New Alliances

New Alliances is the thirty-eighth episode of Power Rangers: Lost Ninjas.

Summary
The Ethereal Rangers and their enemies arrive in Scrimshaw, further complicating the situation.

Last time we saw the Ethereal and Season Ninjas
Forced to take a turn piloting the Megazord over the ocean, Easton had a panic attack. He later explained that his aquaphobia stemmed from seeing a water demon murder his mother when he was little. In Scrimshaw, Dean encountered Alice, who didn't accept his excuses for joining the Thinker, telling him he could do better. Meanwhile, the Thinker took a plane of hostages—including Tyler's younger brother—and demanded the Rangers surrender one of their own in exchange for them. Sienna did, and was poisoned by Dean. A frantic Tyler lost his temper at Anya over her blasé reaction, and she took her Zord and left, just before Tyler picked up something strange on his Zord's sensors.

February 22nd, McAllistair Mountain, New Zealand, 9:43 am
"That city we flew over seems pretty quiet," Easton announced, walking into the group of Ethereal Zords. "You're sure it's the right one?"

"Certain," Ishinomori called back from a nearby cave. He walked out, dusting leaves and dirt off his clothes. "That aircraft we picked up couldn't have been anything but a space ninja ship."

"Then why didn't it attack?" Susana strode out of the cave. Grabbing a large, fallen tree bough, she began dragging it back inside to help camouflage the Zords. "Same people, same goals, right?"

"Probably the same reason the other one hasn't attacked us since Japan," Easton replied. "They've got something else in mind."

"The Zords are covered up," Kerri reported, combing twigs and leaves out of her hair. It had been a while since she'd had a chance to dye it, and her blonde roots were very visible.

"Good. Now we just need to wait for Archer to get back," Easton said.

Susana joined Ishinomori on a fallen log, where the older man was checking his wallet. "Just how much do we have?"

"Almost two thousand yen," Ishinomori replied.

Kerri perked up. "That much? Does that mean we can get a real breakfast?"

"Which converts to about . . . twenty-five dollars, New Zealand currency," Ishinomori said, after a moment's calculation.

"Sorry," Susana said to Kerri, whose face fell. "We still have rations anyway."

A breeze picked up, making the trees rustle. Almost soundlessly, Archer dropped back into the clearing, bow strung and in hand, with something furry and grey hanging over her shoulder. Striding up to the others, she held up her bundle: a pair of freshly-killed rabbits. Susana covered her mouth with a hand and turned away.

"Breakfast," Archer said.

". . . Wow. I really hope you didn't just break some hunting law," Kerri said.

Archer shrugged. "It wouldn't be the first time. I'm guessing none of you know how to do this?"

"I've helped, but not with rabbits," Easton said.

"I'll be checking out the Zords," Susana said, turning back towards the cave. Ishinomori joined her without even speaking.

"Think I'll get to work on a fire. Something tells me this is going to smell," Kerri said, and began making her way around the clearing.

"We'll call you when we're done," Easton said, taking a knife and a rabbit from Archer. He handled the dead animal gingerly.

Susana's shout carried from the cave. "I'll be in here till you're done; I don't eat meat."

"Hey!" Kerri's voice rang out, startling everyone. She pointed towards a cluster of dense trees. "Should someone be breathing over there?"

Both rabbits hit the loam with soft thumps. In one quick gesture, Archer drew an arrow from her quiver and put it to the string. Alarmed, Easton put a hand on her arm, and she slowly lowered the weapon.

"Who's there?" Easton called, walking towards the cluster of trees. "We don't mean any harm, come out."

There was a rustle, and the trees trembled a little. With a ripple of air, an Orange Ranger materialized. By his build he was a man, and though he wore what looked vaguely like an axe across his back, he didn't have any weapons in hand.

"Whose side are you on?" Archer demanded, taking aim at his chest.

"If you're hiding here so the space ninjas don't find you, yours," the Orange Ranger replied. He had an Australian accent.

Archer didn't move. "And why should we believe you?"

"Look, I need your help, and from what I heard, you could use some of mine."

Kerri walked around the Orange Ranger and joined Easton and Archer.

"He did have an opportunity to attack us and didn't take it," Easton admitted.

"So he could get us to trust him and turn on us when we least expected it," Archer retorted.

"That's hardly fair," Easton said, frowning. "By that logic we shouldn't trust you, or Ishinomori."

"Look," the Orange Ranger's voice took on an edge of desperation, "the Thinker—the man in charge here—took one of my teammates and I need help to save her. The longer this takes the more time he has to kill her. Please."

"Um, no offense, but someone tricked us with almost that exact story," Kerri said.

"I'd love to prove myself to you, but I just don't have time." The Orange Ranger began to back out of the clearing, hands still raised where everyone could see them. "My Zord picked yours up before you got here, so there's a chance the space ninjas did too. Our Zord hangar is shielded; if you decide to trust me there's a secret entrance at the base of the mountain, on the side nearest the forest. The pass code is 2-2-5-T."

With that, he was gone in a streak of orange light. Archer lowered her bow, and the others relaxed.

"So?" Archer looked from Easton to Kerri. "What do we do?"

"Get Ishinomori and Susana and talk about it," Easton replied, heading for the cave. "He's got a point about us getting tracked."

Neptune Airport Terminal, Scrimshaw, 10:15 am
Dean walked past a silent escalator, looking around the building. They were down to the last two hostages; Tyler's uncle and brother. Dean was glad. Everything about this job made him uneasy. It was the main reason he'd done. . . well, he wasn't even sure he'd actually done anything. Poisons were very tricky. Even if he had given Sienna less than the official fatal dose, she might still die.

His thoughts were interrupted by the Thinker entering the terminal, accompanied by Tauza and Reggie. Like Dean, the latter was morphed, but carried his helmet under his arm. They were already talking, probably getting each other up to speed on the situation.

"She's still here?" Tauza asked, looking towards the support pillar Sienna was chained to, standing in front of a huge pair of windows. "She'd be more secure in a holding cell aboard your ship."

"Yes, but keeping her here gives the Rangers incentive to not blast this building down around our ears," the Thinker replied. "Particularly if they can see that she's still alive."

"Fair enough."

"Dean," the Thinker called. Snapping out of it, he quickly hurried over as the pair stopped by Sienna. "How much longer do we have?"

Dean studied Sienna. Sweat gleamed on her face and neck, her head rested against her shoulder, and she was clearly struggling to breathe. Crouching, Dean prodded her leg below the knee, got no response, and went higher. It wasn't until he was most of the way up her thigh that Sienna twitched, opening her eyes.

"Not much longer. Half an hour, probably less."

Sienna heard him, and she looked him in the eye as he stood up straight. At this point she was too exhausted and sick to pretend defiance. Probably thanks to facial paralysis her expression was blank, but her eyes watered. After a moment, Dean averted his gaze, facing the Thinker again.

"Good. Guard her," the Thinker ordered, walking away.

Tauza and Reggie followed, though the latter studied Dean for a long minute first. Left alone, Dean glanced back at Sienna, then started pacing. He saw a blur of orange outside, and guessed the Orange Ranger was back to make sure the last of the hostages got through safely. He'd returned partway through the exchanges, although the crowd of police and onlookers was handling most of the hostages now.

"You're really letting everyone go?" Sienna's voice was slurred and thick.

"Yes," Dean said, looking over at her. "No reason to kill them now that the Thinker has what he wants."

Sienna relaxed visibly. "Good. Don't wanna d . . . this to be for nothing." Her voice shook.

"Likewise."

"Huh?"

Dean realized he'd spoken aloud. "Nothing," he said hastily.

There was a commotion behind him, and Dean looked around to see Surgeon General—the monster who'd captured the plane—holding back an older man. It took him a second to recognize Tyler's uncle. He was staring at Sienna, clearly confused. The boy beside him looked scared.

"Sienna?"

"Do you want to get out or not?" Surgeon General demanded, shoving Tyler's uncle towards the door.

"What about her?"

Surgeon General just laughed and dragged Tyler's uncle towards the door. Dean saw the Orange Ranger move towards the doors as he saw them. Shoving the pair outside, Surgeon General came back in, dusting his hands off with metallic clinks.

"That's that," the monster said. "Finally, I can have my breakfast."

As the monster spoke, Dean thought he heard a high-pitched whistle somewhere overhead. He glanced up, and glimpsed something large pass over the skylights, but the sky was too bright to look at for long. Blinking, he shielded his eyes and squinted, but whatever-it-was had gone past.

Just as Dean dismissed the thing as a bird, a missile slammed into the roof, shattering the skylight. Glass, metal and concrete rained into the terminal. Quickly, Dean shielded his head and bolted for shelter. Surgeon General's shriek of pain was cut off as rocks and metal buried him. A chunk of stone bounced off Dean's upraised arm, and he grunted in pain. The gift shop provided shelter, and ducking into it, he looked up at the ceiling. Through the gaping holes he could see the Penguinzord hovering overhead. It opened its beak and let out another volley of ice projectiles. Blue fire exploded from each impact, engulfing the terminal.

Faintly, Dean heard a shout from the other side of the room. "Terra Zords, mobilize!" Before Dean could follow suit, he remembered that his own Zord still hadn't been repaired from the last fight. As the Penguinzord circled, looking for something to shoot at, a second shape zigzagged out of the clouds above it—the Screech Owlzord. It landed on the airport roof with a clang, shattering any skylights that had survived the Penguinzord's attack.

"Dean? Isn't zis one of your Rangers?" Reggie's voice carried into Dean's helmet comm. "Doesn't she know Sienna is inside?"

"She knows," a female voice came on over the comms. Dean recognized the White Ranger at once: she sounded very pleased with herself. "She just doesn't care anymore. Nice owl, by the way. Let's see how well it handles."

The Penguinzord shot straight up into the air, and the Screech Owlzord followed. Stepping out of his hiding place, Dean craned his neck to watch the battle. The two bird Zords wheeled and loop-the-looped and barrel-rolled through the air. Another round of ice missiles caught the corner of the terminal roof or shot off into the air harmlessly as Reggie swerved to avoid them.

"Finally, someone who actually knows how to fight!" The White Ranger exclaimed. "Unless you're going to run away on me like everyone else?"

"Vouldn't dream of it," Reggie replied. "Do zey do zat to you too?" The Screech Owlzord dove talons-first towards the Penguinzord.

At the very last second, the Penguinzord rolled sideways, sending an ice missile after the plummeting Owlzord. It winged the other Zord. "That or my 'team' steals the fight. Usually screw everything up, too."

"Zat is so frustrating! Finally, someone understands!"

Shaking his head, Dean switched off the comms and glanced around the terminal. It looked like everyone had gotten out all right. An explosion from above made the building quake, and almost buried in the sound, Dean heard the high-pitched blast of a laser. He looked around in time to see Sienna fall forward, chains slack, and be caught by a grey blur. It took him a second to realize it was the Orange Ranger in camouflage. Judging by the way Sienna's body dropped down a few more feet, he'd fallen to his knees.

Dean hesitated as more debris rained down around him. He'd wanted to return Sienna's body to the Rangers afterwards, and now they had it. Still, there was a chance she wasn't dead yet, but the Rangers might not be able to tell.

So what? Why did he care? One less person to fight—one less Season Ninja he had to get rid of. But for some reason, when he looked at Sienna, all he could think about was the first time he'd met her out-of-morph, as Alice's friend. Even though he wasn't sure why, the idea of disappointing Alice like that—after she'd told him she believed he could do better—made him feel almost ashamed. Besides, what was the point of giving Sienna a less-than-lethal dose if he was just going to let her die?

Before Dean could decide, another blast struck the roof. He ran just in time; a metal beam clanged against the floor where he'd been standing. A massive shadow fell over the terminal, but as it did, Dean heard a new noise. It sounded like a Zord's engines, but louder than either of the others. He switched the comms back on again.

"What is . . . oh," Anya said.

"I vas vondering vhen zese guys vould show up," Reggie said, sounding irritated. "Looks like ve'll have to call zis off."

"Aww, do we have to? I was just starting to enjoy myself."

Dean looked around wildly, and finally saw what they were talking about: flying over the trees towards the building was a Megazord. He guessed it belonged to those Rangers Reggie and Tauza had been dealing with.

The Thinker's voice came on over his helmet's comms, making him jump. "Dean, make sure the Yellow Ranger is dead."

"Yes sir," Dean said automatically. "Geyser Blowgun!"

He fired at the air near Sienna's body, and the Orange Ranger appeared abruptly, doubled over her. From the steam, he'd hit Tyler's shoulder. As more chunks of the unstable roof fell, Dean ran towards the pair and crouched down.

"You did what you wanted," Tyler panted, his voice tight with pain. "Let me have her now. Please."

Overhead, the Ethereal Megazord finally flew into view.

"You know what, Reg? You're the first Ranger I've met who makes any sense. I think we'd make a good team," Anya said. "How about it?"

"Fine vith me," Reggie replied.

"Great! Let's show these Ethereal kids how it's done!" The Penguinzord shot towards the oncoming Megazord, the Screech Owlzord close on its heels.

As the Zords flew off, Dean made his decision. "Tetrodotoxin."

"What?" Tyler looked up, caught off-guard.

"She's ingested tetrodotoxin; it makes the victim seem dead prematurely if the dosage is right, which it is. Tell the paramedics; they'll know what to do," Dean said.

Tyler didn't say anything for a long minute. "And why should I listen to you?"

"Because I'm giving you a chance to save her. Take it while you still can."

Tyler didn't hesitate. Gathering Sienna in his arms, he stood and bolted for the door. Dean watched for a minute, standing stock-still in the middle of the wrecked terminal. As an explosion lit up the sky overhead, the full realization of what he'd just done crashed in on him. So did part of the roof. Dean heard the rumble just before something huge slammed into the floor directly behind him, knocking him down. A sharp pain stabbed up his leg, and he doubled over with a cry of pain. A twisted section of a metal support beam lay across his leg. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Dean realized this would make a good excuse; everything else in his body just screamed in pain.

Allies

 * Alice Harod
 * Westley Thorne
 * Archer

Villains

 * The Thinker
 * Spider Drones
 * Tauza
 * Surgeon General