Xumara Revealed

Xumara Revealed is the thirty-seventh episode of Power Rangers: Lost Ninjas.

Summary
After a bizarre reaction to Zart's attack on the Earthlight Rangers, Xumara is forced to reveal her ultimate plan to Korassil.

Last time we saw the Earthlight Rangers
Monster harassment was forcing Rat to detour further and further west in his trip home. As the other Rangers followed him, they were forced to make a pit stop to deal with Micky, who'd followed them into Mexico illegally. That night, Jess was kidnapped by Zart, who also set their hotel room on fire.

February 27th, Hotel De Louisa Maria, 3:49 am
Micky was woken by the firelight, and just in time; a wall fixture dropped, sparking, towards his head. With a scream, he rolled aside and hit the floor as his bedding caught fire. Springing to his feet, he looked around at the fire. It had spread from the lights to the curtains, and it was licking at the furniture. Jess's bed was empty, but Wyatt lay still. Frightened that he was hurt or dead, Micky scrambled to his side. No, he was just asleep.

"Wyatt! WYATT!" The shaking didn't seem to be working, so Micky rolled the older boy out of the bed. He hit the floor with a thump and a groan. Looking up, he blinked around at the burning hotel room in bewilderment. Micky scrambled over the bed and seized him by the shoulders. "Morph and get us out of here!"

Wyatt glanced around at the fire, then nodded sleepily and unhooked his morpher amulet from around his neck. Another lamp tumbled, making Micky flinch.

"Earthlight Storm, Ranger Form!"

Wyatt stands before an erupting volcano. As he throws his arms out, his ninja uniform shatters to reveal his Scarlet Ranger suit. His face guard and visor close over his face, and he drops into a low stance, right leg bent back, left extended, right arm arched back and left raised with the palm forward.

Seizing Micky, Wyatt swung the younger boy up into his arms like a baby and ran for the door. It was also on fire, so he just slammed through it shoulder-first like an American football player. Micky yelped as flaming hot cinders scorched his bare feet. Then they ninja-streaked. All Micky could see was red, and then they were outside, and Wyatt had dumped him on the ground.

Coughing, Micky sat up and looked towards the hotel. The fire looked like it was spreading; smoke alarms clanged audibly, and guests and staff scrambled to evacuate. Fire engine sirens already wailed in the distance. When Micky looked towards Wyatt again, he jumped: the Scarlet Ranger was gone. Micky just glimpsed a red blur on the fire escape, heading up, and groaned.

"Why did I have to get stuck with one of the heroes?"

Tarpon Swamp, Belize, 5:44 am
Zart squelched through the rushes, mud squishing up between his bare toes. He kept trying to dry the ground with little puffs of flame, but the water always soaked back through. He shuddered; he'd picked this place too well. It was almost impossible not to make fire here, just to get rid of the cloying dampness.

"Now what, are you just going to leave me here?" The Pink Ranger sounded tired, but defiant.

Turning, Zart looked back at her. She'd recovered from his attack enough to struggle, making the chains around her wrists and chest clink. He'd fastened her to a mangrove tree, arms outstretched so she couldn't pick the locks. Swamp water lapped at her waist, soaking into her torn, scorched uniform.

"For a little while, to soften you up," Zart replied.

Jess glared. "Soften me up for what?"

"I like you," Zart said, startling Jess out of her defiance. "You breathe fire, I create fire, we're basically the same."

"I am nothing like you!"

"Don't worry, I'll fix that," Zart replied, grinning. "I'll be the sensei, and you'll be my student. Your first lesson is to use fire to get out of those chains. It'll take a lot to burn through a thick, wet tree like that, so you're probably going to start a wildfire."

Jess snorted. "As if. Even if I don't get out on my own, Wyatt will be here soon."

Zart laughed, and pulled a burned but recognizable Magma Ninja jacket out from under his robe. He held it up so Jess could see, and she did. Her eyes widened, and she jerked against her bonds.

"Did you really think I'd just take you and leave your friends alone?"

Zart dropped the jacket into the mud, and flourished a scorched red baseball cap for Jess to see. Letting it fall, he pointed, and the clothes burst into flames. Both had been "borrowed" from captives from Earthlight Academy, but Zart was certain Wyatt and Micky were dead anyway, so it was only a little lie. Jess stared at them, visibly pale even in the dawning light.

"Have fun in there," Zart said, turning away. "You've had your vaccines and everything, right?"

Jess said nothing, didn't even look at him. Her eyes were fixed on the smoldering clothes. Pulling her morpher out of his robes, Zart began tossing it up and down, wondering what he should do with it. Give it to Xumara? Not a chance. He didn't want to do anything to help her.

Then again, like Wyatt and Alex had said, she didn't seem that interested in the Rangers' morphers. Maybe giving this to her would make her reveal her real plan. He'd go ask Alex about it. That guy was fun to talk to anyway.

Before Zart could even finish his train of thought, the swamp disappeared around him. By the time he'd realized what was going on, he was already on the bridge of Xumara's ship. Blue streamers wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides as he struggled.

"How dare you!" Xumara screamed. "You're ruining everything, you stupid human!"

"Stupid—I've killed one of the Rangers and captured the other!" Zart protested. "How is that ruining your plan?"

The streamers forced Jess's morpher out of his hands, tossing it to Xumara. She caught it without even looking.

"You were lucky. I ought to throw you out an airlock for disobeying me."

"If this is how you treat your minions when they succeed, no wonder you've had so little success," Korassil said, stepping out of the shadows.

At the sight of him, Xumara jumped and released Zart. He folded his arms and glared at her as Korassil stopped beside him. Off to the side, towards the door, Alex materialized out of the shadows. Unlike the others, he looked regretful.

"The Scarlet Ranger was right, wasn't he?" Korassil asked. "You aren't trying to kill or capture the Rangers as ordered. Judging by the way you've been harassing the Green Ranger, you're trying to force them northwest."

Xumara had gone pale. "I wanted to help you."

Korassil strode forward until they were inches apart. Xumara tried to back up, but his hand clamped down on her arm, holding her still. "Explain."

"It seemed like the best way to get rid of Lothor," Xumara said. Korassil's grip tightened on her arm, and she talked faster. "Six Rangers in one place would be more than he could handle, if they overpowered him everyone would believe it was just his poor leadership that got him into trouble. I-I've already talked to most of the other generals, and they liked it better when you were in charge."

Korassil's hand dropped away from her arm. Slowly, Xumara put a hand on his helmet, but he seized her wrist and jerked it away hard enough to throw her off-balance. She yelped, more in surprise than pain.

"How dare you." Korassil's voice was low and venomous.

"Korassil—"

"I would rather die than betray Lothor! He may have taken my place through trickery, but he is my commander and he has led us well for years! Don't claim you were doing it for me, you wanted power for yourself, with me as a shield."

"Or a puppet," Zart put in. He had a huge grin plastered all over his face.

"I wasn't," Xumara pleaded. "I-it wasn't even personal! Lothor's had even less success than I have! This is too personal for him—he won't let anyone help! He's going to get every monster in the fleet killed, sending them down one at a time and letting the Rangers destroy them!"

Nobody spoke for a very long minute. Xumara, scared but trying to smile, put her arms around Korassil's neck. The streamers hanging from her sleeves entwined themselves around her husband's arms. He stood like a statue, as if he hadn't noticed.

"M-maybe it was foolish. Still, no harm done, thanks to Zart. We could just put this all behind us. I mean, nobody else even knows, right?"

Korassil's shoulders rose as he drew in a deep breath. "Zart?"

"Yes?"

"You've earned this." Grasping Xumara by the arms, he jerked the detached sleeves and their streamers off. The fabric went completely limp as it lost contact with her. Before she could react, he swung her around and threw her to the floor. "Don't hold back."

"Oh, I won't." Zart rubbed his hands together, sparks flying out.

Xumara scrambled back, but Korassil had already drawn his sword and held it out to block her path. Eyes darting around desperately, she turned and yanked her headband off, third eye glaring at Zart. He stopped up short, and then started laughing.

"You really think you can make me more crazy? You really are an idiot."

With that, he gestured, sending a whiplash of flame at Xumara. It struck her directly in the third eye, and she fell back, clutching her face and screaming. Cackling, Zart advanced on her, gathering flame around his hands. Alex averted his gaze; Korassil didn't.

San Orlando, Mexico, 8:28 am
Wyatt and Micky sat in a corner booth of a quiet restaurant. Thanks to Wyatt and the firemen's efforts, there had been no casualties, save for the luggage Wyatt and Jess had brought along. This was why Wyatt was still in his pajamas, and wearing socks with no shoes.

"Jess was gone before I woke up; either she got out before we did or someone took her," Micky said, keeping his voice low so as not to attract any attention from the other diners.

Wyatt shook his head, talking through a mouthful of blueberry pancakes. "She wouldn't have left us there if the room was already on fire. She's not like that."

"And nobody could find her afterwards. I think we've got a kidnapping," Micky said grimly. "Do you think she's even alive—"

"She is."

Micky raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure? Those space ninjas seemed pretty desperate, even if they haven't been taking every chance they got to off you guys."

"I'm sure. I mean, if they wanted to kill her, they could have just done it without taking her anywhere. Couldn't they?"

"Right . . . it'd be much more demoralizing if they left her for us to find anyway," Micky said.

"What you said." Wyatt finished off his hot chocolate. "So, now we just have to rescue her."

"Just a hunch, but maybe we should start by finding her," Micky replied.

"I meant that." Wyatt screwed up his face, trying to think. "Xumara lives on a ship . . . they might have her up there, wouldn't they?"

"Probably. How do we get aboard? Can you blast your way through with your Zord?"

Wyatt frowned. "My Zord can't fly. All they'd have to do is move up out of range and we're stuck. And I can't drive the Megazord all by myself."

"You couldn't use the Megazord without Rat anyway," Micky said.

Wyatt paused, fork halfway to his mouth. "Rat? Oh, yeah, I forgot he left."

Five cars drove by the window before Micky spoke again. "Are you serious?"

Wyatt nodded, looking sheepish. "My memory's really bad. For the longest time, I couldn't even remember what country we were in—I'd just always think it was Sweden. Now I know it's not Sweden, though. We're in Belize."

Micky groaned, resting his forehead on the back of his hand. "This is going to be a long day."


 * Transport Room, Xumara's Ship, 10:01 am*

The repaired ScanJammer worked quietly at his station. It hadn't actually taken very long to repair him, but Xumara hadn't wanted "to use him on the Rangers just yet," so he'd been assigned a job on the ship. The teleport had gone quiet for now, though Korassil had been very busy since his arrival a few hours before.

As ScanJammer fiddled with a button that had been sticking, his console lit up. Confused, he looked over. Someone was teleporting in—two someones, actually. Quickly, he checked the point of origin: the signature looked like one of the other ships in the fleet. With a shrug, ScanJammer decided that it had to be one of the other generals.

It was.

Materializing on the transportation pad, Tauza stormed to the console and seized ScanJammer by the squared shoulders, dragging him across the console. She looked like she'd dressed in a hurry, and her hair was still down.

"Where. Is. My. Sister?" She demanded, barely hiding a tremor in her voice. ScanJammer started to scan her, only for her to whack him across the head. "Answer me!"

"I'd answer her, if I vere you," Reggie chimed in, coming up behind Tauza.

"General Xumara has been placed in her personal quarters temporarily," ScanJammer said after a moment. "However she is no longer functional, I would recommend contacting—"

However that sentence would have concluded was lost to the world; Tauza seized ScanJammer and threw him to the floor. Drawing her sword, she decapitated the robot with a scream of fury. She shielded her face from the sparks and spurts of blue coolant fluid. Stepping over his remains, she hurried into the hall, Reggie following close behind.

Tauza already knew the way to Xumara's quarters, and within five minutes they'd reached the doors. Opening them, Tauza ran inside, and stopped up short. With a cautious glance around to make sure they hadn't been seen, Reggie slipped inside and closed the doors behind them.

Slowly, Tauza walked towards the bed in the middle of the room. Xumara, covered with ugly red-and-black burns, lay draped across it, limp and unbreathing. Silent and chalk-white, Tauza sat down on the bed beside her sister, and checked her pulse with a shaking hand.

"Leave," she said, not looking at Reggie.

He obeyed without a word. As the door hissed shut behind him, Tauza brushed a blackened clump of hair out of Xumara's face. Aside from the ugly wound where her third eye had been, her face was mostly untouched.

"They'll pay," she said. "Every last one of those bastards is going to pay dearly for this." Her voice trembled on the last word. Reaching under Xumara's shoulders and knees, she picked her up, letting her sister's head loll against her chest. Now she was starting to lose her composure, her voice growing shriller and thick with tears. "I'm sorry—I should never have let this happen. Why didn't you tell me what you were doing? I could have protected you!"

As Tauza's voice rose to a near-shout, Xumara flinched. Breath catching in her throat, Tauza looked down at her. A shallow, raspy breath lifted her chest slightly.

"Xumara?" She asked, her voice softening. She shifted her grip, cradling Xumara so she could breathe more easily. With one hand, she swiped quickly at her eyes. "Can you hear me? It's Tauwie, you're safe now."

The doors opened, and Reggie looked back inside. "Someone's coming, ve need to go now if you don't vant to get caught here."

"Coming," Tauza said, standing and lifting Xumara.

Reggie frowned as she came closer. "You're taking her?"

"She's not dead—and I know who can save her," Tauza said, striding past him. "Follow me and hurry. We have a lot to do."

Allies

 * Micky Shell

Villains

 * Xumara
 * Tauza
 * Zart
 * Korassil
 * ScanJammer