Double Act

Chapter 21: Triassic Triumph

A/N: So last time, Kennedi fought against the rangers one last time. She never said a word to any of them. Leanne filled the ninjas in on what had happened. Kira woke up and joined the boys in the fight, using her zord to do so. By the end of it, Kira was able to get Kennedi on their side for good and now there are no more evil rangers. At least, that's what they think.

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

In the slow week that had passed since Kennedi turned good, the boys rarely saw the girls outside of school. Conner didn't find this unusual, thinking that they had some things to work through between themselves. Trent and Ethan thought they were purposely avoiding them, wondering what was going on. Then again, all of them figured that Kira was helping her sister get over whatever happened to her in Mesogog's lair, which they still had no idea about.

When the girls finally did decide to return to society, the boys found them already talking to Hayley at the café. Trent was moving around serving customers, happy to be back to work. Conner and Ethan walked over to the counter and joined the two girls, the girls cutting their conversation with Hayley short. "Someone looks pretty happy today," Ethan commented, noting the grin the red head had on her face.

"Oh hey," she greeted them. "It's just so good to have Trent back."

"Yeah," Conner agreed. "And with the new attitude adjustment, he's almost likeable."

"I heard that," Trent remarked as he came back to the counter. He handed Hayley a tray and she began filling it.

"So how's it going?" Kira wondered.

"Fantastic," Trent replied. "I feel like a new man."

"We're just glad the old man is back," Kira pointed out. "You're one of us now. No more secrets." Trent nodded as Hayley passed him the tray. He walked off once more.

Conner looked down the counter toward Kennedi. "So what about you? How are you doing?"

"It's a lot better knowing this thing can't control me," Kennedi huffed. "Though I wish these meetings would end."

"Meetings?" Ethan frowned.

"That's what we've been doing all week," Kira explained. "If we weren't meeting with her sensei, we were meeting with our mom to help her with wedding stuff."

"I'm going to be taking up classes again," Kennedi elaborated. "So Sensei has been trying to get me up to speed with what's been going on. Kira's been helping me with it."

Ethan stared at them, still confused, as Conner simply shrugged.

A while later, the four rangers found themselves studying at a table. Trent was still working, something that upset the blue ranger as he and the white ranger had a project to do. Conner, Kennedi, and Kira were passing notes to each other when Ethan wasn't looking, discussing silently something the girls didn't want Ethan or Trent to know. They figured they could trust Conner with the information, as they knew him, and he could tell they weren't giving them the entire truth earlier.

"Let's go," Ethan spoke as Trent cleared a couple glasses from the table. "That report ain't gonna write itself."

"I'll catch up with you at the library," Trent vowed. He walked away to continue his job.

Conner stood up, looking at someone across the room. "What's his deal?" The others stood on either side of him, noting the new foreign exchange student carrying books and a backpack, heading for the door. Cassidy Cornell stopped him, hoping to get an interview.

"Alexi Poporoff, exchange student, soccer genius," she spoke. "So, what do you think of the soccer scene here at Reefside and do you think they have a shot at the super bowl?"

"Uh, Cass," Devin corrected. "They don't have a super bowl. It's called a world cup."

"Cup, bowl, whatever," Cassidy scoffed. "So, what do you think of the team?"

"No, I'm sorry, I can't speak with you now," Alexi denied. He walked out the door, leaving Cassidy to wonder what his problem was.

Conner, however, looked a little hurt. "She's never cared about soccer before. At least, she's never wanted to interview me."

"Conner, let me tell you now that green is so not your color," Kennedi smirked.

"I'm not jealous," Conner denied. "It's just, if he's that good, he should be on a club team. I'm gonna go see if he's joined up with anyone." He left the building, following Alexi.

Ethan grinned. "Jealous."

"So jealous," Kira agreed.

"Don't you think it was rude?" Conner asked the girls and Ethan as the four walked along the streets of Reefside. The street they were on was rather empty, considering they were the only people on it. Ethan was heading to the library to work on his school project. The other three were planning to head to Conner's house to just hang out. As they walked, Conner was complaining about Alexi, wondering what was going on. "I mean, he doesn't even think about it. He just walks away."

"I'm sure he's got a good reason," Kira shrugged. "Why don't you just ask him again?"

"Look," Ethan paused in his step, causing the other three to do so as well. "I'd love to stay and hash this out with you guys, but if I don't get to the library soon, I'm totally gonna fail this project." He was starting to walk away when Zeltrax appeared in their path.

"Then prepare to fail, blue ranger," he called, getting their attention.

Ethan fell in line with the others as they fell defensive. "I knew I should've gone straight there." With a snap of his fingers, two blurs of white and orange sped by the unmorphed rangers, knocking them down. The blurs stopped beside Zeltrax, only to reveal the Terrorsaurus and what they believed to be Trent. To add to the shock, there was an orange ranger there as well. All of them knew that Kennedi wasn't in the orange ranger suit, so they began questioning who was in the white suit.

"Trent?" Kira looked at him, hoping her eyes were deceiving her.

"This can't be real," Ethan looked at the others.

Zeltrax smirked. "Oh, it's real." The rangers climbed to their feet, feeling a bit sore from the recent attack.

"What are you doing, Trent?" Conner questioned. Kira noticed her sister take a slight step backward.

"I don't know a Trent," the white ranger replied, confusing the rangers more. "I just know that you will soon be…destroyed."

"I'm so not in the mood for this," Conner grumbled. Knowing what was coming next, the others fell in line and flashed their morphers.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up!"

Now fully morphed, they were ready to fight the three villains before them. Zeltrax stepped forward, wanting to start it off. With that decided, the white ranger and the Terrorsaurus streaked onto the nearby staircase of the building behind them to watch. Conner grabbed his laser and fired, only for Zeltrax to block it with his shield. He fired at the red ranger, sending him back. Kira, Kennedi, and Ethan all took aim and fired as Zeltrax took a running charge toward them. As Conner got to his feet, Zeltrax began attacking them.

When they managed to knock the cyborg down, the white ranger, orange ranger, and Terrorsaurus came back into view, facing the rangers.

"So you stopped Zeltrax," Orange commented, her voice having a more feminine tone. "Try to stop our Terrorsaurus!"

"Let me show you the extent of my powers," the creature stepped forward. "You will be defeated!"

Luckily for the rangers, Trent came riding in on his ATV, firing at the two. Kennedi's thoughts were confirmed by now and the other three were just plain confused. "Not on my watch!" He stopped in front of the rangers and stood on the ground. "Hey guys. Thought I'd join the fun."

"Wait, who's who?" Ethan frowned.

"Trent's standing with us," Kennedi answered. Then she pointed to the white ranger across from them. "That's the imposter." They all turned to her, wondering how she could tell the difference.

"Enjoy your reunion while you can," White snarled. "Nothing you do can stop us now." The quartet of villains vanished into an invisaportal.

The rangers powered down and Trent turned to them all. "You guys okay?"

"Great," Conner huffed. "You got a twin brother you never told us about?"

Knowing they couldn't leave the subject alone, the five teens headed into the dino lab. Kennedi looked around in awe, taking the sight in. The others realized that she had never been inside the room before, not even after she was turned good. Images of their new foes appeared on the screen behind Tommy, showing some interesting results. Kennedi wasn't willing to talk about how she knew how to tell the difference between the two white rangers.

"Okay, so we barely get one white ranger under control," Kira remarked. "Then another one shows up along with another orange ranger." She turned to Trent. "Any idea who it could be?"

"I have no clue," he shook his head.

"My sensors show some kind of cloned energy force," Tommy reported. "They're probably not even living beings at all."

"It's a living being," Kennedi confirmed. "It just has no soul."

"And you know that how?" Ethan frowned at her. Conner looked between Kennedi and her sister, knowing Kennedi was about to lie. If anything the two had told him earlier was anything to go by, then he could easily piece together what really happened.

"I couldn't feel a soul," Kennedi shrugged.

"Pai Zhuq stuff?" Kira raised an eyebrow at her. Kennedi simply nodded, confusing the boys.

"Either way," Conner cut in, trying to keep his tone calm. "Their kicks sure felt real."

"I never said they weren't real," Tommy agreed. "They're a threat all right."

Ethan sighed. "Well, now that that's settled, what's with that Terrorsaurus? Man he was raggedy."

"He's giving off some of the same readings as the other white ranger," Tommy replied. "It's almost like they were one and the same."

"I knew it," Conner marched toward Trent, who stood. "You should have never have been here in the first place."

"Not now Conner," Tommy stopped it from escalating. "We're gonna need back-up, big time. Trent, Kennedi, come with me."

"Why them?" Conner demanded, confused. Kennedi was also confused, but Trent seemed to go along with it, simply so he could escape questioning. "Why not me or one of the others?"

"You'll have your role to play in this, Conner," Tommy assured. "Trust me. Right now, I need them. Keep an eye on the city, and call us if that thing returns."

With that, the three of them left.

As the three other rangers sat in the lab, Conner decided to talk to Kira alone. Ethan was monitoring the city via the mainframe, so he wasn't paying attention. Conner sent a look to the yellow ranger before indicating a hidden corner in the room with his head. Kira nodded and followed him over there, Ethan not noticing a thing. When they were out of sight and hearing range of the blue ranger, Conner began speaking.

"Want to tell me what really happened to her?" he asked, keeping his voice calm.

"I already told you," Kira answered.

"But you lied about it," Conner stated. "I know you two did. You may have Dr. O, Trent, and Ethan fooled, but you can't fool me."

"Why do you need to know, anyway?" Kira demanded. She did not like the look he was giving her.

"Because I care about you two," Conner replied. "And if something happened to her in Mesogog's lair, I will gladly help you help her get through it."

Kira, not realizing what she was saying before she said it, narrowed her eyes. "So if she turns up pregnant, you're gonna help her through that?"

"What?" Conner's eyes widened a bit. Kira wasn't sure if she regretted telling him that. "What do you mean? I figured they tried to hurt her based on the injuries she had last week but…"

"Why do you think she knows the white ranger clone is a living being?" Kira raised an eyebrow.

"That's it," Conner declared. "He's dead!"

Kira stopped him from moving. "Conner, stop! She doesn't want anyone knowing. Hayley knows, and now you do. Keep it that way."

"How are you going to explain this to your mom if Ken is pregnant?" Conner wondered.

"Mom already knows," Kira sighed. "She knows we're rangers. Apparently she and Aunt Jess knew Uncle Jason was one, and Sensei told our mom Kennedi had to move to Blue Bay to become one. When we appeared here, it wasn't hard for her to figure out. We didn't tell her we were rangers. But hey, when your kid goes missing from the softball fields, she's going to worry. Uncle Jason told her what had happened, the full extent, because Hayley told him."

"And how did she react?" Conner asked, calming down a bit.

"She was livid that someone, evil monster or not, would do that to her child," the singer admitted. "Then she comforted Ken, saying she'll see to it that whichever bastard did it would pay. And not a word of this to her boyfriend, either. She wants to tell him when she knows for sure."

Before Conner could respond, Ethan called for them. "Guys, our problem just got a lot bigger!"

Meanwhile, Tommy, Trent, and Kennedi were trekking through the woods, Kennedi leading the way. Tommy had told her that what they were searching for was at the waterfall that was used as the entrance to the ninja academy. With that in mind, she led them toward it, knowing that they would need her help to get there. It was still a long walk, but Kennedi knew they could pull it off.

"Thanks Dr. O, for trusting me," Trent commented as they continued their hike. Kennedi was focused on getting them there. "It means a lot."

"I do trust you, Trent," Tommy stated. "But I meant what I said in the lab. This mission had to be yours."

"Why?" the boy wondered.

"There's an ancient artifact that was hidden out here centuries ago," Tommy explained. "I've known it's whereabouts for a while, but I never knew how to get there. Only one power can retrieve it."

"Mine?" Trent frowned. This caused them all to stop in their tracks.

"Yes," Tommy confirmed. "Using your chameleon power, you should be able to retrieve the artifact from its hiding place. But I'm warning you, it won't be easy."

Kennedi rolled her eyes. "I hate to interrupt, but we need to get moving if we're going to make it there while it's still daylight."

The trio continued their hike through the woods, Kennedi leading the way. As they got closer to the academy, Kennedi could feel her powers swell. She kept an eye out for the border, knowing that there would be a couple ninjas patrolling the area. Finally, the group reached a waterfall, something that hid the entrance to the Ember Academy. Kennedi knew it was a little ridiculous, but it threw off unwanted guests.

"Is this the place?" Trent asked.

"Yep," Kennedi nodded.

"It's there, in the water," Tommy added. Kennedi stepped out of the way, letting the two do their thing. "Okay, raise your arms like this. Now concentrate."

Kennedi simply watched as the two boys used their powers to pull a shield from the water.

By the end of the day, everything was normal. Things for the rangers couldn't be better. They had destroyed the Terrorsaurus, thanks to Conner gaining the Shield of Triumph. The only terrible part about the shield was that when they lent their powers for Conner to use it, they were no longer able to stay morphed. Now, they were heading back into the dino lab.

"That shield rocks," Ethan commented as they walked in.

"No doubt," Kira agreed.

"Thanks for trusting me with your powers guys," Conner thanked.

"It's only a loan," Kennedi pointed out. "Don't forget that. And anything to help get your zords back."

Conner nodded. "I just wish you could've felt what it was like," he gushed. "The power is amazing."

"The Triassic power was always meant for you, Conner," Tommy explained. "All you had to do was trust in yourself, and then it was easy for others to trust in you too."

"See?" Kira smirked. "All that jealousy and look how great everything turned out."

Conner grinned a bit sheepishly.

A/N: Here's the end of this chapter. What'll happen next?

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