Author's note: here's something I've been tinkering with for awhile. What if something happened to Conner, and the Rangers needed another teammate, and fast? Who could possibly fill that spot? Trent/Kira, Conner/Krista, with a few surprises down the line.
The door to Conner's room burst open. "Hey, Con, Mom said—" Eric McKnight cut off when he saw Conner's friends spread about. "Oh, hey," he said, with a casual wave and an easy grin. The moment passed as he returned his attention to his twin. "Conner, Mom said you had mono. Please tell me that you at least got it from making out with a hottie."
Conner grinned, "Of course!"
Kira sighed. "Oh, please."
"Hey, everybody," said Eric. He glanced at Trent, and stuck out his hand. "I'm Conner's brother Eric."
Trent raised his hand, trained by Anton Mercer, and believing that Eric wanted to shake hands. Eric, however, curled his fingers into a fist, and looked at Trent expectantly until the boy followed suit. Eric bumped fists with him, then turned to Kira and Ethan, whom he already knew. "Hey, guys, how's it going? Ethe, please tell me you have a copy of Last Destiny IV. I was playing V and I think I missed something about Kuuchiro's back story..."
"Dude, sure thing. Have you gotten past the Magna Forest yet? A little bit about his parentage is revealed there if you find the Chest of Cedric."
"Problem is, I keep dying when I'm fighting the witch triplets. Bad things really do come in threes. I'm running out of life potions."
"I will never understand the lure of the joystick," said Kira, shaking her head.
Eric glanced over at the sound of her voice, his eyes lighting up. "Kira! You get hotter every time I see you."
"Watch yourself, dude," warned Ethan. "She and Trent are a thing."
"Ethan," Kira admonished.
"That true?" asked Eric.
She glanced over his shoulder at Trent, blushed a little, and nodded. "Yeah, well..."
"Man, move your feet, lose your seat, huh?" he said, shaking his head with mock regret. "Oh well. Hope you kids are happy."
She smiled at him. "Thanks. I think. Um, where's your mom?"
"She's getting some cookies or something. You know how Mom loves to feed people."
Kira casually went over and shut the door. "Eric, could you sit down?"
"Um..."
"It's nothing big, I just wanted to ask you something"
"Is it kinky?" asked Eric, and seconds later, was treated to a pillow smacking him in the back of the head. "Dude!" He looked over at his twin. "That's your first warning," said Conner.
Kira only smiled at Eric and indicated that it was okay, something that surprised the hell out of the three in the room that knew her. If any of them had said it, they'd have been killed, and they knew it. But Kira was on a mission, and was not about to be distracted by Eric's offbeat and annoying sense of humor.
Eric sat in the desk chair Kira had vacated, having no other options, because Conner rarely stopped moving and only had the one chair. "Eric, what do you know about the Power Rangers?" she posed.
"Um, which ones? 'Cause there were some in Blue Bay Harbor, but I know there are some here in Reefside, too."
"The Reefside ones."
"Not much. There are five, dinosaur-themed. Red, black, blue, yellow, and white," he ticked the colors off on his fingers.
"Why does red always get named first?" whined Ethan.
"Dude, let it freaking go, okay?" said Conner.
"Oh, yeah, sure, easy for you to say. I was third," said Ethan, but Kira rolled her eyes as her best friends got into their usual argument. She looked at Eric.
"Do you know anything about the Rangers' identities?" she continued.
Eric laughed. "'Course not. I don't even live here."
Kira's brow furrowed slightly. "Can you keep a secret?"
"Dude, I told you we could trust him," spoke up Conner.
"Conner, for the love of—not now, okay? We said I'd do this, all right?"
"I didn't agree to that," said Conner. "He's my brother, I should do it."
"It's his last mission for awhile, Kira, you might as well," said Trent.
"Conner, you freaking suck when it comes to speaking with people," she said, never turning to face him, and saving him from her annoyed expression, although he'd seen it enough times in the past. "Would you just let me deal with it?"
"Yeah, I can keep a secret..." said Eric, glancing at each of the people in the room with confusion. "What's going on?"
"Eric, we're the Power Rangers," said Kira.
Eric stared at the blond girl in the black tank top. "I..."
"Me, Ethan, Trent, our science teacher, and Conner. We're the Power Rangers."
"Your science teacher?" said Eric, being very much like Conner in the respect that he picked up on the least important part of the statement. "Dude, why?"
"Long story," offered Kira impatiently.
"Yeah right, Conner's a Power Ranger," Eric scoffed. "I mean, dude, I know my brother, and the dude's good at soccer, but he couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag."
"Oh, c'mon," said Conner. "We took karate classes together when we were kids."
"Yeah, and which of us got accepted to a ninja school?"
"Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that you live right by it, where I'm several hours away?" retorted Conner. "And don't forget that you got kicked out."
"I wasn't kicked out! They let me back in," he said defensively. "Dude, you know, mono's got you all weirded out, you're getting your friends to put together this crazy story about Power Rangers."
"Ready," said Conner, and Eric blinked at him, because it was a completely random and inappropriate word to the argument. Conner pulled something off his arm and tossed it across the room to Eric, who had ninja reflexes and caught it easily. He stared at the object in his hands. It was a weird red thing, in the shape of a dinosaur head. "What the hell, dude?"
"That's my morpher," his twin explained. "We're Rangers, dude. The four of us."
Eric stared at the morpher, then stared at his brother for a long time, as things finally started to click in his brain. The way they'd always seemed color-coded. Conner's red car, red comforter, and wardrobe of red t-shirts. Anything that had ever seemed weird about Conner's calls, and that was a lot. Their mom freaking out because Conner would disappear for hours on end with a halfhearted excuse. It all made sense. "You guys are Rangers," he realized aloud.
Kira nodded. "Eric, we need your help."
"Help the Rangers? Hell yeah."
"Conner has mono, and he can't fight for awhile. We need a Red Ranger." Kira bit her lip, glancing at him with apprehension. "We were hoping you would fill in."
"You're saying you want me to take his place? Be a Power Ranger?"
The four friends turned to look at each other, communicating without words the way that only seasoned teammates could.
"We want you to be a Power Ranger," Kira confirmed.
"Please, bro," added Conner. "We really need your help."
Eric stared at them for a long moment. "Yeah!"
"Wait...you're agreeing?" said Trent.
"Well, yeah, why wouldn't I? Being a Power Ranger is totally a dream come true."
"I don't think you realize exactly what you're committing yourself to," hedged Ethan.
"What, now you don't want my help?" said Eric.
"No, I mean, we do, it's just that—"
"This is a big thing, bro," said Conner seriously. "You have to give up a lot. Everything else becomes secondary, but you have to make it look like you're still keeping it first, so that no one gets suspicious. You have to still go to school, still have a job, extracurricular activities, whatever. You don't get a lot of sleep, you don't get any credit or thanks, and you get the crap kicked out of you."
"So why are you guys doing it?" asked Eric. He'd known Conner his entire life, obviously, and he had never known Conner to put anybody before himself.
They exchanged a look he couldn't begin to interpret. "We didn't have a choice," Trent admitted quietly.
"But you do, Eric," said Kira. "We're asking from a lot from you, and you won't fully understand it for awhile. But we need your help."
"Since Conner screwed up," cut in Ethan.
"I didn't screw up, I got sick."
"You got sick from sneaking around behind our backs to make out with the high school's resident horticulture expert. That's a level of geek that I can't even touch."
"Oh, you're just jealous because Cassidy dumped your ass—"
"Would you two shut up?" said Kira, turning around and glaring at them, brushing her hair out of her face with exasperation. "I'm trying to save your butts here."
"Now's not the time to be bickering, Kira," said Trent gently.
"She doesn't know how to get along with us when she isn't screaming at us," said Conner.
"If you weren't in that bed..."
"Oh, you would do what, exactly?I have a hard time being afraid of someone who only comes up to my shoulder"
"That does it. I let you get away with so much, just because you're—"
"If you weren't so busy spending all of your time making out with Trent, we'd—" Conner said at the same time, the both of their voices rising with every word as they attempted to outdo each other.
"I'll do it," said Eric.
The argument stopped dead, and all four Rangers looked over. "You'll do it?" said Ethan.
"Yeah. You guys obviously need all the help you can get. Just tell me what I need to do, and I'll do it."
"You'll have to—"
"Keep it secret, I know. I can, don't worry. And since I'm on break from the Academy, I don't have to worry about school. Mom will be so busy taking care of her first born here that she won't notice if I disappear at random. Free time-wise, I'm better suited for this than any of you. Fighting-wise, I'm better suited for this than any of you, actually." The other McKnight frowned in thought. "You know, really, I'm a perfect Power Ranger. How is it I keep getting skipped over for these things?"
The other four stared at him, without an answer. "I mean, I started at the Academy right after they cut the Ranger program, just as you guys were getting chosen. Talk about your lousy timing. I'm so perfect for this."
The others all glanced at Conner, who could only shrug. "He is so your brother," muttered Kira.