Double Act

Chapter 13: The Missing Bone

A/N: Here's the new chapter. Kennedi makes an appearance in this one as herself, so what'll happen with that? Kira's also not the only one who becomes affected by the evil monster in this episode. The rangers are back to school and now they have a substitute teacher, which is someone Tommy knows very well. The rangers aside from Kira still have no clue as to who the orange ranger is. What'll happen now?

I am so sorry I have not updated this in a while! Life caught up to me and I completely forgot about this series! However, I am hoping to get back to working on this and my Shattered Glass series now that I have finally graduated high school, taken all my exams (including a very brutal AP European History one in which my class's scores may not count), and can get ready for college and focus on work. I thank you all for your patience with me and I promise I will try to work harder on any series I'm currently writing, including one that won't leave my head until I complete it.

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

It was a new week and a new day, and only the Monday after they freed Tommy from his amber prison and learned he was stuck in morph. With Trent being on Mesogog's side now, whether he had officially joined him or not, the rangers knew he was going to be a big problem. Another problem was who would be teaching Tommy's class now that he couldn't show up. Right now, the three teenaged rangers in school were walking up the steps in the hallway and heading toward the science room.

"You guys heard from Trent yet?" Conner wondered as he ducked under the railing.

"No," Kira shook her head. "I'm not sure I really want to."

"We gotta make sure he doesn't go off on some poor freshman because the kid won't give him his lunch money," Ethan stated.

"Yeah," Kira rolled her eyes. "You know what? I think he's after a little more than a free grilled cheese."

Conner nodded in agreement. "And when we know what that is, maybe we can deal. Until then, we keep an eye on him." They reached the classroom and walked in, Ethan leading the way. As soon as they disappeared inside and the door shut behind them, Trent appeared and stood in the middle of the hallway. He had used his camouflage powers to hide against the lockers, and he was able to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Watch me all you want," he snorted, amused. "It won't make a difference."

"Trent Fernandez please report to the principal's office,"Randall called over the PA systems. "Trent Fernandez."

Trent sighed before heading to the office.

After his meeting with the principal, Trent was in the science room with the others. Class for them had yet to start, considering they didn't have a teacher yet. All the rangers sat at one table, doing their own thing. Conner and Ethan were throwing paper balls into a bag that Devin held open for them at the table across from them. Kira was watching them while trying to write a song.

"Good for three!" Conner cheered as he scored.

"Hey," Ethan wondered. "Did you guys hear we're supposed to get a new teacher today?"

"Yeah," Conner nodded, taking another shot. "Any guesses?"

Cassidy appeared at their table. "Well, I heard from a very reliable source that it's this eighty year old woman who used to teach kindergarten in Ohio."

"Really?" Ethan raised an eyebrow. The door opened, and Principal Randall entered, followed by none other than Anton Mercer. To rangers sitting at the table, this was a shock.

"Good morning class," Randall spoke, causing all the commotion to stop and the students to pay attention. "I would like you to meet you new teacher," she pointed at him. "Dr. Anton Mercer."

"Good morning," he greeted.

Getting an idea, Kira turned to look at Cassidy. "Hey, she looks pretty good for eighty." Devin laughed as Conner and Ethan cracked small grins. Cassidy smacked Devin on the shoulder and he stopped, wincing in pain.

"Dr. Mercer has graciously agreed to take over until your teacher gets back on his feet," Randall explained. "I would like you to treat him with the same respect that you would treat Dr. Oliver." Randall walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Anton looked at the class. "Well, let me uh, let me start by saying how honored I am to be here. What I'm handing out to you now are permission slips. These are for your parents to sign. We'll be going on a field trip tomorrow with students from Blue Bay High. To a museum. I trust you will all be able to make it."

After school, as students loaded the buses to go home, the three younger rangers found themselves walking around school grounds outside. Seeing Anton as their teacher was a bit of a shock and a bit awkward for them, but they knew they had to get used to it. They hadn't seen him since their class with him this morning, but none of them were worried about it.

"So are you excited you get to see Ken tomorrow?" Conner looked to Kira. "You guys haven't seen each other in what, a week?"

"A few days, actually," Kira corrected. "I spent Friday night in Blue Bay with her, remember?"

Conner nodded. "Does she know what's going on?"

"Well, she and her team have been keeping tabs on us," Kira pointed out. "So I'd say she does. But can we get onto the fact about Anton Mercer teaching other people's children? He doesn't even like his own from what I can tell."

"Yeah," Ethan agreed. "I wonder whose brilliant idea this whole thing was."

Kira huffed. "Gotta be Randall's. Did you see them together? It's like they're old pals."

"Hey," Conner pointed out, nodding toward where Trent and Anton were arguing. "No matter how bad we've got it, someone's always got it worse." They listened to the fight for a few moments before redirecting their conversation.

"What are you guys doing now?" Kira asked.

"Soccer," Conner replied.

"Computer club," Ethan added. "What about you, Kira?"

Kira shrugged. "I promised Dr. O I'd help him inventory some stuff in the lab. Plus he'll probably wanna know who's teaching his class."

"Yeah I wonder what he'd have to say about it," Conner grinned. "See ya."

"Later."

The next morning, the students were unloading the busses at the museum. Kira was excited her sister would be on the same field trip and couldn't wait to see her. Anton was directing all of them through the doors. The Reefside students were heading inside first, as it was their teacher who was leading the way and would be giving the tour. Before she entered the door, Kira stopped and stared at the T-Rex statue. Conner and Ethan stopped as well.

"What's the matter?" Conner asked.

"That thing just gives me a creepy vibe," Kira stated. "It's like it moved."

"You know dinosaurs are extinct, right?" Ethan raised an eyebrow. Kira gave him a pointed look, as if to remind him what they were fighting against. "Okay I see your point."

Before they could move on, a blur of black and orange came crashing into Kira, nearly choking her in the process. "Good to see you too, Ken."

"So what are we standing out here for?" Kennedi broke away from her sister. "We got boring dead things to see."

"Since when are you interested in the dead and boring?" Conner looked at her.

"Come on," Kennedi smirked. "I'm the only one who knows how to make dead and boring sound interesting. At least when it comes to the things in museums."

"Hey, as long as you don't bring any to life," Kira joked, recalling the incident during the Totally Talented thing.

"That was Cam's fault!" Kennedi argued. "He's the one that ran into the statue, not me!"

Ethan frowned. "Uh, what's this about bringing things to life?"

"Oh," Kennedi turned to him. "Well, earlier in the year, when my team was fighting off Lothor and his goons, a statue from a museum was brought to life and was used as a henchman for a while. It was the same week Kira and I appeared on Totally Talented."

"Well, I doubt the same thing would happen twice," Conner pointed out. Kennedi shrugged.

"So, are we going in or what?"

Once inside, the four teens lingered near the back of the group. Most of the kids from Blue Bay had migrated toward the front of the group and the Reefside kids were spread out in the crowd. Anton was leading the tour, talking about everything that they passed. Kennedi's teacher was walking at the front with him, giving his own input on some pieces. "And just ahead here is a triceratops from the cretaceous period. Strictly herbivores…hunted by the tyrannosaurus rex."

"Gotta love the T-Rex," Conner clapped Ethan on the shoulders.

"But the triceratops was still smarter than the T-Rex," Kennedi smirked, using the opportunity to make fun of Conner. She didn't know if it was true or not, but of course, the rangers were referring to their own zords. Kira smothered her own laughter while Conner sent them a glare.

Conner and Ethan moved further ahead with the group while the twins paused after hearing a strange noise. Both girls that did could've sworn they saw tyranodrones lurking about. Sharing a look, they walked off towards the noise.

"Hey," a voice caused them to turn again. They came face to face with Cassidy, who had followed them. "Where are you two going?"

"Uh," Kira racked her brains for a reasonable excuse. "To the bathroom."

"Oh great," Cassidy grinned. "Me too because my lip gloss is totally wearing off."

"No Cassidy," Kennedi shook her head. "Just stay here, okay?"

"You're just gonna get us all in trouble," Kira added in.

"Whatever," the blonde scoffed. "I'm going to the little girls' room and you can do whatever you want." She started out ahead, causing the other two to share a look.

"That was close," Kennedi whispered as she and Kira escaped being caught by Anton for ditching the group. Cassidy, however, was caught and led back to the others. Pulling out from their hiding spot, both girls ran down a hallway up to a door. It read "storage room" on it in white letters. Cautiously, Kira opened it, and both stepped inside. The door shut behind them.

"It's kinda creepy," Kira muttered as they walked forward, going further into the room. Out from nowhere, a couple of tyranodrones snatched them from behind. And to the best of their ability, they broke free, and began to fight. More appeared, making it a bit harder to fight. They couldn't exactly use their powers to fight back, since it could alert the others. It didn't last too long because both girls were caught and made to look at the skull across from them. "Let us go you freaks!"

The skull glowed a bright color, and the girls were trapped. A voice echoed around them.

"Kira…Kennedi…You must listen to me."

A light washed over the two, and their eyes opened showing only their briefly shrunken pupils.

"You will do as I command."

After school, the rangers found themselves at the Cyberspace Café. Kira and Kennedi were sitting at the bar, both looking at a book to study. Kennedi was going to be spending the rest of the day with her sister and head back to Blue Bay later in the day. Conner and Ethan sat at a table, watching the two. They knew something was wrong with them since the museum trip, but they couldn't figure out what. Hayley walked over to the two.

"Hey girls," she greeted. "How come you're not studying with the guys?"

"What, we have to do everything together?" Kira questioned in a bored tone, surprising Hayley.

"Well, no," she agreed. "But you usually do, don't you?"

"Not anymore," Kira answered. "Look, Hayley, I don't mean to be rude, but I need to get this done for Dr. Mercer's class." Hayley made a comment before walking away, letting the two girls be. Conner and Ethan walked over to them.

The red ranger decided to speak. "Hey, you wanna go see a movie tonight?"

"No," Kira denied. Conner frowned. He knew something was definitely wrong as the singer usually had an excuse if she couldn't hang out. Plus, he found it odd Kennedi wasn't interjecting her own thoughts.

"You know," he tried to get a reaction from them. "When someone doesn't want to hang out with people, they usually come up with some sort of excuse."

"Look," Kira stared at the two. "I just don't feel like spending any more time with you guys than I really have to, okay?"

"We have to go," Kennedi added. "We have something to do." The two girls pushed past the guys and walked out of the building.

Ethan frowned. "What's up with them?"

Conner could only watch as they left.

Kira and Kennedi had no issues procuring the bone the skull had hypnotized them into getting. Both girls made their way back to the museum, which was thankfully still open. Kira had gotten Tommy out of the lab while Kennedi snuck in and took the bone. Now they just had to return it to the museum and bring it to the skull in the storage room. They had no idea Conner and Ethan brought this issue to Tommy's attention. When they entered the storage room, they spoke in unison.

"We have returned as you commanded."

"Good girls. Did you bring it?"

"Yes," Kira answered as she placed the bone beside it.

"Excellent." A bright light flashed and a monster made out of bones appeared before them. "You have served your purpose. He took the spell off them, but not without knocking them back and into the ground first. Both girls hit the floor side by side, unconscious.

In the dino lab, Conner and Ethan had just finished telling Tommy about Kira and Kennedi's strange behavior. Tommy had then brought their attention to the missing bone and explained about a monster he and Anton Mercer had created before the island blew up. No one could get a hold of Kira or her sister, and they were starting to get worried that something was seriously wrong. Just as their conversation finished up, the alarms went off.

"I'm gonna take a wild stab and say that's your fossil monster?" Ethan looked at the monitors.

"Unfortunately, it is," Tommy confirmed.

"Any word from Kira?" Conner asked.

"Nothing," Hayley shook her head. "But I've been trying."

"Think you guys," Tommy instructed. "Where could they have come in contact with this thing?" Both boys thought for a moment.

Conner was the first to come to a conclusion. "The museum! We went on this field trip with Dr. Mercer and some Blue Bay students."

"Yeah and they disappeared for a while," Ethan added. "When they came back, that's when they started acting all weird."

"Hayley," Tommy looked at the redhead. "You go back to the museum and look for the girls. We'll try to hold this thing off."

It took a little bit for Hayley to get to the museum. Unfortunately for her, it was closed and all the doors were locked. A security guard had found her trying to enter and he told her there was no one inside but other security guards. She managed to convince him to take one last look. When he let her in, she headed straight for the nearest storage room, believing that the monster wouldn't have been hidden in plain sight. The guard opened the door, and to his surprise, the two girls in question were laying there unconscious.

"Kira, Kennedi!" Hayley called, kneeling down beside them. The girls began to stir and wake up. Groaning, they both sat up. "Are you two alright? Can you hear me?"

"Hayley?" Kira groaned. "We're fine. What happened?" Then she remembered. "Oh no. We set that thing…"

"Can you get up?" The red head cut her off, discreetly indicating that the security guard was there.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kira agreed, moving to stand.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Kennedi muttered. As she tried to get up, the room began to spin for her. She made it to her feet before she stumbled into the nearby shelves, almost falling over. Kira and Hayley moved to help her.

Outside, the two girls were still helping Kennedi move. They managed to give the security guard a decent excuse as to why the girls were there in the first place, and he seemed to believe them. Kira knew why Kennedi was feeling sick, and she hoped it would go away shortly. "I can't believe we were responsible for that thing coming alive," Kira huffed.

"It wasn't your fault," Hayley assured. "In your civilian form, you couldn't stop it from controlling your mind. Luckily, the guys' ranger powers will protect them."

"I'm going over there," Kira declared.

"Are you sure?" Hayley asked.

"Nobody messes with my mind and gets away with it," Kira nodded. "And can you take her to the café? I don't want my mom to get suspicious of anything."

Hayley agreed. "But why is she sick?"

"She gets dizzy easily," Kira shrugged. "Hasn't happened in a while, and whatever that mind thing was must've made her feel dizzy. She'll be fine shortly."

"Go kick ass," Kennedi breathed, trying to make the room stop spinning. Kira nodded and took off, leaving her sister with the genius. Hayley shifted the girl so she was easier to move. However, something caught her attention.

Sitting on Kennedi's wrist was the orange dino gem.

The fight was over and done for the day. The rangers had gone back to the lab to discuss what happened and to have some questions answered. Tommy didn't have many answers for them, so they decided to head to the café. Kira wanted to check on her sister and make sure she was alright after everything that happened. When they arrived, Kennedi was walking out. She and Kira had talked for a moment before Kennedi left.

Inside the café, Kira headed over to the counter where Hayley was and noted the redhead did not look happy. She got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she knew why. Kira confronted the red head, and the talk the two had cleared the air. Hayley understood Kira's dilemma and agreed to help them out by keeping the secret. When the café closed, Kira was the last one to leave.

By nightfall, Kira found herself sitting on the front porch swing just letting the breeze blow by. She was finally letting everything sink in. The singer failed to notice headlights shining in her driveway. A car door slammed and within a minute, the guest was standing beside her on the porch. "Kira? What are you doing out here so late?"

"Just…thinking," she replied, looking up at Conner. "What are you doing here?"

"My mom wanted me to drop this off," he held up the tray meant to carry food. "Said she borrowed it from your mom and forgot to return it." Conner took a seat beside her. "So thinking about anything interesting?"

Kira was silent for a moment, which kind of scared the red ranger. "I think I made a mistake."

"What?" Conner frowned, confused. He had no idea what she was talking about, but he was determined to find out what. "Why do you think you made a mistake?"

"Well," Kira bit her lip. "I had to make a choice, and I'm not sure if it was the right one. There are already too many people involved and someone's going to get hurt no matter what, but I don't know who I'm more afraid of hurting." Of course, she knew some of what she was saying was a lie, but she couldn't tell Conner the exact truth.

"Who are the people involved?" Conner wondered.

"I can't say," she sighed. "And that's part of the problem. I'm technically not even supposed to be telling you about this."

Conner noticed she looked close to crying, so he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her a bit closer. "You can tell me anything."

"Not if it goes against a sensei's promise."

If there was anything in this conversation that could shock Conner, it was that. He knew Kira was smart and that she always thought things through before making a promise. Since learning her sister was a ninja, he figured Kira knew her sister's sensei and what certain things were, like a sensei's promise and the dangers of going against it.

"You made a promise to a ninja sensei?" he asked, trying to keep calm. Somehow, he just knew it had something to do with Kennedi.

"Sensei Huron wants me to do something to help Kennedi for something," Kira lied. Thankfully, Conner didn't see through it. "She told me I'm not allowed to tell Kennedi or anyone else anything aside from the fact I made a sensei's promise. The problem is that I never keep secrets from Ken. I don't know if it'll hurt her more, or hurt the other people involved more."

By now, Kira wasn't caring that she had tears falling down her face. She was snuggled into Conner, who had his arms wrapped around her comfortingly. Conner gently rubbed her back. "Well you're secret's safe with me," he assured. "But…does this have anything to do with us as rangers?"

"I have no idea," Kira answered. "But I hope not." Conner didn't see through this lie either. "Just…if this somehow ends up involving you, promise me you won't get mad?" Conner wasn't sure what exactly she meant, but that didn't stop him.

"I promise, Kira," he confirmed. "I could never be mad at you."

He just held her as she let reality sink in.

A/N: So what'd you think of the Conner/Kira moment? Don't worry, more of Kennedi will be appearing soon. As for why she's not appearing much as an evil ranger: she's resisting the gem as much as she can in and out of morph and tries to hold back when she actually fights the rangers. Anyway, what'd you think?

Thanks for reading/reviewing. Again, your patience with me is really amazing and I appreciate it!