Detours and Interruptions

Detours and Interruptions is the thirty-third episode of Power Rangers: Lost Ninjas.

Summary
Both Rat and the others hot on his trail encounter difficulties on their trip north.

Last time we saw the Earthlight Rangers...
After a humiliating personality-swap spell, Rat finally parted ways with the other Rangers, deciding to flee home. Both Wyatt and Alex guessed Xumara had some ulterior motive beyond taking the Rangers' morphers as ordered, and Alex encouraged Zart to spy on her to find out—and to make the Pink Ranger his sidekick like he wanted.

February 26th, Marnie's Motel, San Orlando, Mexico, 9:15 am
Rat lay curled up in all of the blankets he'd been able to find, plus a couple of towels from the bathroom. He still shivered uncontrollably. How could Mexico be this cold? And why hadn't he gone to that other cheap motel? It might have had a working heating system.

The clock on the nightstand began beeping, and the radio turned on, babbling in accented English. Rat pulled away a few layers of his cocoon and squinted at the alarm clock. He had an hour before his bus left. Almost back in the USA. Almost home. So far, he hadn't been followed.

Bracing himself, Rat scrambled out of bed. He imagined he could see his breath as he darted over to the little fridge in the corner. Pulling out his "supplies," he started eating one of the day-old donuts he'd bought yesterday. He wasn't a coffee drinker, but he needed something hot. The pot looked suspiciously dirty, so Rat gave it a quick rinse in the bathroom before turning the machine on.

As it chugged and rattled away, Rat dressed himself. He caught the words "Power Rangers" from the radio, and froze halfway into his jacket.

". . . utilized a more streamlined version of their Megazord and defeated both the monster and its copy. Blue Bay Harbor seems to have suffered little damage from this attack. Meanwhile, the Belize team seems to have lost their Green Ranger after his abrupt departure from a Megazord battle two nights ago."

Rat pulled his jacket on. Hopefully whatever was going on down south would keep the Rangers—and the bad guys—busy. He felt a little bit guilty for wishing that on Jess and Wyatt, but only a very little. After all, they were both good fighters, they could handle themselves. Better them than him. The coffee pot dinged, and Rat went to get it.

As he did, he thought he saw an abnormally large silhouette behind the window curtains. When he looked more carefully, there was nothing. Just nerves, he told himself, pouring a cup of coffee. He was imagining things.

Halfway through the first overheated, weird-tasting cup of coffee, a rock smashed through the window. Rat jumped, spilling hot coffee all over himself. As he yelped, he saw a distinct and very large silhouette slip away. It looked vaguely like someone wearing a jester suit over full football gear.

Catching his breath, Rat stood, one hand on his morpher. The thing, whatever it was, didn't come back. He crept forward. The rock was weirdly. . . pitted, the way he'd always thought an asteroid would look. Then he realized that something had been carved into one side. Gingerly, he rolled it over with a toe, not sure if it was going to explode or something.

COWARDS NEVER PROSPER

Rat drew back. The bad guys had caught up to him again. Most likely they knew where he was going. He'd have to make another detour. These creeps had already driven him much further west than he'd wanted to go—right now he was closest to California's border. This was going to take forever. Shaken, Rat began packing.

Mexico-Belize Border, 12:30 noon
"What do you think of these?" Jess asked, turning towards Wyatt as she put on a pair of oversized sunglasses. The red lenses made them look like a pair of insect eyes.

"They're nice," Wyatt said. He seemed more interested in the sandwiches they'd packed.

"You aren't even looking."

Wyatt just shrugged. The two Rangers stood outside a little touristy shop, a quick walk away from the bus stop. Rolling her eyes, Jess grabbed a sandwich and bit into it. Admittedly she was pretty hungry herself; they'd had to get up and eat early to make the first bus. Although they had a pretty good guess where Rat was headed, they'd decided to follow his trail as closely as possible, just in case Xumara tried something.

As Jess put the sunglasses back, she heard a commotion. Looking around, she spotted the bus driver shouting at something. With a frown, she headed towards him, wondering what was going on. As she came closer, she saw that the yelling was directed at a scrawny figure in a red baseball cap.

"No way," Jess said in disbelief, and hurried forward. "Micky?"

Sure enough, it was Micky, wriggling in the bus driver's grip and protesting in shrill Spanish. As Jess reached them, the man quieted down a little, but he still looked angry.

"What's going on?" Jess asked.

"Found this—" the driver gave Micky a shake "—hiding in the luggage compartment."

"I'm sorry, I didn't take anything." Micky yelped as the man promptly began to search him.

"You think sorry will pay for you? You're in a lot of trouble, brat!"

"Please let me go, I didn't do anything," Micky begged.

"Except sneak onto my bus and enter the country illegally, you mean?"

"Wait a minute, please," Jess interrupted. Everyone looked at her, the bus driver with confused irritation and Micky a puppyish pleading look. "If someone pays his fare, he won't owe you anything?"

"No," the bus driver admitted. "But he'll still have to deal with immigrations."

"I'll take care of that, too," Jess said. With a sigh, she dug around in her backpack.

Micky mouthed "thank you" at her. Flipping her wallet open, she counted out the money for Micky's fare, plus a little bit extra, and the driver let go of Micky. He immediately ducked behind Jess, who grabbed him by the upper arm.

"Ow!" He protested.

"Don't even start," Jess snapped, and marched him away from the bus.

"What was that about?" Wyatt asked, as the pair returned. "Oh, hi Micky, what are you doing here?"

"That's a very good question," Jess said, and looked down at Micky.

"I . . . was kind of following you guys?"

Jess gave him a hard glare. "Why? This is a long way to go for another bribe."

"I figured I'd be safer with, you know," Micky glanced around and lowered his voice, "the Power Rangers."

"Except for the monsters, you mean?" Wyatt said.

"Won't they just keep attacking Palencia?" Micky asked.

"Not likely; it's us they're after. Come on, we need to get you home," Jess said.

"No! I could be useful to you guys—I speak great Spanish, and if there's anything you need, I can get it." He grinned mischievously. "For free."

Jess glared at him. "We are not going to steal, and you are definitely not coming with us."

"Please? My Dad's gotten ten times worse," Micky pleaded. "He's been stealing everything you give me, and now he expects that kind of money all the time. If it stops coming I don't know what he'll do to me."

"If it's really that bad, then you need to go into foster care," Jess said. "No more excuses, we're going to get this passport thing taken care of."

"But what about our bus?" Wyatt interrupted, checking his watch. "We've only got fifteen more minutes."

"It'd be faster if you just took me along," Micky pointed out hopefully.

"Then we're going to miss the bus," Jess replied. "Wyatt, find us a decent hotel. I have a feeling this is going to take a long, long time."

Micky and Wyatt groaned in unison. Looking none too pleased herself, Jess shifted her grip on Micky's arm and started resolutely towards the border office. Micky immediately started trying to talk her out of it, only getting whinier as she glared at him. It took a meaningful cough, accompanied by a little puff of flame, to shut him up.

Xumara's Private Quarters, Xumara's Ship, 8:44 pm
"I just don't know what I'm going to do with Zart," Xumara groaned. She ran her fingers through her hair, resting her elbows on the console. "He's willful, he's childish, he's sadistic—which wouldn't be a problem if he just knew how to take orders. I think he's plotting against me."

On the screen, Tauza nodded understandingly. She wasn't wearing her armor, and her hair was down, curling a little around her face. Xumara had shed all of the leather parts of her costume—headband excepted—leaving herself in a blue dress.

"He does seem more interested in destruction than conquest. Has he done anything to affect the plan?"

"Not so far. Do you think I should tell him about it?" Xumara asked. "I mean, he might ease off if he knows we're going to put him on a spare planet and let him toast it."

"He might, but as you said, he's unpredictable. You could try hinting at it."

"Yeah, I think I will. Thanks, sis," Xumara said, smiling. "How's your new recruit doing?"

"Reggie's been very helpful. He's a quick learner and he has an eye for strategy."

"Good. At least one of us is having fun with this job," Xumara muttered.

"Don't worry, it'll get better," Tauza said, in a surprisingly kind voice. "Besides, you've already scared one of your Rangers off. How many people can say they've done that?"

"Yeah, I guess that is true." Xumara still sounded glum. She fiddled with a lock of blue hair.

Tauza glanced around, and leaned in a little, lowering her voice. "I was going to save this for the next briefing, but I think I'll tell you now. Remember that energy surge I tracked a couple of days ago?"

Xumara perked up, intrigued. "Yeah, the one from the Himalayas."

"We've identified it. Does the name Chiratheon sound familiar?"

Xumara sat bolt upright, eyes going wide. "No. No way. I thought all the water demons were dead!"

"Not this one. He's been sealed away for a very long time, and it'll take work to free him, but once we do he'll be a powerful ally—more than a match for Zart."

Xumara almost squealed in delight. "That's perfect! I don't know what I'd do without you, Tauwie."

"Don't call me that," Tauza said, looking down and brushing her hair over one ear. "We're both too old for nicknames."

"Nobody can hear us, relax. Hey, why don't we take a day off? Just to relieve some of the stress. I've heard about this place called 'Paris' I've been wanting to see."

"We couldn't. The war—"

"We're not going to lose if we just take a few hours to relax," Xumara said. "Come on, nobody even has to know. We'll say we're on a scouting mission—we could even finish it off by destroying something, if that makes you happy. A picture of ourselves in front of the exploding Eiffel Tower would be pretty sweet."

"The what?"

"I'll show you. Come ooon," Xumara whined. "Please, Tauwie? Pleasepleasepleeeeease?"

"All right," Tauza interrupted. "But not just yet. The Thinker and I have a meeting to discuss our Rangers later today."

"That's fine with me." Something began blipping on Xumara's console, and she sighed. "Korassil's calling again. Talk to you later?"

"Later," Tauza agreed, and switched her screen off.

Hotel De Louisa Maria, 2:33 am
Micky slumped against the wall of the hallway, eyes almost shut. Rubbing an eye, Jess fumbled in her pocket for the room key Wyatt had given her hours ago. She was too tired to even care if she was waking her friend up. They had a passport for Micky so he could go home. Tomorrow she'd set up the trip and then they'd finally be rid of him.

"I don't wanna go back," Micky moaned. "Look what my Dad did to me on Monday." He pulled up the sleeve of his shirt, revealing an ugly green-blue bruise the size of a ping-pong ball on his shoulder.

Jess just ignored him, pushing the door open. The lights were off, and moonlight filtered through the veiled window. Both exhausted teenagers dragged themselves inside. Jess made out Wyatt curled up in the far bed, and making eye contact with Micky, she pointed to it. He nodded and scrambled in.

Jess didn't even have the energy to change or clean herself up. She swung the front door shut, plunging the room into darkness once more. Sitting on the end of the empty bed, she pulled off her shoes and flopped back, wriggling under the covers. Within seconds, she was asleep.

Silence fell over the room, broken only by the teenagers' breathing. None of the trio snored, and there was barely even any traffic outside.

With a whoosh, a shadowy figure materialized, silhouetted in front of the window. Quietly, he tiptoed around the beds, peering into them. The hem of his robe brushed the carpet. Jess stirred as the stranger's shadow fell over her. One arm slid beneath the back of her neck, the other her knees.

The stranger picked Jess up with a soft grunt of effort. Standing there, he hesitated a moment. Then he fixed his gaze on one of the light fixtures. It sparked, popped, and burst into flames. Another lamp shattered with a tinkle of breaking glass, and more fire dripped to the carpet. Wyatt rolled over with a sleepy mumble.

Chuckling devilishly, the intruder turned a full circle. The fire followed him, rising and licking at the old wallpaper and furnishings. In its fiery light, Zart was clearly visible, a huge grin on his face. Once he was sure the fire had gotten going, he vanished, taking Jess with him.

Allies

 * Micky Shell

Villains

 * Xumara
 * Tauza
 * Zart
 * Schizofreak