»--Final Phase--« | Ryan Mitchell

(3) Training day

••●══════••●۩۞۩●••══════●••

My favorite day finally came, training day. At promptly 6:00 AM I marched down to the Rangers living quarters, knocking on doors and telling them to meet me in the training bay by 6:30. Carter was already up, Dana was getting ready, Kelsey sprung out of bed, Chad got up but still looked half asleep, and Joel groaned while trying to pull the blanket back over his head.

"Up and at 'em Rangers. You may sleep but demons don't, we need all the training we can fit in."

Finally they met me in the common room to pack bags.

"Nova," Chad groaned as I walked in, "Why so early?"

"When you account for meals and hygiene time before nightfall, that only gives us about eight to nine hours to get you ready for battle. Think of it as a boot camp."

"That's so long though," Kelsey said.

"It's better than our first option," I said. They all looked at me with confusion, "Training for four hours a day for a whole week."

"Oh, I'd rather do this then," Joel said.

I chuckled, "Of course."

"So anyways, Kelsey, what did your family say?" Dana said, throwing her bag on her back.

"'What are you? Crazy?' Everyone said that to me, since I was a kid," Kelsey laughed, "I always said, 'You have no idea.' I mean, it's such a rush hanging a thousand feet up a cliff."

I waltzed over and took a seat next to Carter, intrigued by the conversation. I knew Kelsey was my replacement but I'm still stuck on why they recruited a rock climber to fight for the safety of our city.

"Check this out," Joel said, "Ever since I was a kid, all I ever wanted was just to fly like a bird. So, I built me a pair of wings, and jumped out my second story window."

I laughed, "Did you get hurt?"

"Oh yeah, but that was the fun part," he winked, causing me to laugh louder.

"That's not just crazy, that's stupid," Carter said, making us all laugh.

Joel rolled his eyes, "What about you Nova? What made you come to Lightspeed?"

"Well," I said, gulping back the nerves from all their eyes on me, "My dad did. Well, he didn't make me, but he started at Lightspeed around the same time Captain Mitchell did."

"Oh, well when do we meet him?" Carter said.

My eyes locked with Dana, a silent look of sympathy was exchanged before I got up quickly, "It's already past 6:45. To the training field rangers."

Carter looked at me confused before following me out to the hall.

"What about you Carter?" Dana said, changing the subject.

"No, not really. Well, not until one night when I, uh..." Carter paused, his eyes trained on the floor but seemed a million miles away.

"Well," Chad said, "When what?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Carter said, a look of worry in his eyes.

"Oh come on!" the rangers protested.

Carter looked at me nervously, his silent plea made me snap, "Ranger we're late. If you're not out to the field in five minutes I'm making you run an extra mile!"

That seemed to get their attention, within moments the group had sped up their walk to practically race to the training bay. Carter gave me a small smile of thanks as I passed him in a jog to the front of the group. Skye gave me a shrill whistle when we entered the loading bay, as she hoisted medical supplies into the Rescue Rover I saw Carter pause. Their eyes met and I smiled to myself.