Double Act
Chapter 23: Tutenhawken's Curse
A/N: Previously, Kira discovered Ethan and Cassidy were "sort of" dating. She helped the blonde get a job at the TV station in return for the blonde helping her with something (which will be revealed later on in the story). Kennedi is pressuring Conner to ask Kira out, and they are all getting used to there being two white rangers around. Now when they go to a museum to learn about Ancient Egypt, what trouble could they possibly get into?
Disclaimer: I only own things not originally in the show.
Once more, the class was on a rather boring field trip to the museum. This time, it was for history and not science. They were visiting the Ancient Egyptian exhibit, something Kennedi found particularly fascinating. Kira wasn't there to enjoy it as she was sick. Her sister felt the symptoms, but was not actually sick. As expected, the tour guide was rather boring and half the group wasn't even paying attention. Kennedi kept whispering random little facts or made up stories to her friends, making them snicker a bit. Of course, the tour guide was not happy about this.
"Life for the Kings and Queens of Ancient Egypt was awash with riches and treasure beyond the imagination," the guide spoke. "Some of these artifacts are over four thousand years old."
"And I bet some of these artifacts are fakes," Kennedi muttered, causing Conner and Trent to snicker. "Seriously, we need a more interesting tour guide."
"Why don't you take over then?" Trent wondered.
"Because it's more fun pissing her off," Kennedi smirked. "But imagine what it must have been like to live back then. They had like, no technology and the only materials they had to make this stuff was whatever nature provided. And they represented their Gods and Goddesses in a lot of their artwork. Some of the temples they built were dedicated to them.
"And this," the guide cut them off. "Is a sarcophagus of the ancient pharaoh Tutenhawken. He was a feared leader who was believed to have mystical powers."
They all moved around the tomb, observing the hieroglyphics and whatnot. "Dude looks like something we'd fight," Kennedi muttered.
"Whoa," Ethan gasped. "Check out the hieroglyphics."
"Weird," Conner noticed all the strange symbols. "What's it say?"
"Legend is that Tutenhawken was able to put hexes on his enemies," Kennedi answered. "The exact translation is rumored to be unclear, but these are supposedly some sort of curse."
"That is beyond cool man," Ethan was grinning madly. "I gotta write this stuff down."
"Why?" Trent gave him a look.
"So I can decipher it. It'll be like cracking an Ancient Egyptian computer code."
Conner smirked. "In other words, it speaks to his inner cyber geek."
"Well, as much as I love Ancient Egyptian culture," Kennedi remarked. "I would rather not have one of those curses on me. And just to be safe, I'm getting a tattoo of the Eye of Horus."
"The Eye of Horus?" Trent frowned. "What exactly is that?"
"The god Horus is represented by a falcon," Kennedi explained. "But the Eye of Horus is something related, yet different. It's meant to represent protection."
"You guys don't actually believe in all that stuff, do you?" Ethan asked.
Instead of answering, the others walked away.
After the school day was over, the rangers found themselves sitting at the counter in the café. Trent had to work right away, so the other three were left to their own devices. As planned, Ethan attempted to translate the hieroglyphics to see what they actually said. Kennedi seemed convinced that it was a curse, and Conner wanted to find out if she was right or not.
"So close," the blue ranger kept his eyes glued on the screen. "Only a few more symbols to translate."
"Are you getting extra credit for this or something?" Conner wondered.
"No," he shook his head. "It's a personal challenge. Tutenhawken may have been the king of Egypt, but I'm the king of codes."
"I still say it's a curse," Kennedi voiced her thoughts. "Maybe you should…"
Ethan interrupted her. "This is about technology, hard facts…not about some crazy legend." A few more seconds passed as he looked back to the screen. "Yes, I got it. 'To the defilers of my tomb, I now bestow eternal doom. Woe to you who read this verse, upon you is the Pharaoh's curse.'"
"Oh, dude, you're cursed," Conner smirked. "Get away from me before it rubs off."
"Very funny," Ethan rolled his eyes.
"Seriously though," Conner turned serious. "What's gonna happen? Are you gonna like, turn into a cocker spaniel or grow an extra head or something?"
"These warnings were put on the tomb to scare off grave robbers and thieves," the blue ranger stated. "That's all it is. Back me up here, Ken."
"Hey, I said it was a curse," the girl shrugged, smirking slightly. "Maybe next time you'll listen? And don't blame me if all your hair falls out."
"Nothing is going to happen from reading that curse," Ethan huffed.
"You do realize you just jinxed it, right?" Kennedi continued smirking.
Before they could go on, the blue ranger's computer beeped. "Five thirty? I told my mom I'd pick her up at work!" He moved in a hurry to pack things up, which simply caused his laptop to crash onto the floor and break. "I don't believe it…my games…my files…my life…"
"It started," Conner commented. "Tutenhawken's curse."
"Would you quit it about the curse?" Ethan demanded. "There's no such thing!" He walked out of the café, sulking.
Conner and Kennedi shared knowing looks.
Almost an hour after Ethan had left, Conner and Kennedi were sitting at a table, working on homework. Kennedi was still convinced Ethan really was cursed, but Conner was willing to give the blue ranger the benefit of the doubt. The two had filled Trent and Kira in on what had happened, Kira agreeing with her sister while Trent simply shrugged. Everything seemed to be going well until they were interrupted when Ethan walked in and over to them, the smell of fish reaching their noses.
"Guys, listen," he spoke. "I think you're right. Tutenhawken's curse is real!"
"Ew!" Kennedi shrieked, catching the worst of the smell. "Dude, tell us from over there!"
"You smell like week old fish sticks," Conner agreed as they scooted their chairs away from his a bit.
"All this weird stuff has been happening to me," he stated. "There's no other explanation."
Devin's voice turned their attention to the door. "You may step through, my queen." He was oddly dressed and waving a big feathery fan over Cassidy as she walked in, wearing what appeared to be a costume representing Cleopatra.
"Don't you think it's a little early for Halloween, Cassidy?" Kennedi frowned.
"You shall address me as Queen Cassipatra," the blonde huffed. She moved around them and to a table a couple tables away. She took a seat as Devin continued to fan her. "I can't believe I used to live like these lowly commoners."
"Lowly commoners?" Kennedi raised an eyebrow. Ethan got up to talk to her, and the other two rangers watched.
Ethan stood in front of the blonde. "Cass, what's with all this?"
"You stinketh to high heaven," she grimaced. "I find your odor most foul, peasant."
"Peasant?" Ethan blinked. "Are you losing it?"
"No, actually, I just found it," Cassidy corrected. "Someone who appreciates me, that is. Look at all these gold and jewels he gave me."
Ethan just shook his head. "Man, people called you shallow, but I always told them they were wrong. It looks like I was the one who was wrong." He moved over to his friends, retaking his seat.
"Don't feel bad Ethan," Kennedi soothed. "Cassidy will never change."
"But she was changing," he argued. "This whole Cleopatra thing has gotta have something to do with that pharaoh. I gotta find a way to break that curse."
"Maybe there's something we missed at the museum," Kennedi suggested.
"Yeah like some sort of counter spell," Ethan caught on.
Conner looked at the girl. "Why don't you go back to the museum and see if you can find anything? Ethan, I think you and I should go to Dr. O and fill him in on the situation."
Nodding, they all got up and headed their separate ways.
Kennedi reached the museum rather quickly and was able to get inside. Thankfully, the building wasn't closed yet and she had just enough time get the symbols she needed. When she found the exhibit, she felt something was off. Disregarding it for the moment, she continued out her mission to help out Ethan. She knew she would definitely have to tell her sister about this later. Just as she finished writing down the last symbol, she spun around and fell into a defensive stance, sensing the beast behind her.
"Thief!" he cried. "Who dares defile the Pharaoh's tomb?" He swung and she ducked, rolling onto the floor and out of the way. Kennedi was quick to get to her feet.
"I was just copying it down!" she snarled. "Man, you pharaohs sure have territory issues."
"You shall bear the wrath of Tutenhawken!" the monster growled. He charged, swinging. Thankfully, Kennedi was quicker on her feet and was able to get a few good hits on him.
"And you shall bear the wrath of the orange ranger," she smirked, making her morpher appear. "Orange ranger, dino power!"
They began fighting once again. This time, the pharaoh managed to send her flying into some of the vases. "Your whole city will pay for what you have done!" he vowed before vanishing.
"Well," Kennedi sighed to herself. "That was certainly productive."
After the fight in the quarry, the rangers and Hayley were all in the dino lab. Hayley was finishing up on her project and getting ready to present what it was. The others were going over the fight, and Ethan was working on translating the code Kennedi had gotten for him. They all crowded around the computer to watch. "Come on," Ethan typed away. "Sweet. You're mine."
"Careful," Conner warned. "There might be an even worse curse…hey, that rhymes." The others rolled their eyes.
"'Tutenhawken's power cannot be matched on Earth,'" the blue ranger read. "'But only in the sky can you break the Pharaoh's Curse.'"
"Great," Kennedi smiled. "I'll just use the Ptera zord to fight it."
Tommy wasn't sure about that. "I don't know Kennedi. The curse is on Ethan. I think he's the one that has to break it."
"The last time I checked, the Tricera zord didn't have wings," Ethan muttered as Hayley ran into the room, grinning. She came over to the rangers, more specifically, Ethan.
"Ethan," the red head spoke. "You are about to owe me big time. Come look." She walked over to the area where she was working earlier, and the others followed, Ethan in front. Behind the wall that opened up was a brand new blue bike, far different from the raptor cycle.
"Whoa," he breathed, wide eyed in awe. "Check it out!"
"Nice work," Tommy commented.
Ethan couldn't stop grinning. "Tight! That's for me?"
"Yep," Hayley nodded. "The latest technology. Faster than anything I've ever built."
"That is so amazing," Ethan gushed. "It wouldn't happen to fly, would it?"
Hayley's smile vanished. "Fly? No…"
"Uh, we need it to fly," Tommy patted the red head on the shoulder.
"I see," she nodded. "And you couldn't have told me that before?" She sighed as she set off to work again, picking up the tools she needed and starting to modify it.
"I'm gonna stay and help her," Ethan decided.
The following morning happened to be a weekend morning, which meant all the rangers, Kira included, were at the café. The yellow ranger was upset she missed the previous day's fight, where the rangers had won as usual, but Kennedi had filled her in on everything she needed to know. Trent was working as usual. The other four had decided to play a few rounds of foosball, Ethan and Kennedi against Kira and Conner. Naturally, Kennedi purposely set it up this way as soon as they set off to play it.
"Oh and it's another victory for team red!" Conner cheered as he and Kira scored the winning point. "Sorry guys. I'll tell you what…next time we'll play Tomb Raider." Then he realized what he said. "Okay, bad idea."
"No," Ethan shook his head. "I'm just glad that stupid curse is broken. It was brutal."
"Hey, I warned you," Kennedi smirked.
"Speaking of brutal," Kira nodded her head toward where Cassidy was entering. She came over and dragged Ethan off somewhere. The rangers made it look like they were about to start another game, but really, they were just listening in. They watched Devin come in and talk to Cassidy for a few minutes before turning to the counter. "Looks like Cassidy has a spell on Devin and Ethan."
"You're just noticing that?" Kennedi raised an eyebrow. "Devin's been crushing on her since sophomore year."
Conner noticed the shared look between the two girls. "Whatever you're planning, I want no part of it."
A/N: Here's the end of this chapter. What'll happen next time?