Hunter's Prompt Responses - 2. Prompt 360 - First Line "Why do I even bother?"

“Why do I even bother?”

The words were said aloud by Miss Kendall Morgan, knowing full well there was no one in the base to hear them.

Kendall Morgan spent most of her days in the Amber Beach museum, either in her real job as the museum director, or else after hours in the Dino Charge Rangers base, working on different chargers they could use in their upcoming battles against Sledge and his army of henchmen.

She had to take care of them, they were her team now. She and Keeper had been working together for years now to find the Energems, and now that she met her Ranger team she could accomplish her goal to protect the world and find all the Energems.

Tyler Navarro lived for the adventure. It used to be that he’d follow his father on his trips, and now he was the Red Ranger. Either way, he was off on an adventure and one day he hoped his journey would lead him to finding his father again. Right now, he was happy to be with a new group of friends and doing things he never thought he’d be able to do as a child.

Kendall was just heading down to the base when she heard sounds coming from down in the lab. It was late, so she didn’t think any of the Rangers would be around, especially after the last battle they had that afternoon with another of Sledge’s criminals. Kendall peeked around the corner leading to the lab, expecting there to be Vivix or other alien biosigns inside. Instead, she saw Tyler practicing away and training himself, even though he was heavily bandaged and clearly still hurting from today’s battle.

She was mesmerized by his fight style. Tyler seemed to throw his whole body into each of his attacks, trying to put everything he had into his actions and pushing himself further than he should. If he did this in real battles, he could get himself seriously hurt. It was reckless, and she decided to intervene and stop him before he did something to get himself injured in the future.

“Tyler, what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be resting.”

Tyler turned around sharply at hearing the familiar voice, and winced from overexerting himself.

“I couldn’t rest, I was thinking about what happened today and I wanted to get stronger.”

Kendall knew the battle hadn’t gone well, but there was something about the earnest seriousness in Tyler’s voice that made her concerned.

“What happened out there today Tyler? I’ve never seen you like this after a fight.”

Tyler’s eyes clouded over and his facial expression darkened.

“I was beaten. There was a new monster, some kind of giant scorpion thing called Scorpino. When we found it, the other Rangers went to go fight the Vivix while I tried to hold off Scorpino. Instead, he threw me around and completely overwhelmed me, and that’s when he was able to attack the others.”

Tyler took a moment to breathe and compose himself.

“The others could have gotten really badly hurt because I wasn’t able to do my job. We beat him thanks to everyone working together and the Dino Spike, but look at everyone. All the other Rangers are in pretty bad shape, and even you said that our Energems won’t heal us too quickly if we keep getting hurt. That wouldn’t have happened if I was stronger. I’m supposed to be the one to protect everyone and be the leader, and I failed today. I won’t let that happen again.”

Kendall understood. She wasn’t a Ranger, it broke her heart to see her teenage charges continually coming back to the base in various states of injury and she wished she could do more to help them. She wished she could protect them and make it so that they didn’t have to face all these monsters alone.

“Tyler… you don’t have to do everything on your own. You and the other Rangers are a team. That means you can work together and not have to shoulder the burdens alone. Neither of us can do everything. Part of leadership is knowing when you’ve reached your limit and need to look for help. That’s why I went looking for you Rangers, and that’s why you need to make sure you don’t try to fight everything on your own.”

Kendall pointed at the different bandages and wounds on Tyler’s body.

“I know you want to protect them Tyler, but they’re Rangers. They know what the stakes are and they’re still here anyway. Don’t always try to shield them at the cost of yourself, let them protect you sometimes too.”

Tyler looked at Kendall, deep in thought.

“I guess you’re right Kendall... I mean Miss Morgan. I’m so used to going it alone, still weird to be part of a team and to have everyone with me when we face Sledge. I’ll work on it.”

“Good. Now go home, get some real rest. We’ll all be here in the morning. Don’t forget you’re working the morning shift at the café.”

Tyler smiled and slowly made his way out of the base. Now that she knew she would be alone in the lab, Kendall started going through all of the different pieces of tech she had been working on for the Rangers.

‘Maybe I need to lead by example’ Kendall thought to herself. ‘I’m always pushing myself and the Rangers so hard, it’s no wonder Tyler must have thought he needed to train more today. They see me and think they have to be the same way.’

With that. Kendall shut down the lab and turned off the lights. There was still work to be done searching for Energems and creating new weapons for the Rangers, but tonight it could wait. Tonight she was going to go visit her Rangers and make sure they were okay.