Starting Line || Carter Grayson

(2) Promotions

The moment we were dismissed, my feet were the first off the floor to lead me out of the room before getting caught up in any family conversations that would only upset me further about the matter. My feet led me through the halls of the Aquabase and right to the training bay. I knew just inside the bay, I would find my favorite person in the entire world. Nova Phillips, my best friend since the third grade. Just as I had my own morning routine, she had hers. She always woke up and headed straight for the training bay, getting some sort of morning work-out before joining me for breakfast.

My short strides pounced on the floor as I entered the room, seeing Nova release something from her hand and watch the object until it landed in the target on the opposite side of the room. Without interrupting her, I maneuvered behind her and found my seat against the wall near the bay door. I let out a low whistle from behind her. Something we had started doing when we were kids when we couldn't find each other but had now turned into a weird way of communication between us. Right now, I was using it to let her know I was here and as a hello.

"I'll bet you ten bucks I make a bullseye with this next knife." Nova laughed, looking at me.

"You've been an expert at knife throwing since you were thirteen years old, I'm not committing to a bet where I already know I'll lose." I said to her, watching her comfortably place the next blade in between her fingers.

"It was worth a shot," she laughed, "Did you not have your morning coffee?"

"No." I sighed.

"I can tell." Nova hit the target dead center. A perfect bullseye. She was always talented in those aspects. I would have sliced one of my fingers off just trying to throw a knife.

"My father held a meeting this morning. I was just dismissed." I told her.

"Why so early?" she wondered, walking to the target and collecting the knives before returning to her starting position.

"He wanted to introduce the new Power Rangers to me." I said.

"Miss Fairweather mentioned something about them to me last night." Nova said, lining up her sight for another bullseye, "She said we'd be focusing more on effectively creating weapons that will have impactful use against the demons."

"Want to hear the part that felt like a slap in the face though?" I asked.

"Sure." she nodded, listening and focusing on her throwing.

"I was promoted to the Chief Medical Officer position." I huffed.

Nova turned on her heels to face me after throwing the last knife in her hands again, "Why does that feel like a slap in the face?"

"I only got the position because my little sister is now the Pink Power Ranger." I crossed my arms, leaning my back against the wall.

"Dana is the Pink Ranger?" Nova seemed just as shocked as I felt when I first heard the news.

I nodded.

"That's," I could see Nova was looking for an appropriate word, "different."

"I don't understand why she was chosen." I thought about it.

"I'm sure Captain Mitchell must have had his reasons." Nova began putting her knives into their sleeves. I stood up, holding them open for her so she could freely slide them in place.

"There's nothing special about her - she's no different than I am, other than she was the Chief Medical Officer..." I rambled on.

"A position she only got because you weren't ready for it when it was offered to you first." Nova reminded me, "You are rightfully in the best position you could be. Plus, do you really think you could be a ranger? You can't even kill a spider on your own... let alone fight a monster."