Before Dawn

Before Dawn is the twenty-third episode of Power Rangers: Lost Ninjas.

Synopsis
Tyler goes after the ice monster, which may or may not be Anya, only to realize that he's left Sienna vulnerable.

Last time we saw the Season Ninjas...
Only just escaping the Thinker's Spider Drones, Anya found the Zord hangar, setting off an alarm which brought Tyler and Sienna to the scene. A radio report about a series of recent freezing incidents took the two younger Rangers to a hospital to investigate. In the fight, Sienna became trapped in an elevator, which her attacker sent plummeting down the shaft.

February 9th, Stewart Memorial Hospital, 4:22 am
It took Tyler a second to notice Sienna had moved. He'd nearly dozed off again in the hospital chair, despite how uncomfortable it was. The last time he'd gotten up had been to call her foster parents with their cover story. From the amused tone, he guessed they thought something was going on with the two Rangers that didn't involve monsters.

Sitting up, Tyler watched as Sienna's eyes fluttered open. She'd gotten pretty banged-up in the elevator crash, though thankfully no bones were broken (anymore: a Spring Ninja had slipped in to help a few hours before). She focused on him.

"What happened?" She croaked.

"You fell five stories in an elevator car. Your suit protected you, but you've been out for a couple of hours. I snuck you in with the other patients, and since everything's so crazy, they assumed your paperwork got lost. We've got a graduate ninja or two forging something to cover for you, and our families think we're camping."

Sienna groaned and craned her neck to look down at herself. Swelling bruises covered her exposed arms, where they weren't bandaged or lacerated, and Tyler knew the rest of her body wasn't much better. She looked back up at him.

"Did you get her?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"The monster," Sienna clarified. "If she was a monster."

"No, it got away." It had used the split cables to catapult itself up through the hospital: Tyler glimpsed it as he went after Sienna.

Sienna groaned. "Great. What about Anya? Heard from our rogue Ranger lately?"

"I haven't, but I was going to go find her and ask her for help."

"Assuming she's not the cause," Sienna muttered.

"There's no proof of that."

"Who else could it be? A female-sounding stranger with ice powers showing up at the same time as the rogue female Winter Ninja? This isn't a coincidence, Tyler."

"Okay, okay," Tyler said, putting his hands up. "Calm down. You're in no shape to get worked up right now."

"You need to stop her," Sienna said.

"Stop who?" Tyler whirled around to see Anya leaning on the doorpost. She grinned, and winced at the sight of Sienna. "Ouch, what happened to you?"

Sienna sat bolt upright, swayed and caught herself on the side of the bed. With a look of fierce determination, she started to stand up. Tyler caught her as her legs buckled, and she clung to him.

"Easy, easy," he said, trying to get her back to bed.

"Oh no you don't," she said, shoving his arms away. Then, to Anya, "Back to finish the job?"

Anya quirked an eyebrow. "Heard about your little brawl and decided to see whodunit."

Shoving Tyler away, Sienna staggered across the room in a run and seized Anya by the collar, slamming her into the doorpost. Anya cracked up laughing as Sienna glowered at her.

"You're the one who attacked the hospital, aren't you?"

Catching Sienna by the wrists, Anya flipped her hands around and shoved her against the other doorpost. The smile never left her face. Sienna struggled, stifling a grunt of pain as Anya squeezed her bruised arms. Tyler quickly left his chair.

"What kind of meds have they got you on?" Anya said, looking Sienna up and down.

"Guys," Tyler said, gently pushing the two apart. "Can we please just calm down? This isn't the time or the place."

"She started it," Anya said, but let go. Sienna staggered, and Tyler caught her.

"Why are you on her side?" Sienna demanded.

"I'm not—we can't assume it was her fault. If a heat monster started attacking the city, would you want me to assume you'd gone bad?"

"I'm not a self-described sociopath." Sienna retorted.

"She's got a point," Anya said.

"Hah!" Sienna exclaimed gleefully. "See, she said it herself! Where's my morpher?"

"No, I just said you had a point. I never run away from a good fight," Anya replied. "Plus I wouldn't have left a pest like you alive." Sienna lunged at her again, but Tyler held her back. "This is just sad." Anya shook her head. "Bye, losers." She walked away.

"Let go," Sienna demanded, struggling in Tyler's grip.

"Not a chance." He picked her up with a grunt, and carried her back to the bed. She was lighter than she looked, but he almost dropped her anyway. "You stay here and rest. The nurse is on our side, just push the call button if you need her. I'll go track the monster."

"Shouldn't take long, she went that way," Sienna said, gesturing towards the hallway.

Tyler sighed. "Promise you'll stay here." Sienna folded her arms. "You can't help me like this! Promise."

"Fine," Sienna said, with an exasperated sigh. She flopped back on the bed. "I promise. But where's my morpher?"

"If I tell you, you'll try to use it," Tyler said.

"But what if someone tries to attack me in here? I'll be a sitting duck." Sienna gave him puppy-dog eyes. "Please? I won't touch it unless someone tries to kill me. Cross my heart."

"Fine. It's here," Tyler said, moving to the bedside table and pulling out a drawer. The belt buckle sat on top of Sienna's folded clothes.

"Thank you." Sienna lay back and shut her eyes.

Tyler left the room, weaving his way through passing doctors and nurses towards the elevator. The trail would start on the roof. He felt a little guilty for not getting started on this sooner, but he'd had to protect the Spring Ninja while she healed Sienna. At least, that was what he told himself.

Melting ice lay in puddles across the hospital roof. Tyler studied it. He couldn't see any tracks. Standing, he turned in a circle. If I were a monster, where would I hide? Probably on the main ship, with the Thinker. Okay, that meant following it to its lair was out. That meant catching it in the act. How many graduate Ninjas lived in this city? Dozens? Hundreds?

The only person he knew to ask was that nurse, but she was already busy. Well, maybe she wasn't the only one. . . He ninja-streaked back to the elevator. Finding Anya might be just as hard as finding the monster, but he was running out of ideas.

Anahera Forest, Outskirts of Scrimshaw, 5:07 am
As the sun rose, Anya practiced with her Frost Katana in a clearing. She drew back for one particularly high swing, and pain stabbed through her gut. With a grunt, she doubled over, dropping the sword. In a few seconds, the pain faded, and she caught her breath. Those stupid Spider Drones. She still wasn't sure just what those lasers had done, but it hurt like hell when she moved wrong.

Hearing a whoosh of ninja-streaking, Anya looked around to see Tyler standing behind her. Straightening, she retrieved her sword. Hopefully he hadn't seen her moment of weakness.

"What?" She asked, turning away.

"I need your help."

Anya snorted. "I'll say."

"I can't predict where the monster will strike next. You've been in the school longer than me, you probably know more graduates."

"I was in the loony bin for the last three years, remember? For all I know they've all moved," Anya replied.

"We can try."

Anya could hear Tyler coming closer. She wiped the loam off her katana's blade. "What makes you think I want to help you?"

"To clear your name?"

"I don't care about my name. Sienna not trusting me makes this way more interesting anyway."

"Anya!"

Anya whirled around. Her blade was at Tyler's throat before he could so much as lift a finger. He froze.

"Sorry, did I say we were on first name terms?" She asked.

The sword tip moved as Tyler gulped, and he drew in a slow breath. "I'm asking you for help. If the ice monster is going after old students, your turn will come sooner or later. We've got the same enemy, and we're stronger together."

"I can handle the ice monster," Anya replied, dropping the sword.

"That's why I want you."

"Let me think about it." Anya frowned up at the treetops for about ten seconds. "I've thought about it. No."

"But—"

"If I cross paths with ice creep I'll deal with him, but I don't see why I should help you people. Now scram." She backed up and waved the sword at him. "But hey, I'm feeling generous today, I'll give you a little tip: if I were a monster trying to get rid of all Season Ninjas, I wouldn't worry about veterans while an actual Ranger is vulnerable. You're welcome."

Tyler hesitated for a moment. Whirling, he ninja-streaked back into town as fast as he could go. Anya turned back to the trees. In front of her stood a sapling overgrown with some kind of vine. Striking a fighting stance, she gestured, and the vine froze solid with a crackle.

Stewart Memorial Hospital, 5:23 am
Sienna woke up shivering. She'd knocked the blanket off the bed in her sleep. With a sleepy grumble, she slid to the side of the bed and grabbed at it. Her breath clouded the air. Who'd turned off the thermostat?

Then her eyes snapped open as she realized what was actually going on. Sitting up, she fumbled with the bedside table drawers, pulling out her morpher. Sleepiness made her clumsy.

"Tyler? Tyler, I think it's back," she said into the morpher. "Hello? Can you hear me through this thing?"

No reply. Hearing a crackling noise, Sienna looked and saw ice growing around the edges of the door. Sienna looked around. No sign of help on the way. She didn't have a choice. Strapping on the morpher, she climbed out of bed. Her left leg almost gave, but she caught herself on the bedside. She'd do better once she was morphed.

"Summer Storm—"

The door burst open, showering Sienna with bits of frozen wood. They nicked her arms as she shielded her eyes. Sienna somersaulted away just in time: a ball of blue-white energy froze the bedside table behind her. Sienna yelled the morph as quickly as she could.

She didn't feel as strong as she'd hoped, but at least she could stand up on her own now. Drawing her Tewhatewha, Sienna deflected a second energy blast. Ice spread across the wall behind her. She finally got a real look at the monster: it was feminine and covered in blue-black ice, from the look of it. Chuckling, it raised one gleaming hand.

"Gotcha," it said, and hurled another volley of ice balls at Sienna. She ducked, but her reflexes were slower than she'd expected. A blast caught her leg, freezing her in place. Quickly, Sienna swung her Tewhatewha to shatter the ice, but another energy ball knocked it clean out of her hands.

"Time to turn up the heat," Sienna said, and gesturing, summoned her heat powers. The air rippled, and the ice around her leg began to melt.

"Oh, come on, that's the oldest quip in the book!" The monster snapped. She held her hands before her chest, summoning more energy between them. "Cool off and think a little—actually, never mind, just have a brain freeze on me!" Sienna ducked most of the shots, but another trapped her arm in a heavy cocoon of ice. She fell to one knee with a grunt, the ice clunking against the floor.

Orange lasers peppered the monster from behind, making it stagger. Tyler appeared in the open doorway, and gave his Autumn Blasters a twirl. Recovering, the monster let out that obnoxious, tinkling giggle again.

"Oh good, I was hoping you'd show up. Ice Age Burst!" It drew out a massive ball of energy and threw it at Tyler.

He somersaulted away, but the energy hit the far wall and exploded, filling the hallway with blue light. As Tyler tried to run, the energy enveloped him, freezing him in place.

"Tyler!" Sienna screamed.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine. Kidding," the monster said, turning back towards her. She struggled, but between her old wounds and the numbness from her trapped limbs, she couldn't focus. "You're both going to die. Nothing personal, I just need to be the only Season Ranger."

"You—" Sienna began, but her attacker cut her off with another laugh.

As the monster raised both hands over Sienna, the far window broke. The White Winter Ranger leaped inside, katana upraised. The blade came down into the back of the monster's neck with a screech like fingernails on a chalkboard. She landed on both feet, her momentum throwing the monster to its knees.

"Sorry, but you're making me look bad. I'm the only one who's allowed to make me look bad, got it?"

Sienna stared in disbelief. "Anya?"

"No, I'm Santa Claus, of course I'm Anya!" She yanked her sword out with a shing, whirled it and slashed at the monster's neck. Her blade bounced off, but it left a crack in the monster's shell.

As the monster focused on Anya, Sienna got back to melting herself free. The creature peppered Anya with energy, but she just turned it right back on the monster. Neither of them seemed able to hurt the other.

"Hey, Little Miss Sunshine, could you try cooking the ice princess?" Anya yelled, ducking a swing.

Finally shattering the ice, Sienna drew her Sunbeam Daggers. "It would be an absolute pleasure. Solar Slash!"

The monster swung around just as Sienna brought the blazing blades down across her chest. The ice splintered, and the monster screamed as it exploded. As it died, a wave of blue energy washed over the room and out the hall. All of the ice it had created shattered, sparkling into nothing. Freed, Tyler stumbled and caught himself on the wall. Sienna landed on one knee, panting.

"Power down," Tyler said, coming back into the room. Sienna followed suit, and he caught her as she stumbled. Ow. She'd ruptured some of her bruises, and blood stained her hospital gown. Tyler helped her back to the bed.

"Thanks," Tyler said, looking up at Anya. He gave Sienna an expectant look. She avoided his gaze, but he kept staring at her.

"I'm . . . sorry for suspecting you," she said, not making eye contact.

"Don't worry, next time you'll probably be right," Anya said, not even looking at the two. Sheathing the sword, she climbed out the window, crunching broken glass underfoot. Now that she had time to look, Sienna saw the fire escape just beside the window.

"Hey, wait!" Tyler protested, starting to follow, but Anya was already gone.

Sienna sighed. "I don't think your girlfriend wants to be chased all over the city."

"She's not—never mind," Tyler said, turning away from the window. "Stay here while I find a doctor."

"I don't need a doctor."

"Yes, you do," Tyler said firmly, and walked out. With a weary groan, Sienna flopped back on the bed.

Villains

 * Glacia