"So during the summer I help the Coast Guard and during the school year I concentrate on school?"
"Unless an emergency situation pops up...you're basically considered a reserve soldier, though the President doesn't want you on the front lines unless absolutely necessary if it doesn't involve Rescue Swimming until you're at least eleven, maybe twelve depending on the situation"
"School already knows the situation?"
"Yep, but you still have two more years before you're allowed to carry at school, no exceptions"
"Why wait until we're nine though?"
"We have no idea, but that's the rule and the school is sticking to it...though I think part of that is that the school wants the kids to have at least two years of handgun training before allowing them to carry as a safety precaution, you'll have a little bit more because of your situation"
"So when does rifle training begin?"
"Rifle training begins next year, and you're going back to the Marines for that, the other branches will make sure you qualify if they have a different rifle but it's not very likely and the Marines make sure that everyone passes a basic rifle course no matter what position you're going into so that if the situation calls for it you can simply pick up a rifle and be able to defend yourself and others"
"Is that when I'll also get sniper training?"
"Exactly"
"So next summer then, for now though I have school to focus on"
"Exactly, oh and by the way the school does allow EDC kids to use their self defense training from the beginning if deemed necessary so if something happens and you need your self defense training you can use it"
"Even though I have more training then most?"
"You have the same amount of training as any other seven year old who started at five, but you aren't allowed to use your special abilities unless it's our enemies is that understood?"
"Completely Rodimus"
"Now then Captain Faireborn wants to talk to about some training none of us have thought about not even the military but might just save your life one day so go to the sparring room to meet her"
Karen goes to the sparring room and sees Marissa holding a plastic knife practicing on some wooden dummies
"Karen today you're going to learn how to fight with a knife because you never know when that might come in handy, the main reason why the military hasn't thought of it is mainly because of your age and the fact that they have no clue what training you currently have in hand to hand combat. Now then the plastic knives are exactly like the knives currently in use in the military now but they won't hurt you like the real deal"
"But I'll still be able to feel it just in case"
"Exactly Karen it's really the only way for you to learn without getting yourself killed"
An hour later Karen had died more times then she could count but even she could tell that she was slowly improving at least in regards to not losing the knife in the first place
"Okay Karen time for a break, and I will continue these lessons until I deem you proficient enough to not get yourself killed within five minutes, after that we'll decide together if you want to advance your training any further to smaller knives and maybe even a few knife tricks that might save your or another persons life"
"So same time tomorrow then?"
"Exactly same time tomorrow"
The next day school started and on the first day of school trouble started, and not by any fault of any of the faculty or students...at least not intentionally. No one knew it but over the summer some people had illegally entered the school and messed with the electrical wiring, however they hadn't left any signs of tampering so when one of the teachers used a projector as part of class a fire started forcing the whole school to evacuate, and it was even more dangerous then normal because the short circuiting happened in multiple rooms at once due to how the intruders had tampered with the electrical wiring in the first place. It took twenty minutes for the fire to even be contained and another thirty before the fire was out and by that time school was officially canceled until further notice and families were starting to arrive to take their kids home, though later that day on the news the fire chief that had responded said one positive thing about the fire
"At least no one was harmed due to the fact that everyone made it out quickly and safely, now then we're still investigating the cause of the fire but I do believe that no one was hurt is good news"
"Karen the school administration says it's trying to work something out with a neighboring district so it will be a few days before you can start school"
"Well that's kind of to be expected but like the fire chief said at least no one got hurt, and no I didn't use my abilities everyone made it out safely on their own...though I might have made sure I was the last person out of the classroom besides the teacher"
"That's what we're getting from several other EDC kids too, either that or if there were multiple EDC kids in one room one person was first so that they could lead as much as possible while one was last so that there weren't any stragglers"
"Wonder how that was resolved?"
"Quick eye contact along with rock, paper, scissors"
"Wonder what the teachers thought about that?"
"Actually the rock, paper, scissors was played before school and the quick eye contact was simply a confirmation that they were going with the original plan of who went first"
"Oh didn't know about that"
"Exactly, now then are you up for some knife training?"
"Yes I've been trying to work out my stress in other ways but unfortunately I haven't managed to succeed in doing so, mainly because I haven't actually really been allowed to do physical activity to release the tension even though I told you several times that I was fine Ratchet"
"Forgive me for wanting to make sure your lungs were clear considering where your classroom was in relation to the nearest exit"
"Okay you do have me there"
"And you're cleared by the way, just finally confirmed that so you can indeed burn off your adrenaline which is still surging in you even now"
Karen and Faireborn leave so that Karen could get in knife practice and that's when they learned that when Karen was overcharged on adrenaline she made moves so much quicker and sharper than before that if she had to be in the situation for real she would probably come out the winner within fifteen seconds of having her hand on a blade if they were that close, no longer than two minutes depending on how strong the opponent was
"Okay...Karen...I never...want to fight you...when you're overcharged on adrenaline, you're dangerous whenever you have that much adrenaline in your system"
"Surprised me too, Marissa what exactly are my options once I turn eighteen? I already know about the military because that's what I've been training in for a long time but what other options are there for someone like me?"
"Oh Karen there are plenty of options, but you don't have to make those decisions yet, you still have time to discover what your dream really is"
"Thanks for telling me that, I know I shouldn't have doubted it but due to the fact that all I've been doing since I was five is training in the military I guess I was starting to doubt a little bit"
"It's okay to mention your doubts because I guess we have been pushing you a bit hard, but don't forget part of that was your own doing"
"I know, it's just part of the reason why I made my request was because of the fact that I needed to learn how to control my powers and fast and my control has improved as I have aged but the military discipline has been a huge help with that"
"We know Karen, we've always known that and we also know that we've put high expectations on you but part of why we were discussing the accelerated training option was because of who you are. You may legally be known as Karen Kerenai but several people within the EDC are also calling you Karen of Cybertron due to the fact that the Cybertronians have raised you since you were two months old"
"I never thought of that"
"I know which is why I decided to let you know, Karen you are so used to your Cybertronian family that you don't realize just how abnormal that is"
"No I know it's not normal but I just don't really think about it because like you said I am so used to it it's become second nature to me"
"Exactly, now then have you worked out enough of your adrenaline you can do normal kid things or do you still need to work things out with shooting practice or hand to hand fighting?"
"I am most definitely in the mood to watch a movie"
"Then come on let's go find an age appropriate movie for you to watch"
Three weeks later school began once again because it took that long to come to an agreement with a neighboring school district in regards to using one of their abandoned buildings as a school for the displaced students and teachers. It originally wasn't supposed to take that long but things got complicated and everyone wanted to make sure that this time nothing was wrong with the wiring so there were a lot of inspections under tight scrutiny, that was actually why it took so long to come to an agreement in the first place because the two groups were arguing about who would pay the inspectors due to the fact that both districts had experienced budget cuts in recent years and neither were sure that they alone could afford to pay so they had to work out a payment ratio for the inspection and also a lease agreement had to be made due to the fact that no one quite knew how long it would take to rebuild the school