meraki; power rangers lightspeed rescue

iv. riding the edge

"You know," Kelsey starts, and her tone makes me a little afraid. Once she gets going, I have no idea what she'll say next, "Whatever you said to Carter the other day definitely worked some magic."

I fix my cap, adjusting my stance on my longboard. What can I say here that won't seem like... like what? Is there a way that Carter and I seem? Why am I thinking about it? After all, it is only just a few more days until my "trial run" with Lightspeed is over. "I just leveled with I him is all." The brunette lets out a soft whistle.

"Impressive, considering it kicked his ass back into gear."

I shrug. "We all need someone by our side, even-" An ear-piercing shriek forces me to coast to a stop, and Kelsey does the same. She holds up a hand, signaling for us to wait, and there's the noise again. "Screaming."

She nods and glances around. "There." Cars swerve around something that's blocking the road, a little too small for me to see clearly. "Someone's dog must've escaped."

For a moment, I almost instinctively call for help. Then, I realize, we are the help. "You'll be faster on your skates than I'd be on my board," is what I say instead. "I'll spot you from the other side of the road." With that, she nods, and we're off. Thankfully, the signal just turned to Walk, and so I zoom across, leaping off my longboard the moment my wheels touch the sidewalk. The light further down the street just turned red, so I lift my morpher, trying to ignore the stares I'm getting. "You're good, go."

I watch in stunned silence as Kelsey leaps over the parked cars, skates easily onto the road, and right into the path of an oncoming car. The driver slams on their brakes, narrowly avoiding her as she scoops the small dog into her arms. "Got her!"

"Great, now get out of the damn road!" Kelsey's probably the second most badass person I've ever met, next to my own brother, but sometimes, she really needs situational awareness. Case in point: there's a huge truck barreling down on her as we speak, one that she ducks beneath and comes skidding to a stop next to me. I steady her, although I'm mostly making sure the dog is okay.

And of course, here comes the obligatory crowd of onlookers. Phones are shoved into our faces, questions thrown at us, and Kelsey and I exchange a wry smile. This is hands down one of the reasons why I don't want to see this job out. One of them, a woman in an indigo sweatshirt, takes the dog out of Kelsey's hands. "Thank you, Rangers. Seriously. I'm Nancy, and this is Darcy."

At least there's no I know who you are. "Kelsey."

"Alyssa. It's nice to meet you both."

Nancy smiles. "That was crazy, what you did back there. But I'm very glad you are."
Kelsey shrugs and adjusts her headphones even though they were already as snug as could be.

"What can I say? Crazy's my middle name." It's like listening to Joel regale us with one of his escapades- My phone alarm goes off.

No way it's half an hour before class starts. Ugh. "I've gotta get to class. It was nice meeting you!" Kelsey's wide-eyed stare almost makes me feel bad for leaving her alone. "I'll see you at home, Kels."

"Yeah, see you." With that, I drop my longboard to the ground and skate away.

———

Before I left for class I'd called this place home. That doesn't mean I meant it the way I do when I talk about Hawaii. Hawaii will always be somewhere I know I can go back to. The Aqua Base is just the place I eat, sleep, and shower. The door to our quarters slides open, and Dana leaps up, hands on her hips. What'd I do now? "Were you with Kelsey this morning?"

"Uh... yeah? We went skating before I went to class." If she's worried I skipped, she should know better: I'm too scared to ditch. I'm also starving, so I rummage through our fridge. Hopefully, no one ate my leftover blueberry cream cheese bagel. "Why, what's up?"