Lightspeed Fury Odyssey
Part of the Power Rangers: Worlds, Times and Distances Apart Universe
A Power Rangers Fanfiction
Memories of Recovery Part 1: Not Alone
by Lauraac2110
Lightspeed Aquabase, Medical Bay, several days after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, early morning
As Casey stirred, a soft groan escaped his lips. His entire body ached and, on top of that, he felt extremely stiff. For several moments, he quickly went over everything that he could remember about what had happened before he had passed out.
Then, he hastily open his eyes to check his surroundings. He was in some sort of Medical Bay, somewhere that had obviously escaped the Venjix invasion and, by the looks of things, the Medical Bay had seen frequent use recently.
Where am I? Casey thought in confusion. How on earth did I get here?
Slowly, he moved into an upright position and tilted his head to one side so that he could check his bedside. And that's when he saw him.
The man at his bedside.
Who is he? What is he doing here? Casey wondered as he looked the man over.
By the slow rhythm of his breathing, Casey could tell that the man was fast asleep. He also appeared to be a member of the military if the way he kept his hair, sat down and slept was anything to go by. He looked to be as old as RJ but, by the looks of things, he wasn't as old as he appeared.
At that moment, Casey spotted the device strapped to the man's wrist and took in a deep breath.
He's a Power Ranger. It seems that I must have been rescued by another group of Rangers which operate in the area that I fled to. Casey thought. They must have found me lying there on the beach. Then, they must have brought me here, wherever here is, and nursed me back to health.
Casey sighed at that moment. I wonder how long I've been out...
He jerked his arm at that moment to slide off the bed and noticed that they had connected him up to a drip. With a sigh, Casey expertly disconnected himself and checked himself over.
His clothing was filthy and torn in a few places but Casey knew that, with the some thread and a needle, he would easily be able to repair the damage once his clothes were clean. He checked his pockets at that moment and, to his alarm, he quickly discovered that his Solar Morpher was missing.
His alarm didn't last long, though, as he spotted it sitting on the small table by his bedside. With relief, Casey instantly picked up the device and checked it over. Fortunately, it had not been damaged although it was going to need to be charged for quite some time before he would be able to use it to morph again.
I wonder if they've figured out that I, too, am a Power Ranger as well or not. Casey thought before he spotted the file that was sitting at his bedside. Almost instantly, he picked it up and began to flick through it.
He was especially amused to find that they hadn't figured that out. In fact, they had absolutely no idea who he was.
Surely they would have records of other Rangers here. Wherever here is, that is. Casey thought before he paused for a moment. Maybe I should go investigate...
Hesitantly, he slowly slipped off the bed at that moment. As soon as he was standing upon both of his legs, they buckled under his weight. Due to how badly he had abused them to escape from the Grinders, Casey wasn't surprised this happened. However, he cursed as he didn't manage to catch himself on the edge of the bed in time which meant that he he collapsed straight onto the floor with a loud thump.
This woke the man who had been, up until this point, asleep by Casey's bedside. He was somewhat startled for a moment until he saw Casey lying on the floor before he sighed.
"So you're finally awake," the man said calmly. "Here, let me help you up."
He bent down at that moment and, gratefully, Casey accepted his help as the man lifted him back onto the bed.
"My name is Ryan Mitchell," Ryan said calmly. "And you?"
"Casey," Casey replied. "Casey Rhodes."
There were several moments of silence between them as both waited for the other to speak. Finally, Casey decided to break it.
"Where am I? What happened?" he asked.
"You are currently somewhere just off the coast of America near Mariner Bay, the exact location is classified, in the Lightspeed Aquabase," Ryan replied. "We found you lying unconscious in a bad way further up the beach from here. We brought you back here. Since then, we have been attending to your injuries over the past few days."
Casey nodded but didn't say anything else.
"So how on earth did you end up on that beach? Were you alone? And what was your life like before today?" Ryan asked.
Casey was silent for a moment as he considered his options. After several moments, he decided that he wasn't going to let them know that he was a Power Ranger until he felt that he could trust them. He also decided that he wasn't going to talk much about his life or about his friends as much as possible either. They were painful topics and, on top of that, they could potentially accidentally reveal the fact he was also a Power Ranger to them.
"I don't want to talk about what I've lost," he said bitterly. "I was travelling with my friends when the Grinders found us. I got away but, as far as I know, my friends are probably dead right now."
"Is that what they're called?" Ryan asked curiously. "We just know them as metallic monsters."
Casey shrugged. "That's what the news was calling them," he lied. "Didn't you see it?"
Ryan shook his head. "I was... busy," he replied cryptically.
Being a Power Ranger and saving people, I bet. Casey thought.
They sat in silence for several more moments and Ryan took the opportunity to study Casey very closely.
I know that you are hiding something, Casey Rhodes. Ryan thought. Something big. I'm not going to press you, though.
"So could you tell me more about this Aquabase?" Casey asked hesitantly to change the subject.
"Sure, it's..." Ryan began.
Lightspeed Aquabase, Medical Bay, several days after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, mid-morning, some time later
As Ryan finally finished telling Casey all about the Aquabase, two more guests arrived in the Medical Bay.
"You're awake," the woman said in surprise. "I didn't quite expect you to be awake so quickly."
"I normally bounce back from injury quite quickly," Casey assured. "Or so my friends used to say."
"Casey, this is my sister Dana Mitchell and our commander Captain Mitchell," Ryan introduced quickly.
Casey nodded. "My name is Casey Rhodes," he said simply.
"So, Mr Rhodes, care to tell us how you ended up on the beach?" Captain Mitchell demanded.
"Other than that I accidentally stumbled onto the beach after evading the Grinders, no," he replied simply.
At the word "Grinders", both Captain Mitchell and Dana looked to Ryan for explanation. In reply, he mouthed "the metallic monsters" back at them.
"Surely there must be more to the story than that?" Captain Mitchell demanded.
"The rest of the story is personal," Casey answered. "And I'd rather not talk about it. I lost some of my closest friends a few days ago."
"Mr Rhodes, I really do need to know about what happened," Captain Mitchell said rather sternly.
"No, you don't. I'm here and that's all that should matter to you," Casey replied calmly. "The rest is none of your business."
This infuriated Captain Mitchell.
"As a Captain in the American Navy, I order you to..." he began.
Casey shrugged. "I'm not in the Navy, Captain, so you can't order me to do anything."
Dana and Ryan, who were watching this argument with a little surprise as no one had directly refused anything that Captain Mitchell had said so calmly before, decided that they had to intervene at that moment as they noticed that Casey's heartbeat had started fluctuating rapidly.
"Father, you are aggravating his condition," Dana warned. "I know that you want answers but he hasn't recovered fully yet to be put under strenuous questioning. I suggest that you wait for him to recover fully before you ask him any more questions."
Captain Mitchell grumbled something inaudible in reply before he stormed off. Casey sighed as his heartbeat returned to normal. Then, he calmly disconnected himself from the heart monitor as well.
"Why was he acting so much like a pompous bastard?" Casey asked. "What happened to me is none of his business."
At that moment, he noticed that both Dana and Ryan were both staring at him. It was only at that moment that he knew that he had made somewhat of a mistake.
It was only at that moment that he saw the family resemblance, made the connection between their surnames and realised one important fact. Captain Mitchell was their father.
"I'm sorry," he apologised. "Your father has just annoyed me somewhat."
"Normally it takes people longer than this to make the connection. How did you guess?" Ryan asked curiously.
"There's a family resemblance," Casey replied simply.
"I'll just forget that you ever said that," Ryan reassured calmly. "My father doesn't normally act like that. He must be in a bad mood about something."
"And I won't take offence either," Dana assured. "He attempted to pull rank on you which, considering you are not in the military, was not the best of options."
"I've had people try to pull rank on me before," Casey said with a sigh. "I find that defying them is normally the best policy."
At that moment, Dana noticed that Casey had disconnected himself from the monitors and the drip.
"You shouldn't have disconnected yourself," Dana warned. "You were badly injured so you're going to need to stay hooked up to the fluids recover."
"Now that I'm awake, the fluids are unnecessary," Casey assured. "Once I've had something to eat, a lot to drink and taken some rest, I'll start recovering quickly without them."
"I could take you down to the canteen if you want," Ryan offered. "But first, though, you're going to need to get a change of clothes."
"Thank you," Casey replied gratefully. "I'd like that."
As gently as possible, Ryan hooked an arm under Casey's so that he could support Casey enough that he could stand on his own two feet without collapsing again. Casey grunted in pain somewhat but managed to ignore it as they left the Medical Bay and Dana behind them.
Lightspeed Aquabase, Canteen, several days after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, some time later
Casey and Ryan, once they had gotten Casey into some clean clothes, had quickly made their way to the canteen. There, they been joined by the other Lightspeed Rescue Rangers and Angela Rawlings mid-way through their breakfast. After he had been introduced to all of them, Casey had quietly listened in to their conversations so that he could see what kind of people they were and get to know them.
Carter instantly struck Casey as the no nonsense leader who everyone respected and looked up to. Kelsey was the athlete that enjoyed the occasional prank or two. Chad was the quiet, dependable member of the group who often had several good things to say. And Joel was the prankster.
It was Ryan that most interested Casey. Just like himself, Ryan had several different layers to himself. Casey perceived instantly that he was also the one who was somewhat uncomfortable in the presence of people at times even though he probably didn't realise it himself. He was also seemed to have an exceptionally dangerous side to him that no one else seemed to spot.
Instead, everyone else saw his outward appearance. They saw the reliable, relaxed and friendly member of the group who often kept his distance at times. They didn't see what Casey did.
Ryan is as complicated as I am. Casey thought as he sat there and quietly ate his breakfast. I can see through his masks and, if I'm right, I think that he can see through some, if not all, of mine.
Casey sighed. They're all very nice people, though. If I'm going to be stuck here for a while, I'm sure that they will make things exceptionally interesting. I could grow to see them as close friends...
Casey sighed again as he was reminded of the Jungle Fury Rangers. Just not as close friends as the other Jungle Fury Rangers were to me.
"Casey, are you all right?" Ryan asked at that moment as he noticed that Casey was staring off into space. Casey blinked.
"I'm just fine," Casey reassured as he snapped out of his thoughts.
"We were just saying that when you've recovered, Casey, that we would like to get to know you," Kelsey replied.
"We could go swimming outside the Aquabase together," Chad offered.
"Then, we could spend some time in the aerobatics chamber. I'll show you some of my moves," Joel offered.
"Before you could finally watch Kelsey and I spar," Carter added. "Then, you could always spar with us. If you want, that is."
"As Power Rangers, you'll have an unfair advantage against him," Angela Rawlings hissed so quietly in a voice that Casey couldn't hear. However, Casey guessed correctly what she was saying to Carter and, after considering his options, he decided just to get all the awkwardness out the way.
"They won't have an unfair advantage," Casey assured. "Even though you are Power Rangers, I happen to know a few moves myself."
The colour drained from the five Ranger's faces.
"How did you know?" Miss Rawlings asked.
"I'm very perceptive," Casey replied simply as Dana entered the canteen.
"Good morning," she said politely as she came over and sat down. When she noticed the expressions upon her friends faces, she was somewhat puzzled.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Without us even telling him, Casey knew that we were Power Rangers," Carter replied calmly. Dana too turned pale.
"How?" she asked.
"As I've said, I'm very perceptive," Casey replied simply without elaborating any further. Everyone else started to talk amongst themselves at that moment about how Casey could have figured it out unintentionally excluding Casey from their conversations.
It was at that moment, as he watched the six friends talking amongst themselves, that he was painfully reminded of how he, Fran and the Jungle Fury Rangers often did that themselves in the loft of the Jungle Karma Pizza Parlour.
They're probably all dead now so I'm probably never going to see them again. Casey thought sorrowfully as he sat there. I suppose that getting to know the Rangers here as quickly as possible would probably be the best thing that I can do now. Perhaps I should start by taking each of them up on their offers today so that I can start to get to know them better.
Casey sighed. Hopefully, one day soon, we will become close friends. I think that we're going to get along very well together as it is already.
Everyone was still talking amongst themselves at that moment so Casey had to interrupt them first before he could speak.
"I would quite like to accept all of your offers," Casey said calmly. "Today, if possible, as I'd rather not lounge around the Medical Bay by myself until I recover fully."
"Casey, in your current condition, it would not be a good idea," Dana said quite firmly.
"I have to agree. You need to lounge around the Medical Bay for a few days," Miss Rawlings added grimly.
Casey sighed. "How about if I promise just to sit and watch today? Would you allow me to accept the offers made to me then?" he asked.
Dana considered it for a moment before she nodded.
"All right, you can accept their offers," she said finally. "But you will not do anything except watch or so help me I'll confine you to the Medical Bay for several weeks until you fully recover."
Casey smiled. He knew fine well that Dana would never have allowed him to even watch if she knew about him collapsing that morning. Now, all he had to do was hope that Ryan didn't tell her.
Ryan, who had an unreadable expression on his face, finally sighed.
"I'll keep a close eye on him Dana," he promised. "If at any point I think that he has disobeyed you, I'll bring him straight back to the Medical Bay."
"Thanks," Casey said calmly.
"It's not like I have anything better to do," Ryan said with a grin.
Lightspeed Aquabase, Submarine Bay, several days after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, some time later
Casey sighed as he watched Ryan and Chad on the monitor in the Submarine Bay. They were currently outside in the water around the Aquabase checking the hull integrity in full diving gear. A minor fault alarm had gone off on the day of the Venjix invasion and they were searching for the source of it at that moment. Casey, on the other hand, was stuck inside the Aquabase watching them whilst conversing with them over a radio link so that he could get to know them better.
It wasn't so bad, to be honest, but the fact that they hadn't found the fault yet was getting a little irritating.
"There must be a fault around here somewhere," Chad said as he glanced around at the hull. "Otherwise the alarm wouldn't have gone off."
"Yeah, the only problem is that we can't see it," Ryan countered as he looked around. It was at that moment that Casey knew what the fault was.
One of the hull bolts that Ryan had just glanced at, although it wasn't so obvious to the eye, was somewhat loose.
With a grin, he decided to give them a hint so that they could repair it and come back to the Aquabase.
"Is it just me or was that hull bolt you just glanced at loose, Ryan?" he asked innocently.
Ryan instantly whipped his head around to the hull bolt in question and swore.
"I don't know how you spotted that, Casey, but that hull bolt there is indeed loose," he replied as he examined it. Chad swam over to him and, after quickly searching through his underwater toolbox, he found the spanner required to tighten it.
"This is going to take both of us," Chad warned as he attached the spanner to the bolt. "It is not going to be easy to tighten this bolt."
Ryan nodded, and together, they gripped the spanner. Then, with a great deal of effort, they slowly began to tighten the bolt again. As soon as it was tight, the fault alarm vanished.
"We're coming back now," Ryan informed Casey. Casey nodded.
He watched them swim back for a few minutes before he swivelled around in the chair he was sitting in to watch them resurface in the pool after they had re-entered the Aquabase through the tunnel which they had to quickly close behind them. When they resurfaced, they quickly got out of their diving gear before they both finally asked the question that had been bugging them.
"Just how did you know about that bolt?" they both asked incredulously.
Casey smiled. "As I've said, I'm very perceptive."
"Once you're better, I think that you would make a very good repairman," Chad complimented.
"And scout," Ryan added as he helped Casey up.
"Thanks," Casey replied simply.
If I never get to reveal that I'm a Ranger here then being a scout would probably be a good way to do something useful. He added silently.
Ryan sighed.
"We're going to have to go see Joel, now," Ryan declared calmly. "He has probably been practising his best moves to show off to you Casey."
"Well, I look forward to seeing them," Casey replied with a smile.
I might even learn some new moves from him. Casey silently added. But, then again, I might not...
Lightspeed Aquabase, Aerobatics Chamber, several days after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late morning, some time later
"Joel really seems to be in his element today," Ryan commented as they watched Joel pull various moves off in the aerobatics chamber through the glass window outside in the corridor.
"Yeah," Casey agreed as he watched Joel pull off a series of complicated flips at that moment before he finally decided that enough was enough. Joel switched off the massive fan at that moment by using his remote control so that he could leave the chamber.
"Well, what did you think? Impressive, huh?" Joel asked with a massive grin.
"You were good," Casey complimented simply.
"Hey!" Joel protested. "I don't think that you would be able to do much better if you tried."
"Let me have a go and prove you wrong then," Casey retorted.
Both Joel and Ryan grew somewhat uneasy at this. Dana had forbidden Casey from doing anything other than watching.
"I don't think that would be a good idea, Casey," Joel said uneasily. "Dana said this morning that you were only supposed to watch. And, especially given the fact that Ryan has been supporting you everywhere you've went, I doubt that you'll have the energy for it."
Ryan nodded in agreement with Joel about this.
"Sorry, Casey, I have to agree with him on this one," he said simply.
"Oh come on, guys, just one shot," Casey pleaded. "Besides, I won't need to support my own weight since the air will be doing that for me so it should be easy enough."
Joel and Ryan moved away from Casey for several moments to discuss whether or not they should relent. Whilst they were doing this, Casey waited patiently out of earshot.
Eventually, they returned to Casey with uneasy expressions on their faces.
"All right," Ryan conceded. "Just one quick shot. Show us your best moves."
"His best moves will probably be amateurish at best," Joel declared confidently. "I am an aerobatics expert, after all."
Casey rolled his eyes. "We'll see."
Casey then sighed. "Could you help me in there, Ryan?" he asked.
Ryan nodded and did help Casey into the chamber. Then, once Casey was ready, he left the aerobatics chamber just as Joel started the massive fan up again.
For several moments, Casey merely floated calmly whilst quickly adjusting himself accordingly. Then, despite the fact it made him quite sore, he launched into his most complicated sequence of flips and twists.
Both Joel and Ryan were stunned by the level of ability that Casey was openly displaying to them. Joel was gaping at several moves that Casey pulled off that even he, as an expert, wouldn't normally dare to try. Ryan, however, couldn't believe what he was seeing and instantly wondered where Casey had learned those moves.
When Casey finally got to the end of his complicated sequence of flips and twists, he stopped. Then, he gave the signal to Joel to shut the fan down.
Once it was off, Casey picked himself up but Ryan went to his aide so that he didn't collapse again. As soon as he helped Casey out of the chamber, both Ryan and Joel eagerly gave into their curiosity.
"You were awesome," Joel said in awe. "Where on earth did you learn to execute those moves? Some of them are so difficult that even I wouldn't try them."
"Yeah, you were better than Joel was and he's supposed to be our resident expert," Ryan added in agreement.
Casey thought about his answer for a moment.
Then, he replied with, "I've been trained in an advanced form of martial arts."
He paused for a moment. "The training incorporated a lot of acrobatics and, due to the intense nature of the training, I had to practice the most difficult moves to my teacher's perfection. I've never been quite so good at acrobatics, though," he continued modestly.
"Are you kidding?" Joel exclaimed. "You were brilliant!"
Casey just smiled at this.
"When you've fully recovered, you've definitely got to teach me some of your moves," Joel said with excitement. "And I'll be waiting in eager anticipation until then!"
"Well, we're going to go watch Kelsey and Carter spar now," Ryan declared. "Knowing both of them, they'll probably be having an intense duel soon. It helps them to work off steam although they do get somewhat carried away at times."
Lightspeed Aquabase, Training Gym, several days after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, early afternoon, some time later
As Carter and Kelsey duelled intensely with mock swords before them, Ryan and Casey watched them intently from the nearby benches. Ryan was somewhat interested in watching the outcome. Casey, however, wasn't.
Carter and Kelsey weren't very skilled and, by the looks of things, he would easily be able to defeat them without having to break too much of a sweat in battle once he was fully recovered. Their technique, although good, was still somewhat sloppy in places which Casey could easily exploit.
Unintentionally, he yawned at that moment and Ryan looked at him with concern.
"Are you all right, Casey? You seem somewhat tired," Ryan asked with concern.
Casey blinked. At that moment, he noticed that he was quite tired but decided that it would be best to lie so that Ryan didn't escort him straight to the Medical Bay again.
"No, I'm fine," he lied. "Just a bit bored."
"We're boring?" Kelsey said incredulously as she and Carter were furiously pounding each other with their mock swords.
"Perhaps we should swap these mock swords for the real things," Carter suggested. "That would liven this duel up somewhat."
"Guys, that doesn't sound like a good idea," Ryan said in alarm. "The last time you both duelled with swords, Joel and Chad ended up in the Medical Bay for a week when they tried to split both of you up because of how heated the duel became."
Carter and Kelsey weren't listening to him, however. Kelsey nodded to him and both of them put their mock swords away. Then, they went into a nearby cabinet and pulled out two curved swords of a medium length.
As they stood ready, Kelsey grinned.
"You're going down again, Carter," she declared.
"That's what you think," Carter replied. "En garde."
Very quickly, the sound of steel on steel rang out in the training gym and Casey suddenly became very interested in watching the duel as the stakes had been upped significantly.
Carter and Kelsey fought back and forth for several minutes and it soon became apparent that the duel was getting out of hand. Ryan watched in concern and, when Kelsey was nearly nicked by Carter's sword, he decided to get involved. He went to the cabinet and pulled out a third sword. Then, he joined the duel.
As Casey watched the three-way duel, he realised that it would only end in disaster. He didn't want to intervene but it was clear that the aggression, competitiveness and determination between Carter and Kelsey were causing the duel to get out of hand.
At that moment, Ryan was knocked out of the duel and knocked unconscious by a swift blow from Kelsey after Carter disarmed him. He collapsed to the floor, unconscious, but Carter and Kelsey duelled on regardless.
It was at that moment that Casey knew that he would have to intervene. He just didn't know how, though.
Carter and Kelsey were in their own world and the only thing that they were focusing on was each other. Joining the duel would almost certainly leave Casey like Ryan was right now, unconscious on the floor, and talking to them didn't seem to work either because they didn't listen.
In a moment of desperation as the duel spiralled out of control, Casey cried out, "Stop!"
Unbeknown to Casey at that moment, he accidentally released some of his animal spirit in that cry and the Tiger shook the entire room. Carter and Kelsey quickly lost their balance and their swords. One clattered harmlessly to floor but Kelsey accidentally threw hers towards Casey.
Reacting instinctively, Casey leapt up just before the sword could hit him and landed on its blade, with his entire weight perfectly balanced upon it, just as the sword embedded itself firmly into the wall.
For a few moments, Casey managed to stay on the sword but, as soon as the room stopped shaking, his last bit of strength left him. With no strength to stand upright, he tumbled off of the sword.
Fortunately for Casey, though, his cry had awoken Ryan who instantly went to his aid. Before Casey could hurt himself on the blade of the sword, Ryan caught him and pulled him away from it.
"Thanks," Casey said simply.
Kelsey and Carter, who were now looking somewhat guilty, sighed as they realised that the duel had gotten somewhat out of hand by the bruise that was forming on Ryan's forehead.
"We're sorry," they apologised."We should have listened to you, Ryan."
"Yes, you should have," Ryan said with a deadly glare.
"I wonder what happened," Carter mused. Ryan shrugged.
"It was probably just a lucky tremor," he assured. "You both should be glad that it stopped you before someone got seriously hurt."
"But you did get hurt," Kelsey replied.
"It's nothing serious," Ryan reassured. "Just a little bump."
"What I'm curious to know is just how you did that, Casey," Carter admitted to change the topic.
Casey shrugged. "It was part of my martial arts training," he replied simply.
"You should have seen him in the aerobatics chamber," Ryan grinned. "Compared to Casey, Joel is a novice."
Kelsey and Carter raised their eyebrows at this. Neither of them said anything, though, as they were distracted by Casey sagging a great deal even though Ryan was supporting him. Carter instantly went over to Casey and, with Ryan, held him up.
"I think that you are going straight back to Dana in the Medical Bay. You've used up all your strength," Ryan said with concern.
"And you seem worse than you were this morning," Carter noted.
Casey just nodded at this.
"I'll stay here to clean up the mess," Kelsey volunteered. "And Casey?"
Casey looked up at this. "Yes?" he replied.
"When you get better, you should definitely spend some time sparing in here with me and Carter," she said with a smile. "I look forward to see how well you have been trained."
Casey nodded as Carter before Ryan led him away to the Medical Bay.
Lightspeed Aquabase, Medical Bay, several days after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late afternoon, some time later
"You've overexerted yourself," Dana said bluntly as she examined Casey thoroughly.
She turned on her brother at that moment.
"I told you not to let him do anything other than watch, Ryan," she said angrily. "Yet you let him in Joel's aerobatics chamber and you didn't stop that duel before it got out of hand. Casey could have been killed if he hadn't managed to dodge that sword!"
Ryan hung his head at this.
"Dana, it's my fault," Casey admitted. "He wasn't going to let me into the aerobatics chamber but I convinced him otherwise."
"And there was no way that he could have stopped the duel between Kelsey and I even though he did try, Dana," Carter added. "It took that freak tremor to stop us."
She sighed at this.
"If that is the case, Casey, then it seems I can't trust you," Dana said calmly. "You won't be leaving the Medical Bay for the next few weeks without my express permission. And I'll only be giving you that when you've recovered significantly from your injuries."
Casey sighed at this.
"Now, if you can excuse me, I have someone else I need to tend to," she declared before she left the Medical Bay. Casey watched her go with a sad smile upon his face. Dana, who was overprotective of her patients, reminded him of Lily, who was overprotective of her friends, somewhat.
Seeing that Casey was upset somewhat, Ryan and Carter give each other a grim look before they decide to distract him.
"Tough luck, I guess, Casey," Carter said grimly.
Casey blinked before he sighed. "It's all right," he replied calmly. "I'll find a way of enjoying my time in here."
"We'll help," Ryan promised.
Casey yawned at that moment.
"I never did thank you, Ryan, you know," Casey said wearily.
"Whatever for?" Ryan asked in surprise.
"For staying by my bedside whilst I was unconscious," he replied wearily as he yawned again. "It's nice to know that someone cared for me here."
Before Ryan could reply to this, Casey was fast asleep. Ryan and Carter looked at each other for a moment before they sighed.
"He's a nice guy," Carter said quietly so that he did not to wake Casey. "I could grow to like him."
"Everybody else seems to like him as well," Ryan replied. "Except my father."
"I heard about that," Carter said grimly. "I think that Casey has a healthy dislike of authority figures."
"No, my father pulled rank on him. He has a healthy dislike of authority figures who pull rank," Ryan disagreed. "He had no problems with you or Miss Rawlings."
Carter nodded at this.
"He's got a lot of secrets, though," Ryan continued grimly.
"If he learns to trust us, he might tell us about some of them," Carter said calmly. "Until then, we have to trust that Casey isn't talking about his past, and its secrets, for a good reason."
"I do," Ryan assured. "He doesn't strike me as a guy that lies without reason."
"I feel the same," Carter assured. "But I don't know him as well as you do now."
"We're going to have to help him recover," Ryan said grimly. "By Dana's description of his injuries, it's going to take him some time to recover fully and, even then, he's going to need a sparring partner to get back to full strength."
"You'll need to get in line," he said with a grin. "I'll be sparing with him first when he is well enough."
Ryan laughed at this as Carter sighed.
"I had better go see Captain Mitchell," he said grimly. "Your father will probably be wanting a report by now."
Ryan nodded and Carter left. After considering his options, Ryan decided to stay by Casey's bedside again and settled into the nearby chair that he had been sleeping in for the past few days. Within a few minutes, he too was fast asleep.
Lightspeed Aquabase, Command Centre, several days after the fateful day of the Venjix invasion two years ago, late afternoon, several minutes later
"Sir," Carter said respectfully as he entered.
"Carter," Captain Mitchell replied respectfully. "What have you found out about our enigmatic Mr Rhodes?"
"Not much sir," Carter replied calmly. "Other than he's trained in martial arts and apparently outshines Joel in the aerobatics chamber, that is."
"I see," Captain Mitchell said slowly. He took a few moments to absorb that information before he finally turned to Carter.
"I want you and the other Lightspeed Rescue Rangers to take as much time as you want to help Mr Rhodes to recover," he ordered. "You and Ryan, since Mr Rhodes seems to like my son a great deal, should take charge of this task."
Carter was surprised by this.
"No offence intended, sir, but just why are you ordering this?" Carter asked.
"I don't like enigmas," Captain Mitchell replied. "And we're only going to learn about our enigmatic Mr Rhodes when he recovers so the sooner he recovers fully, the better. You are dismissed."
"Yes, sir," Carter replied respectfully before he left.
Just who are you Casey Rhodes? Captain Mitchell wondered as soon as Carter was gone. And what are you hiding...