near eye, which exploded.

As his fellow Ranger fell back, Chris aimed a kick at the bite wound, dropping the Solar Samurai to one knee. The monster fired another energy beam at the Tigerzord, but it simply swerved to the side. The fire burned out harmlessly in midair.

As Chris got ready for his finishing move, however, a blinding white light enveloped the Solar Samurai. Even with his windshield and tinted visor, Chris had to shield his eyes with an arm. When he looked again, the monster was gone.

Drawing Asamune from the console, Chris hit the "return to base" command, and leaped out of his Zord as it began to turn back into a tiger. Several trees smoked quietly, and the battle had felled a wide clearing. Chris glimpsed a blue blur land on the ground, and ninja-streaked over.

"Blue Ranger!" Stopping up short, the Blue Ranger slowly turned to face Chris, folding his arms. "We're going to need some Zord repairs. You call the guy; I'll see if I can figure out what happened to the Solar Samurai."

"They're attacking farther and farther away from the city. Think they're going to go after some other city?"

Chris shrugged. "Maybe. Does it matter?"

"Plenty. Not my city, not my problem." Nico's tone was guarded.

"What? You're a Ranger, the whole reason you have that morpher—"

"I've got enough problems of my own without adopting some other city. Are we done?" Nico snapped. "If all you're going to do is lecture then I'm leaving."

Chris simply folded his arms, glaring through his visor at Nico. Turning, the Blue Ranger ninja-streaked away. With a growl, Chris turned back to the battlefield, and began looking for any likely energy traces.

Olino Pub, 7:33 pm
"Rough day?" Alex asked, as Nico dropped into the seat beside him. The Blue Ranger had a few visible bruises and abrasions, though he'd band-aided several of those up. Quiet chatter filled the bar.

Nico shook his head. "Better not. Going to need to be in top shape for tomorrow."

"Why? What's tomorrow?" Alex asked. Nico gave a one-shouldered shrug, fingering a fork prong-shaped dent in the table. "It's okay, you can tell me—I don't need all the details." Nico glanced up at him. Alex grinned, and held up two fingers. "Scout's honor."

"You're Canadian," Nico replied.

"We've got Scouts too. Now talk, I can tell this is really bothering you."

Nico sighed, and took a moment to gather his thoughts. "You know I go to this weird private school, right?" Alex nodded. "Well, I kind of accidentally got an important position, kind of like Head Boy or something. I've been doing pretty good, and I like it, but not everybody's happy I'm the one doing it. One of the teachers set up a competition tomorrow. Whoever wins keeps the spot."

"The same kind of thing that got you the job in the first place?" Alex asked.

Nico nodded. Alex said nothing for a minute, just took a drink. The radio began playing an obnoxiously catchy pop song in the background. Drumming his fingers on the tabletop, Nico wondered if he could allow himself just one drink. He couldn't get a hangover from just one.

"You want advice or just listening?" Alex asked, setting his drink down. "I'm okay with whatever you want."

Nico laughed a little. "Any advice would be great, if you can think of something."

"This competition, it's the same kind of thing you did to get the job, right?"

"Yeah, and pretty much what I've been doing since then."

"Then make sure you show them exactly why you got it and they didn't," Alex said. "I mean, if they were really as good as they think, you wouldn't have gotten it 'by accident.' Maybe you came up with something they never thought of?"

Nico thought about it for a moment, and his face lit up in a smile. "Thanks, that helps."

"Great. So, drinking's out, how about I show you a few more tips on talking to girls?" Alex asked, glancing past Nico. "A couple of likely-looking ones just walked in."

Nico grinned. "Lead the way."

February 18th, Practice Field, Terra Academy, 11:55 am
Just about the entire school had turned out for the duel. Someone had set up a ring in the middle of the field, and even put the school banners back up again. It almost looked normal—but weirdly quiet.

Nico ninja-streaked out of the forest, landing on the edge of the crowd. Spotting him, the students parted, opening a path towards the ring. Nobody said anything. The only noise came from a few birds twittering in the surrounding forest.

Throwing his shoulders back, Nico marched through the crowd. After his Mom had gone to work for the day, he'd pulled out her sewing stuff and mended his uniform, and now it looked almost like new.

Master Giry stood in the center of the ring, with Master Hochstetter—Nico's actual teacher—on the far side. Nico couldn't see his opponent anywhere. Reaching the ring, he ducked through the ropes and stood, arms folded and watching the teachers expectantly.

Master Giry looked him up and down, and cleared her throat. Nico knew what the expression meant: he was supposed to be standing at attention, hands behind his back. He just raised his eyebrows.

Ignoring it, Master Giry began to speak. "This match will decide the ownership of the Stone Morpher. The winner will be the first to score five points—hits to the head or body—in as many rounds as necessary. Our combatants are Nico Ramirez and Hoa Thi Pinh."

Nico looked up in time to see a tall Vietnamese girl step out of the crowd. She carried herself ramrod-straight, and a long black braid bounced against her back. Outside the ring, she bowed to Hochstetter, and inside to Giry and Nico. He bowed back, though not as deeply.

Master Giry stepped out of the ring. Hoa took a fighting stance, taut and exact, and Nico followed suit. He half-grinned, but Hoa's face was carefully blank.

"Begin."

Moving almost too fast to see, Hoa launched a tornado kick at Nico's head. He ducked, only to catch a hook across the ear as she landed. The blow made him dizzy, and he staggered. Turning it into a somersault, he rolled between her legs, taking a karate chop between the shoulderblades. Already winded, he sprang to his feet again.

Nico only just sprang back to avoid the thrust of a side kick: Hoa's bare sole bumped his stomach. He threw a sloppy roundhouse kick, and winced as his foot hit her stomach at an awkward angle. Catching him by the leg, Hoa kicked his other out from under him. Before he could recover, she'd punched him in the gut.

"Hold! Point," Giry shouted.

Releasing Nico, Hoa stood, returning to her original mark in the ring. Panting, Nico picked himself up and followed suit. After a moment, to allow him to catch his breath, Giry nodded once more.

This time, as Hoa sprang at Nico, he ducked and kneed her in the groin. As she staggered with a grunt of pain, he seized her braid and swung her around, throwing her to the floor. Alarmed shouts and whispers broke out among the watching students.

"Foul!" Master Giry shouted.

"So what?" Nico yelled back. A shocked silence fell over the crowd. "You heard me. So. What?" Turning away from Hoa, he faced the group. "That's the problem with you people. Those space ninjas? They're not going to fight clean either, and you people just don't get it. You're like that Egyptian guy with the sword in Indiana Jones—doesn't matter how good you are if the other guy has a gun."

Turning, Nico reached down and picked Hoa up. Trying to preserve some dignity, she dusted herself off and stepped back, looking to the teachers.

"Point made, Ramirez," Master Giry said at last.

"Thank you. Can I go now?"

Silently, Master Giry nodded. Hopping over the ropes, Nico slipped back through the crowd, feeling very pleased with himself. He looked around, just to make sure, but no monsters or foot soldiers were even in sight. With a shrug, he ninja-streaked into the woods, heading back down the mountainside.

Korassil's Ship, 12:32 pm
"So, you're not going to ambush him?" Alex asked, leaning on the console. He could see Nico zipping down the mountainside on one of the screens.

"Why bother? Your plan seems to be going well, I see no reason to break our bargain with Giry or the others," Korassil replied. "I keep my word." Alex chuckled, but stopped as the space ninja gave him a hard stare. "What is so funny about that?"

"Nothing, but that attitude will probably come back to bite you someday," Alex said.

Korassil turned back towards the screen. "We shall see."

Allies

 * Sensei Antoinette Giry
 * Master Hochstetter
 * Qing
 * Juliet
 * Hoa Thi Pinh

Villains

 * Korassil
 * Solar Samurai