New Girl

Chapter 11: Eye of the Storm

A/N: Since the next two episodes following the Shimazu arc don't have a lot of places for me to put Kennedi into, I've skipped "Wild Wipe Out" and "Double Edged Blake." So now, here's the next chapter, where the rangers get to face their fears. I will recap what I didn't write. Unfortunately, this story hasn't been turning out how I wanted it to from the beginning, which is why it won't be as long as it could be. The ideas I have for it no longer seem to agree with me when I go to type them, so this story is coming to an end soon. I promise the Dino Thunder sequel will be longer, and will have more adventures.

Anyway, what do the rangers have to fear?

Also, both of the poll results is revealed in this chapter!

Disclaimer: I only own things not originally in the show.

A couple weeks after Shimazu appeared, June was well on its way. There had been a couple more attacks since then, but it was nothing the rangers couldn't handle. Tori had gone surfing and wiped out, ending up in a parallel dimension where rangers were evil and alien beings were good. It had taken a while to find her, and when they did, they managed to destroy the alien freak that was attacking the city.

The following attack had been when Blake introduced a new weapon and they got a bit of help from a former thunder ninja student. It had proven to be a useful weapon when it came to destroying a monster that liked balloons. The rangers had also noticed Tori and Blake getting closer between the two attacks.

It was now a new week and a new day. Some of the rangers were at Storm Chargers, waiting for Shane to show up. Kennedi was waiting for a couple other people to arrive, and because of it, she had to skip out on ninja training today. It wasn't like she could do it, anyway. They were doing tsunami cycle training, and the glider cycle wasn't exactly meant for training.

"See you tomorrow, guys," Kelly spoke to her employees, who were still there. She was running out to do errands, but the shop would be closed for the day.

"See ya Kel," they returned, speaking as one. The red head left the shop.

"Where's Shane?" Dustin demanded. "Tsunami cycle training is, like, the one class I never want to be late for."

"There he is," Hunter pointed to where the red ranger was entering the shop. Shane entered and walked over to the four, not looking happy.

"What's up?" Dustin wondered. "You don't look so good."

Shane sighed. "Yeah, I just found out my big brother's coming to town."

"Yeah, that'd bum me out too," Blake joked. "No, man, for real, what's the matter?"

"It's just," Shane bit his lip. "You know, he's like the perfect son. He's successful, he's got a great job, nice house. He's not much into skateboarding."

"Why doesn't he try motocross?" the yellow ranger suggested.

Kennedi rolled her eyes. "I don't think that's the point, Dustin." They all started heading for the door and heard a car beeping. "That's my ride."

"Ride?" Blake frowned. "Where are you going?"

"Apparently my mom got engaged to a man she's been dating for a couple years now," Kennedi grumbled. "I have to go to the engagement party, where I get to meet the kid who's going to be my stepbrother, my mom's fiancé, and a couple other people in his family. My uncle's picking me up, so I really gotta go. Call me if something comes up."

She gave Hunter a quick kiss before taking off for the red car sitting in the parking lot. The boys watched as she climbed in the back seat, the front occupied by a man and a woman wearing either red or yellow. Once they drove off, the boys started making their way to training.

"Anyway, it'll take more than some big air to mellow out my brother," Shane stated.

Kennedi wasn't exactly happy about having to go to her mother's engagement party. It was taking place in a fancy restaurant on the outskirts of Blue Bay Harbor. It was close enough that Kennedi could easily sneak away in case she needed to, but it was still far enough it would take some time to get there. She was quiet on the drive over, and her Uncle Jason noted it. He decided to start a conversation.

"So, Ken, how's the softball going?" he asked as they continued the drive. His wife, Trini, rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she shrugged. "Not much happening. Still winning almost every game."

"You know, Zack's been noticing a change in you," Jason continued. His friend Zack Taylor was Kennedi's coach on the Blue Bay Harbor team, and the two men had exchanged stories about their teams. Zack had told Jason about Kennedi's behavior and how it reminded him of what they used to be. The former red figured this would be as good a time as any to figure it out for sure.

"Jason," Trini warned.

The man shrugged. "What?"

"What change?" Kennedi frowned.

"He said that you tend to leave practice early quite a bit, making up lame excuses," Jason stated. "He's just concerned."

"Well, there's nothing to worry about," Kennedi assured. "Why?"

Trini decided to take over. "He's just noticed some familiar behavior, and I think I know why."

"What do you mean?" Kennedi looked at her aunt, curious.

"Ken, you can't expect two former rangers to not notice the morpher you're wearing," the former yellow pointed out, motioning to the device Kennedi still had on her wrist. "Zack was questioning your behavior because it's how we used to act when we had to leave for an attack."

"You guys were all former rangers?" Kennedi asked, shocked. The two adults nodded as she pocketed her morpher into her bag. "Who else was?"

"Zack, Kim, Tommy, Billy," Jason listed. "Pretty much all of us that babysat you and Kira when your mom and dad went out and from before you guys moved to Reefside. Your mother was always thankful for us for watching you two, especially once your father died."

"And after we left for the peace conference, she moved to Reefside," Trini put in. "We don't think she knows about us, but I wouldn't be surprised if she did. Does Kira know about this? I mean, Jase and I know you're a ninja, and we know your mom and Kira know that, but…"

"Kira knows about me," Kennedi rolled her eyes. "She figured it out, though."

Jase smirked. "So, what's your team like? No boys I have to protect you from?"

"Uncle Jason!" Kennedi groaned.

"Your team is quite odd, though," Trini remarked. "I've noticed that there's no pink, there's two odd colors, and that the blue uniform has a skirt and the yellow doesn't."

"Because yellow is a guy, and blue is a girl," Kennedi answered. "Dustin is yellow, Shane is red, Tori's blue, Blake's navy, and Cam's green."

"Then who was that other boy in crimson that you were kissing?" Jason questioned, only to earn a smack on his shoulder from Trini.

Kennedi bit her lip. Despite having dating for a bit over a year, she had never told her uncle about her being in a relationship. Since her father died, her uncle had become the father figure in her and her sister's life, but both knew that he wasn't actually their father. "Hunter, the crimson ranger…and my boyfriend…"

"Aw, that's so sweet," Trini commented. "And he was pretty cute, too. How did you two meet?"

"The ninja academies," Kennedi stated. "He's a thunder ninja, and our academies did a few training things together, and we just started dating a little over a year ago."

"Which means it's definitely long overdue for me to meet him," Jason huffed.

"He'll pass your expectations," Kennedi declared.

"And what makes you say that?" the former red raised an eyebrow as they pulled into the parking lot.

"He's enlisted to the army," she smirked, getting out of the car.

Jason couldn't argue with that.

Inside the restaurant, the three were led to a room near the back, which was used for private functions like this engagement party. They entered the room, and a little girl about seven years old came running up to Kennedi. Kira was trailing the young blonde, and the child reached Kennedi and hugged her legs, hiding behind her cousin. "Gia, what did you do now?"

"Nothing," the young girl hid.

"She's being her usual pain in the ass," Kira huffed, approaching. "Aunt Jess put me in charge of watching her during this, so that's what I'm doing."

"I'm not a pain!" Gia pouted, stepping out to face her cousins. "I just want to run around."

"Which is the problem right there," Kennedi laughed. "This is a fancy party. So, who's the man mom's marrying?"

Kira pointed to where their mother and her fiancé were now talking to Jason and Trini. The man with their mother had sandy blonde hair and was a bit taller than their mother, and looked pretty fit for his age. "He's over there. Name's Christopher Rhodes. His late wife died after losing a lot of blood in a miscarriage when his son was seven."

"That sucks," Kennedi winced. "How old is his son now?"

"Well," Kira tried to think. "Mom said he's about a year older than us, so if we're seventeen, that would make him roughly eighteen. His name's Casey. By the way, what do you plan to do if…" a beeping was heard. "That happens?"

"You're covering for me," Kennedi smirked. "Tell them I had to go to the bathroom or something."

Kira rolled her eyes as she and Gia watched Kennedi take off.

"Kira, where is Kenny going?"

After getting the call, Kennedi ninja streaked as fast as she could to where Cam told her the attack was. She morphed on her way there so she wouldn't have to worry about doing so if she arrived late. When she got to the attack sight, she jumped right in to help fight off Kelzaks. Shane was the only ranger not present yet. Kennedi also saw an ugly looking alien that was firing things at random people, Motodrome assisting him.

"What's the deal with big and ugly?" Kennedi wondered as she was fighting near Tori.

"He shoots these strange collar things at people," Tori answered. "Don't know what they do, but it doesn't look pretty."

"Duck!" Kennedi warned, and the two girls ducked down as Eyesac fired. Instead of the blast hitting the girls, it hit a couple of Kelzaks.

Shane came running onto the scene, and Hunter noticed. "Glad you could make it. Join the party."

"Ninja Storm, Ranger Form!" Shane morphed and joined in the fight.

None of them noticed his brother watching from behind a pillar.

Once the issue was dealt with, Kennedi ninja streaked back to the restaurant, sneaking in unnoticed. The others had gone back to Ninja Ops, and she told them to call if they needed her. When she entered the room, she spotted her sister talking to a guy around their age and walked over to them. The guy seemed to look a lot like their mother's fiancé, so she assumed this was his son. "There you are," Kira breathed a sigh of relief. "I was beginning to think you'd fallen in."

"And how would that be possible?" Kennedi frowned. Kira shrugged. "I got a call from Hunter, so that's why it took so long."

"Don't you see him enough?" the other dirty blonde groaned. Kennedi knew it was only a cover, and Kira knew that she would be filled in later. "Anyway, this is Casey, Chris's son."

"Kennedi," the orange ranger greeted. "So, did you know about our parents' relationship?"

"Only for a couple weeks," Casey shrugged. "I'm still trying to get used to it."

Kira nodded. "We were just talking about sports. Apparently Casey loves baseball as much as we love softball."

"Well, at least that means you're not completely boring," Kennedi joked. "What position do you play?"

"Catcher," Casey replied. "Kira tells me that you're both pitchers for Blue Bay and Reefside, and that you also do soccer and lacrosse."

"I also do a bit of motocross on the side," Kennedi added. "Nothing professional, though. So, you got a girlfriend?"

"I'm more worried about getting through school before I start dating," Casey chuckled. A beeping could be heard. "What's that beeping?"

Kennedi dug out her phone as the beeping continued. "My phone. I have to take this."

Kira sighed as he sister left once more.

By the end of the day, the rangers were back where they belonged. Shane was on good terms with his brother, his brother having found out about him being a power ranger. Tori, Shane, and Dustin had all gotten trapped in a nightmare collar, which caused them to see their fears. Destroying the monster had gone how it usually did, Kennedi sitting out during the zord fight.

Most of the rangers were watching Kennedi's softball game, which was against Reefside once more. They had nothing better to do at the moment. Shane was at the skate park with his brother, and the others had decided to watch the softball game. The rangers sat together in the bleachers, watching as Kennedi's team was out in the field.

"Who's winning again?" Dustin asked.

"It's hard to tell," Hunter shrugged. "Especially when Kennedi and Kira are facing against each other."

"I still can't believe you never told us you guys were dating," Tori pointed out.

Hunter rolled his eyes. "It wasn't like we were trying to hide it, and we weren't trying to flaunt it either."

"I'm still amazed you know exactly how long you two have been dating," Blake chuckled. "It was kinda creepy."

"Shut up."

A/N: Ending it here. Not really sure what happened with the last scene. Anyway, if you paid close enough attention, you see that I brought in former and future rangers. Yes, Jason is Kennedi's uncle. I had that planned from the beginning. I thought it'd be cool to do another story and have an OC related to an original ranger that wasn't Tommy. That's going to have an effect in the next story. Also, these are the poll results, as for who would eventually be related to Kennedi and Kira (remember, you could choose two – one guy, one girl):

Gia – 6

Casey – 4

Tori, Dustin, Chip – 2

Ronny, Troy, Mike – 1

Lily, Emily – 0.

Since Gia and Casey had the highest amount of votes, I made Gia Kennedi and Kira's younger cousin (for the sake of this series, Jason had two older sisters, Gia's mom and Kira and Kennedi's mom), and made Casey their future stepbrother.

Hope you liked this chapter!