Double Act
Chapter 31: Thunder Storm
Part I
A/N: Here's part one of the ninja-dino team up! Last time, Trent and Kennedi had to defeat their evil clones because the dino gems couldn't handle being cloned. Kennedi learned something from her Sensei about the Abyss of Evil, something she wished she didn't know. With the evil rangers gone for good, what'll happen when a bigger threat rolls into town?
Disclaimer: I only own things not originally in the show.
A Friday afternoon found Kira and Trent sitting at the Cyber café, studying. Conner was at soccer practice while Ethan was across the room on his computer, as usual. Kennedi was out at the academy, teaching a class. Ever since the evil clones had been defeated, Kira noticed her sister had been back to her normal attitude, much more so than usual. As the two rangers continued studying, the door opened, two new customers walking in. Kira looked up and noticed them, one looking oddly familiar. It was hard to tell from where she sat.
"Trent," she spoke to the boy beside her. "Does that guy at the bar look familiar to you?" She couldn't get a good look at his face, either.
"You mean the one in the blue hat?" Trent looked up, spotting the same guy. "Not really, why?"
"I'm sure I've seen him before," Kira frowned.
"Well go ask," Trent shrugged.
"I'm not just gonna go up to some guy I don't know," Kira argued. Yet, she couldn't help but feel like she knew the guy at the counter.
"Okay, can we get back to studying?" Trent suggested. Kira tried to focus on the books, but something about needing to know who the guy was bothered her. "It's driving you crazy, isn't it? Go ask."
This time, Kira stood and walked over to the guy, making sure to set her books on the table before doing so. When she reached the counter, she stood on the side closest to the stage and turned to look at him. It was then she got a good look at his face and realized who he was. "So, Blake, I take it you're in town for a race and Ken has no idea?" she asked, getting his attention.
Confused, Blake turned to her. His confusion melted away when he saw who it was. "Hey Kira. Where is your sister, anyway?"
"She has a class right now," Kira answered, not giving too much because Blake's friend was with them. "I take it you heard about…"
"From Leanne?" Blake cut her off, knowing what she was getting at. "Yeah. But hey, I heard you guys took care of it."
"She did, not me," Kira corrected. "So was I right about you being in town for a race?"
"Yep," Blake nodded, him and his friend moving over to the foosball table. Trent, curious that his friend hadn't returned, looked up and watched the two.
"And I take it your Factory Blue tour is going well?" she added, going with them.
Blake nodded once more. "What about you and Ken with your singing?"
"Hey, we gotta get through graduation first," Kira pointed out. "So is this a big race or a minor one?"
"Nationals at Reefside MX Park," the ninja replied. "I'll get you passes, since I'm sure Ken will be asking for some once you tell her I'm in town. Bring some friends."
"Are you planning to stop by Blue Bay while you're here?" Kira continued as his friend handed her a few passes. "According to Ken, Hunter's teaching a few classes this weekend and Tori is pestering him for info about you."
"Depends on how long I'm here for," Blake shrugged.
Kira took the passes and went back to where Trent was sitting.
Over at the Ember Academy, Kennedi was finishing teaching a class. It was a sparring match to end the day, her against most of her students. Some of her older, more experienced students were off studying and doing work for Sensei. At the moment, Kennedi was winning, as expected from a ninja master. No one had started using their powers yet, so she refrained from using hers. As the end of the class neared, she formed a tornado of fire and shot it at the students, knocking them down. When they got back up, everyone was in fighting stances.
"Stand down," she instructed. No one answered, too afraid to say the wrong thing. "Before your next lesson, I want you guys to think about what just happened here. You all need to consider your commitment to ninja training. Dismissed." The students bowed before walking off.
"Kennedi," Sensei Huron appeared as the girl gathered her things to leave. "Come with me. We have things to discuss."
"Is something wrong, Sensei?" Kennedi wondered as she followed the older woman. Their talk last week had not done much to help ease the girl's nerves about their conversations.
"I'm afraid my fears have come true," Huron stated. "The Abyss has opened, and Lothor has escaped."
"But how can the others and myself fight him if our powers were drained by him?" Kennedi asked, realizing where this was headed.
Huron sighed. "As of right now, I'm afraid that it is possible Lothor will team up with Mesogog. I have kept in contact with Cam, and he has managed to reactivate your morpher for just such an occasion." Kennedi watched as the woman pulled out a small box, one that housed her ninja morpher.
"But…how?" Kennedi frowned. Something about this wasn't adding up. "Wouldn't he need his amulet to do it?"
"I am unsure of how he was able to do it," Huron stated. "But I can assure you that he was able to restore power to it."
A bit hesitantly, Kennedi took her morpher.
The following morning, Kennedi met up with Conner, Kira, and Ethan at the track. Kira had told her Blake was in town for a race and that she managed to snag some passes to get in. According to Blake, he planned on giving her some passes at some point. Kennedi hadn't returned home the previous night, wanting to look up a few things at the academy. Now, the four rangers were standing around the track, waiting for the race to start.
"All right folks," the announcer called. "We are ready to start the first one two five moto."
"Let's get over there!" Ethan grinned. "I don't want to miss the start!" Grinning, the four rangers found a spot alongside the track that would give them a good view of the entire race.
The riders revved their engines as the gates went down. The announcer was commentating the whole thing as fans cheered. Just as Kennedi and Kira expected, Blake was pulling ahead of his competition, giving them no chance to catch up. A couple riders went off course, crashing into things and falling off their bikes. It wasn't long before Blake crossed the finish line first and was met with an uproar of applause.
"Come on guys," Kennedi called, seeing Blake start to head back to the truck. "Let's go catch up to him."
"Do you know him or something?" Ethan wondered. Then he paused. "What am I saying? Of course you know him. You know everybody."
"Hey Ken," Kira started, seeing something odd on the girl's wrist. "Where did you get that?" Kennedi noticed what she was talking about.
"Oh um, well…" Kennedi trailed off before darting toward Blake.
Blake had no idea what hit him as a blur of orange crashed into him. When he regained his balance, he gladly returned the brief hug Kennedi was giving him. He saw her sister and friends making their way toward them, Kira not looking happy about something. "Good to see you too, Ken. How's my brother been treating you?"
"Perfectly fine," Kennedi grinned. "Though I do have some issues with you. What's with you not staying in touch? Your brother has less time to do so yet still finds a few ways to talk to us all far more often than you have."
"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I'll try harder." Just then, a familiar beeping sound was heard. Kennedi pulled out the device it came from. "Should we…"
"I'll go," Kennedi cut him off, hearing the message. "You stay here and talk to them. If you get called again, join us."
With that, she ran off. Her sister and friends reached Blake a minute later, Kira looking concerned now.
Once it was safe to do so, Kennedi wasted no time in ninja streaking to where she knew Cam would be waiting. Cam had created these devices to contact them in case the Abyss ever opened and Lothor returned. Hearing it go off meant that it must have happened. The only thing Kennedi couldn't figure out was if her Sensei had Cam repower her morpher, then why was she just getting the call now? Upon arriving in the alleyway, she spotted Cam.
"Lothor's back, isn't he?" she asked, startling him. "You know, for a kid who grew up in a ninja academy, you sure are jumpy."
"Very funny," Cam rolled his eyes. Hunter chose that moment to join them. He and Kennedi shared a quick kiss before getting down to business. "Hunter. Thanks for coming. Sorry to call you away from your students."
"I thought it must be important," Hunter answered as they began walking. He had his arms wrapped around Kennedi. "I was hoping we'd never have to use these things. So you think it's Lothor?"
"It has to be," Cam nodded. "Who else leaves purple slime in his wake?"
Kennedi got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Did you repower the morphers at all?"
"None of them, why?" Cam frowned.
"Because I think I know what happened to the others," she muttered.
"So…what'd you guys think?" Blake asked as he led the dino rangers over to the truck. He ignored the looks Kira was giving him, knowing she'd get answers soon enough. Of course, where he didn't know Conner and Ethan were rangers, he couldn't exactly say anything. Kira realized it as well as she kept her mouth shut too.
"It was awesome," Conner grinned. "Thanks for hooking us up, man."
"No problem guys," Blake assured. "Listen, what are you guys doing tonight? You wanna grab a bite with some friends of mine?"
"So you are getting together with them," Kira concluded. Before Blake could respond, the device beeped.
He pulled it out and saw the message. "I take that back. Looks like we're gonna have to reschedule."
"Is everything okay?" Kira frowned at him, suddenly realizing where Kennedi was.
"I hope so," Blake shrugged. "Listen, it was really nice meeting you. I'll see you guys later." He took off, leaving three confused people behind.
"That was kind of weird," Ethan commented.
"It's not as weird as you think," Kira muttered. "Come on. We need to get to the lab."
The rangers made it to the lab rather quickly, Kira moving faster than the boys. When they got there, they saw Tommy, Trent, and Hayley already in the room, watching something on the screen. Kira recognized the people and she got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. This explained where her sister was, for the most part. Before she could get a comment in, Ethan spoke.
"Evil power rangers?" he observed. "How's that even possible?"
"I thought we were the only ones left," Trent added.
"So did we," Hayley sighed. "There's been an evil energy surge over the past twenty four hours. We think the Abyss of Evil has been opened up."
"Which can only mean that Lothor's back," Kira huffed. "Great."
"Only one way to find out," Tommy shrugged.
"Let's deal with these fakes," Conner declared.
Tommy turned to the white ranger. "Trent, you stay here with us. This is just the kind of thing Mesogog would take advantage of."
Shane, Tori, and Dustin had no idea what was going on in their minds. They had been tricked by Lothor and had taken morphers encoded with evil, turning them into evil rangers. Currently, they were morphed and ready to fight, leading an army of Kelzaks down and alleyway. A morphed Conner, Kira, and Ethan made their way to the alley, standing across their opponents. Kira knew her twin was around the area somewhere, watching this.
"That's far enough!" Conner stopped them from moving further. The ninjas stopped in their step, causing the army to follow.
"You must be lost," Shane spoke. "Because I know we didn't invite you."
"Maybe you forgot," Ethan rolled his eyes. "You're supposed to beatthe bad guys, not be them."
"Good, bad, what's the difference?" Tori shrugged. "It's all about power!"
"I guess we're gonna have to fight them," Conner stated.
Drawing their sabers, the three got ready to fight. Kelzaks charged, giving the rangers a bit of a challenge. When it came time for the rangers to step in, Shane and Conner fought each other while the girls squared off, leaving Ethan to deal with Dustin. As they fought, Kira found herself glad that she never actually fought Tori before, but also regretted not having a couple sparring matches with the girl. Unfortunately for the dino rangers, the ninjas weren't messing around.
"This is really bad," Kennedi shook her head, watching the fight take place. She fought the urge to go down there and help them, as the ninjas would be trying to coerce her to their side as her sister and current team would try to have her help them. Of course, she would always side with her sister unless she was brainwashed or had some ulterior motive for not doing so. But no matter what, she couldn't bring herself to fight against any of her friends.
"They're getting beaten pretty badly," Hunter winced, still having an arm around Kennedi. He knew how badly this would be affecting her. Blake chose that moment to land next to them. "Blake! Am I glad to see you!"
"I got here as fast as I could," Blake returned the greeting. "What's up?"
"We got trouble," Cam pointed down below. "Big trouble."
They watched as the dino rangers retreated.
"The important thing here is that you guys are all right," Tommy commented as he faced Conner and Ethan, who were sitting on the steps in the dino lab. Kira and Trent were there as well, helping Hayley try to figure out more about what was going on with Lothor, which meant watching the video diary again. "And that we learned something."
"What it's like having our butts kicked?" Conner huffed, still morphed, but helmet off. Kennedi was still missing, but Kira knew where she was.
"No," Tommy shook his head. "That it's gonna take a lot more than what we have to defeat them."
"Why don't we just use our dino zords and kick their ninja butts?" Conner wondered, getting up. "I don't get it."
"I'm with Conner on this one," Ethan agreed.
"Look," Tommy cut in. "Because they were people who were once good. But something has happened to them. Until we figure that out, we defend ourselves, but we don't destroy them."
A/N: Here's the end of this chapter. What'll happen next?
So, here's the deal. This story is coming to a close soon, and I haven't really written anything aside from the first two chapters of the next story. I am currently unsure what I want to do next for this series, which is where you all come in. Here's the options (will be a poll on my profile).
1. Continue with the series as I originally planned it. This means I do the Mystic Force story and then continue from there.
2. Jump right into the Operation Overdrive story, but have a small side story that will have random events of their lives up until then. Their random life events will include Hunter leaving, them graduating/getting a record deal, and things of that nature. Even if I do not do a Mystic Force story, I will still probably have the two meet those rangers.
Also, no matter what option I do, the thing at the end of this story (at the very end of chapter 39 when I post it) and what happen's with Kennedi's pregnancy will be revealed within either the Mystic Force or the Operation Overdrive story, depending on which option you guys like more. I myself would prefer to do the Mystic Force story simply because I did plan for some things in it to affect the rest of the series, but my heart isn't really into writing it. That's why I need your help to decide. Either way, the majority of things that will happen in this series will still happen.
Thank you for your patience, reading, and/or reviewing!