The Hellhound's Demon

No 'I' in Leader

Kali paused as she entered the loft, rolling her swords between her hands. "Uh, I thought training was at three?" she asked, glancing at Casey. He too was standing on the edge of the basketball court watching Theo, RJ, and Lily train with one another.

"It was," said Casey.

"But RJ changed it to two," said Theo, ducking a kick from Lily. "What are you guys waiting for? An invitation. Get in here."

Kali furrowed her brow. "But, why would RJ change the time when Casey is the leader?" she asked.

"The restaurant was quiet," said Lily. "We got a head start."

"I get that. But, RJ, you're not the leader of the team," said Kali, pointing at Casey. "He is. Shouldn't it be his choice when training starts?"

RJ paused in his sparring. "I didn't mean to step on any toes," he said, holding out his hands. "Sorry, Case. Kali's right, you're the leader. What do you propose we do?"

Casey hesitated. He glanced at Kali, and she nodded, urging him to take the lead. "Uh, well, I thought maybe we could do some weapons training," he said.

"Sounds great. Let's see if you can all -" Kali broke off as Theo interrupted.

"We already did weapons training," Theo said. "We started with it, which you would've known if you had been here at two."

"No one told us training had been changed," said Kali, "and like I said. It's not RJ's place to over step a Red Ranger's position. You of all people should understand a hierarchy, Theo!"

Theo shrank back, but his glare was fierce.

"Well, um..." Casey floundered. He hadn't come up for a second part of training and was just planning on going with the flow; but now RJ had interrupted that flow with an agenda of his own.

"How about some one-on-one sparring?" RJ suggested. "Obviously, three of us will have to team up. But it'll be a good exercise for working as a team and dealing with shifting alliances."

Kali glanced at Casey. "Do you want to do that?" she asked.

Casey shrugged. "Sure. Why not?" he asked.

"Great!" RJ grinned.

~X~

Theo struggled as Kali held him in a headlock. Normally, he was able to get out of whatever hold his team mates had him in, but Kali was a lot stronger and a lot more experienced that Casey or Lily.

"Hold on, Theo!" RJ called, rushing at the pair. He raised a hand to strike Kali, but she raised her left arm, still holding Theo with her right, and blocked the Wolf Master.

Kali pressed the palm of her hand into RJ's chest and blasted him backwards with a shield.

"Hey, that's cheating!" Theo said, struggling from Kali's grasp at last and rounding on her. "We're supposed to be doing close contact training. Not magic."

Kali shrugged. "You should've been more specific when you said we were sparring with one another," she said. "Magic is a part of my technique. Besides, sometimes I have no control over it, at least that one was controlled. RJ could've got real hurt otherwise."

"You'd have liked that, wouldn't you"? Theo accused.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kali snarled, her eyes narrowing as her fists clenched tightly.

The others stopped what they were doing and hurried over. Lily pushed against Theo's shoulders, shoving him back and away from Kali, while Casey stood between them. He met Kali's gaze and held up his hands.