Still don't own the franchise or the submissions.

Last time we saw the Ethereal Rangers: The trio had finally escaped the labyrinth beneath the Academy, only to be attacked by Tauza's ship and the Screech Owlzord. Summoning their own Zords, the three fought back, but lost: the school was destroyed and their Zords captured, with the ninjas retreating to a nearby Nepali village to recover.

*February 6th, Former Location of the Ethereal Academy, 5:30 am*

Susana crouched behind a boulder, watching Tauza's Snipers repair the Zords. Over the last few days they'd erected skeletal scaffolding over the fallen robots and pieced them back together. It looked like the foot soldiers were working manually, not using something evil or nasty that only Tauza could control, though everyone had been nervous when they started taking things apart. Now the Zords were basically in one piece each, and from the looks of it, almost finished.

The Screech Owlzord's pilot, a Black Ranger, was wandering through the construction, morphed. Susana had watched him for a while, wondering whether he could be trusted. It looked like the answer was a resounding no: he wasn't under guard, nor did he look mind-controlled. He had his helmet on, but the visor was open.

As he stood on the Pandazord, he looked up, and for a second, Susana thought he was looking directly at her. She held absolutely still. He was too far away for her to manipulate his emotions—she hadn't learned it that well—so she didn't dare try making him think he hadn't seen anything. (That was how she'd avoided patrols up until now.)

After a moment, the Black Ranger looked away. Susana relaxed as he went on, shouting something at the Snipers busying themselves all around him. Susana slid back through the snow. Turning, she marine-crawled through the drifts, sweeping a foot behind herself to try and cover her track as she went. Something pricked her ankle, but she shrugged it off as a protruding rock.

Finally, she got far enough to ninja streak. Just to be sure, she took a long, looping route back to the village. It had been sunny every day since the storm, but the snow had barely melted out here. It was still almost thigh-deep in places, making anything but ninja-streaking insanely slow.

Susana had worked up a good sweat by the time she saw the village. She zipped down the slope and stopped in the middle of the village. Easton and Kerri were waiting; as usual, Easton had found somebody to help: today it was a man loading up a yak. Wrinkling her nose at the musty, sour yak smell, Susana joined her fellow ninjas. Like her, they were in their out-of-morph uniforms.

"Repairs are coming along, everything still looks normal. Also I'm pretty sure those changes are just so the three can form a Megazord," she reported.

"They must not have the other morphers—or else they've lost the Zords and want to reconnect them," Easton said.

"They can do that?" Kerri asked, lifting her head off her fist and looking awake for the first time.

"Why not?" Susana shrugged.

"Hold this." Easton passed her a rope, and having nothing better to do, Susana held it. The cord was soft with use. Easton crouched, tying a complex knot. The man he was helping said something in Nepali, looking Susana up and down, and Easton laughed.

"What did he say?" Kerri asked.

"It would take too long to explain." Easton glanced at Susana and chuckled again. She gave him a withering stare, which he ignored. Reaching back, he took the rope away from her. "Thanks."

"Whatever."

Susana noticed the sky was just starting to lighten in the east, and wandered off. Back in her first month of attending the school, she'd found a pretty, quiet spot she could be alone and think without freezing. It was a lake in a sheltered little valley where the wind couldn't blow. Stopping by the edge of the water, Susana sat down, crossed her legs, and gazed at the blue-violet clouds on the horizon.

This wasn't what she'd expected when she'd signed up for ninja school. Susana rolled her eyes at how silly that sounded, but it was still true. The first couple of months had been just what she'd expected. A lot of classes, a lot of chores, some mild hazing from the senior students, and a lot of guys she was supposed to obey. Apparently the school had been integrated a couple hundred years ago, but from some of those guys' attitudes, you'd think it had been yesterday, and just so they could have hot girls to hit on in class. Susana smiled a little, remembering how well she'd put the worst bunch in their place. Sure, she'd gotten punished—and argued it all the way—but they'd stopped picking on the new girls.

"Susana?"

Hearing Easton's voice, Susana twisted around and looked up. The young man stood on the edge of the slope, looking down at her with an expression of near terror. Confused, Susana stood, dusting her uniform off.

"Easton? What's wrong?"

"I-I was just looking for you, making sure you were okay. None of us should wander off alone," Easton said.

He wasn't looking at her; he was looking at the lake. Susana frowned and glanced from it to him. When she did, he backed up a step. Was he hyperventilating?

"You didn't answer my question. What's wrong?"

Easton swallowed hard, and ran a hand down his face. "Nothing."

Susana glared. "Really? You look like you've seen a ghost, Easton; you're not even trying to fool me."

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

Susana folded her arms. "Try me."

"I'm scared of lakes." The words came out in a rush so fast Susana almost didn't understand.

She stared up at him for a moment. Easton looked down at his feet, shifting in place. In the faint dawn light, she could see his face was pale and taut. She didn't even need to sense his emotions to see that he wasn't kidding; it was all he could do to not bolt then and there. After a moment, Susana found her voice.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Susana—"

"Okay, fine, whatever, you know where I am now, I'm fine, you can go back to the village where the big scary lake won't hurt you anymore."

"You should come back with me. Being this far away from the rest of us is dangerous."

Easton still wouldn't look in the direction of the water. This was getting ridiculous. Susana came a step closer, away from the lake, and he finally made eye contact with her.

"Look, all I want is a little time by myself to think. If anything happens to me, get this, I can take care of myself. You know where I am, so just go away and leave me in peace, okay?"

Easton hesitated. With a groan, Susana turned away, walked to the edge of the water, and plunked down on the snow. After a moment, she heard him turn and walk away. She felt a twinge of guilt, but quickly dismissed it. He wasn't her boss; he couldn't make her stay away from a harmless body of water just because it scared him. Besides, she really could take care of herself.

That scratch on her ankle still stung. Looking down, Susana realized that whatever-it-was that had stabbed her had gone right through her boot, leaving a pinprick hole. Susana tugged off her boot to get a better look at the wound. A red-brown stain darkened her sock around it, but when she rolled it down, the cut looked like it had stopped bleeding. Shrugging it off, Susana rolled her sock back up and put her boot on. It wasn't a big deal; she'd just have to be more careful next time.

*Cave Shelter, Just Outside the Village, 9:40 pm*

Kerri sat in the middle of the cave, near the smelly kerosene lamp, carefully stretching her healing leg. The villagers had shown them this hideout after a couple of days, when Easton had asked. He was worried the bad guys might notice them and attack if they stayed in the village too long. Apparently this cave was one of several hideouts the Ethereal Academy maintained.

At that point, Kerri heard someone coming, and sat up. Whoever-it-was pushed the secret entrance open and shuffled inside, getting the snow off their boots. They limped just a little, and sounded out of breath.

"Who's there? Susana?"

"Yeah."

Susana sat down with a thump, and blew out a long breath. Kerri's terrible vision was all but nonexistent in the cave, even with the yellowy kerosene lamplight, but she could make out a shadowy Susana rubbing her leg. Faintly, she smelled blood in the air.

"Are you okay? You were limping."

"Yeah, I just cut myself on a rock or something, it's no big deal. Where's Easton? He's usually back here by now."

"Dunno, probably helping someone in the village. He's either really bored or just that desperate to help somebody," Kerri said, moving closer to the dim yellow light of the lamp. It was the warmest part of the cave.

Susana snorted a little, and shifted onto one of the mattresses nearby. She started pulling off her boots.

"Whatever. So long as he doesn't let in a draft when he comes back, I don't care."

Susana hissed just a little as she got one boot off, and paused to check her ankle. After a moment, she shrugged and lay down. Having nothing better to do, Kerri scooted around the lamp to one of the other beds.

As she messed with the furs and blankets, she heard a faint howling sound from outside, almost too distant to hear. It wasn't anything particularly weird, the wind tended to howl, but Kerri paused. If he'd noticed it was getting that windy, Easton would have already come back. Like he kept telling them, the mountains were dangerous at night in a storm.

The howling picked up. It didn't sound like the wind; it didn't glide up and down, it just trembled a little, like a singer holding a high note. Kerri sat up, listening intently. The sound faded. A moment later, it rose again, louder this time.

"Susana?"

The other girl shifted. "What?"

"Can you hear that?"

Susana listened for half a second. "No. Go to sleep."

Kerri shushed her, rising to her feet. The yowl swelled and faded. It was definitely getting louder.

"Something's coming," Kerri said.

Susana sat up, blankets rustling. "What?"

"Shush!" Kerri crossed the room and pressed her ear to the secret entrance. She couldn't echolocate through walls, unfortunately, but she listened as carefully as she could, holding her breath. The howl started again, even closer this time.

"Okay, I heard that," Susana said, rising. "That's not the wind, is it?"

"We should probably douse the light," Kerri said, stepping away from the wall. She heard Susana moving to obey. "Then sit down and hold still."

"Right. Get rid of anything to let him find us."

The light went out, and soon Susana stopped moving. Kerri breathed as quietly as she could, listening intently. Again, the howl rose through the night, closer than ever. It was definitely a monster.

Footsteps shuffled into the cave, and Kerri flinched. She slid away from the wall and crouched, ready to fight even though she really, really didn't want to. By the sound of it, Susana was getting ready as well. The footsteps shuffled forward. The monster had four feet, and they were large. Claws clicked on the stone floor, and low breaths huffed as it drew nearer. It was sniffing. Despite the creeping chill, Kerri's hands grew slick with sweat.

The monster threw itself at the entrance with a boom, and both girls jumped. Kerri stifled a shriek and scrambled back as the monster clawed and scratched at the secret door, snarling like a wolf.

"It knows, we should just morph," Susana said, catching her by the elbow.

"Right."

Kerri fumbled, but found her morpher. The cracks in its surface felt bigger than it had been before, and she remembered that sick feeling that had come over her the last time she'd morphed. But there was no time: the secret door groaned and shivered as the monster attacked.

"Ethereal Storm, Ranger Form!"

Moving in synchronization, the two slammed into the door, flinging it open on the monster. Somersaulting, Kerri flipped around just in time to feel a massive paw swing past her. Scrambling back, she focused on echolocating. The monster's constant snarling and growling gave it a shape: it was enormous, a jowly, scarred, wrinkly dog covered in cybernetic attachments. It crouched and leaped at her, and she ducked aside.

"Projection Blade!" Susana shouted, and Kerri saw the blue flash as she drew the sword.

"Sound Slicers!" Kerri shouted.

For a second, she felt two weapon hafts in her hands, but then they faded. A shock like electricity shot through her body, and she crumpled, clutching her stomach. The monster slammed bodily into her, its steel teeth clamping down on her arm. It didn't tear her suit, but she felt a surge of white-hot energy pulse up her shoulder, and screamed.

"Kerri!"

Susana was already there, slashing and hacking at the monster. Kerri slipped free and fell back, alternately clutching her arm, shoulder and stomach. She felt like she was going to be sick. Fighting back across the cave, Susana and the monster blurred together into a collection of flailing limbs.

Gathering herself, Kerri stood and charged. She rammed straight into the monster's slick back, and delivered a solid front kick. It stumbled, and she followed the blow up with a back leg roundhouse, then a few rapid jabs.

The monster's enormous jaws closed around her waist, and before Kerri knew what was happening, it had flung her out of the cave. She hit the snow and rolled, stopping herself with outflung arms. Susana rolled into her a second later, grunted and sprang to her feet. Kerri scrambled up after her, just in time for the monster to leap towards them.

Susana shoved Kerri aside, and she fell flat on her back. As Kerri scrambled up, she made out Susana stepping away, towards the monster. At the very last second, she stabbed her sword straight up into the air. The monster fell directly on it with a disturbingly meaty crunch, and both went rolling down the mountainside.

Kerri ran after them, and heard them slam into a boulder. Still dizzy and sick, she staggered after them. More stabbing, slashing, yelling and roaring carried towards her. As she went, she accidentally kicked something small and round away. That was odd. Bending down, she felt around and found it, standing again.

"Kerri?" Susana sounded exhausted, but very much alive.

Kerri hurried down towards her, feeling the ball. With a sinking feeling, she recognized it. As she reached Susana and the now very dead monster, she held it up. Susana stopped.

"Easton's morpher."

"Uh-huh."

Susana smacked her helmet. "Great."

*Ruins of the Ethereal Academy, 10:17 pm*

In the faint moonlight, Tauza and Reggie wandered among the partly-disassembled Ethereal Zords. Reggie was morphed again, but Tauza seemed oblivious to the cold.

"I think your stupid dog is dead," Reggie said, as a cluster of Snipers appeared on the crest of the hill. "Ve should have taken ze Sapphire Ranger ven ve had ze chance."

"Wrong. Bl00dhound has tracked her back to their hiding place," Tauza replied, not even looking at him. "Even if he's been destroyed, we'll be able to find them easily. Besides, I think he's succeeded."

The group finally reached the pair. Shoving Easton forward, the Snipers forced him to his knees. He struggled, but the chains wound around him were locked securely. Tauza smirked at him.

"Hello, Lewis."

*Trivia*

I went back and forth on this one for a little while, but decided to make Susana's quiet spot an ordinary lake, not connected to any monsters.