Getting in Shape: Paragon Practice

[Fleet]

Jumper pushed himself hard to make it up the last hill and was thankful for the break, listenign ot Ember as he took a couple long drinks of his water. After hearing Embers orders he had to ask. He had never "Dialed" himself up to full. So he had no idea what would happen or how fast it would make him. So he waved to Ember ot get her attention and spoke slowly as he caught his breath. "I love the idea of letting loose fully, but I want to make sure you know that I have not yet fully explored the top setting of my speed. I will try it. I am just not sure what will happen. And also. How would you like to time how fast I am. Speed over distance, suicides?"

[Katana]

Leah collapsed on a rock, exhausted and wiped. The run had been long and hard on her body, on her endurance. She had pushed farther then she felt was possible. She wanted to pour ice on all her muscles. Yet she knew her day was not over.

Fifty suicides, she figured, meant running back and forth really fast. She wanted to die right there on the spot. She knew Jumper had offered to do the same punishment. She didn't expect him to, but it was sweet of him. She looked at her team mates, she had wanted to answer the black haired girl. She had wanted to introduce herself, yet ember had told them to be silent. She took this time to answer "I'm Katana by the way, or Leah Okami, my real name."she said getting the girl attention.

[Ember]

Listening to Jumper's concerns, Aideen thought of it for a moment as she took a sip of her water. She didn't want to push him too far since he had yet to have a chance to explore all of his power, not knowing the consequences of it. Aideen looked at him for a moment before speaking. "You raise a valid point. Instead, take it to the highest level you have ever taken it before in the past. If and only if you are comfortable enough at that level, make it go one level higher and test yourself out on that," Aideen said softly to her teammate.

Her dark eyes turned to rest on the panting girl that collapsed nearby. There was no excuse for a lateness for an official team practice. The team needed to learn to depend on one another and that the team should be their number one priority. If something was to happen and the team needed to act, they could not afford to wait for someone because they were busy with something they felt was more important. That could be a fatal move and she refused to have any of her team suffer from someone's stupid mistake.

Aideen checked her watch and put her water bottle down. "Ok team, breaks over. Ripple you're staying with me and we will be working with how to incorporate your gymnastic training in combat. Jumper, I want you to take this." Aideen handed Jumper an advanced looking little clip on device she attached to her water bottle before and now took off. "This is a pedometer. I want you to measure how many steps you take per lap. After each lap, try and get at least 10% more on each lap, and I'm trusting you to measure and challenge yourself without much monitoring from me since I was able to trust you in the past," Aideen said softly.

Finally she turned to Katana with her expressionless dark eyes. She was not going to be easy on a late offense. "Katana, I will be watching ever suicide very carefully. If you don't know what a suicide is, you touch the first line with your hand, then run back to the starting point. From there, you run to the second line, then run back to the starting line and so on. when you get to that eight line, the last line, and run back you are finished with one suicide. I expect fifty perfect suicides that you will do on your own as part of the penalty of being late," Aideen said with no compassion. As far as she was concerned, she was being much easier on her than her uncle ever was on her.

"Is everyone clear on what is expected of you for this practice?" she asked, ready to begin.

[Ripple]

Lian smiled at Leah, 'Hey' she mouthed.
'Yeah, its fine,' she said to Aideen. Incorporating her gymnastics into combat - that should be pretty interesting, not to mention uselful. There were a million ways it could be used against an opponent.
She was interested to see how Aideen would help her to turn her gymnastics into a form of fighting and she was eager to begin.

[Katana]

As the five minutes ended, Leah waited in silence. She wondered if she would be able to try out her powers when her punishment ended. She got up and mentioned to Ember, "I'm sorry, again. I'll start my punishment." She hoped initiating her punishment herself, would show she wasn't disregarding her team. She hoped it showed she cared for this school. "How far do you want me to run....and from where to where?" She asked as politely as she could to her leader.

[Fleet]

Jumper took the pedometer and attached it to his hip. Nodding his understanding of what Ember wanted. He took a long drink and stretched a bit more. Looking for the best place to make his run. Jumper reached over and "Dialed" himself up to the fifth level and he was off in a blur. He started out running at a steady pace for the first two laps, then he leaned in more and pushed himself faster, taking two more laps. As he started to get into this run, the energy within him began to fill his body, feuling him more and more. With his teeth gritted he pushed into a full out sprint with all he had. The pedometer numbers were flying by. This was level 5 on his dial. It was the highest he had gone so far. He noted the numbers as he came to a stop. The energy still coursing throuh his body. Jumper's eyes were taking on the blue glowing they did when his energy was building.

After taking a moment to record the numbers he notcied at level 5 he moved about 32 times faster then normal. Now he reached over to his left hand and turned the dial up one more level. This was an untested level for him. The energy within him surged more through his body and small arcs of blue crackling energy were sparking off his temples, hands, and eyes. With that new boost of energy he turned and was gone. There wasn't even the slightest blur this time till he started making laps. Wind was building from his movements. He leaned in and rode the speed high and thrill of energy running through him. His jogging suit was flapping away and started to rip from the friction. He was thankful he had his uniform on under his suit. He pushed himself faster and faster still. After finishing ten full laps in what seemed like no time he came up to Ember. His eyes glowing blue and the implants sparking and surging, but nothing seemed to be wrong. He slipped the pedometer off and handed it to Ember. The numbers showed he had moved about 64 times faster then normal. Looking to Ember with a wide grin "How's that?"

[Ember]

Aideen looked now throughly annoyed when she heard Katana's question. She made the charred lines and had spoken of them as she explained the suicide and now Katana asked her to explain it again? That's not how it works. "I see you are not only late for an official practice, you do not listen to the instructions you are given. I made those lines for a reason and I instructed you how to do a basic suicide and you still ask me how far? Add another twenty to your original amount. In the future you will remember to listen to instructions carefully or you will pay the penalty," Aideen finished not at all please with the girl not listening to her instructions or observing the environment around her. She wasn't burning the ground for fun and she expected the people she would fight and defend to be able to listen and observe their instructions.

She nodded and her mood eased a bit when she saw how hard that Jumper was working on his practice. As Jumper did his laps, Aideen turned to Ripple. "I know you are an advanced gymnast, which is good. It means that you have good control of your body movement. There I can help you. As a gymnast you should easily be able to dodge any sort of ammunition. But, all the gymnastic training in the world will not help you if you do not have advanced reflexes as well. That is what we will work on. I will be throwing fireballs at you, some small and some large. I want you to concentrate on them and use your skills in gymnastics to dodge them," Aideen said softly and walked a bit away from Ripple and without waiting to see if she was ready, Aideen whipped around and sent a a low heated fireball hurtling at Ripple, roughly the size of a baseball. She wanted to see how quickly Ripple would be able to dodge it.

When Jumper returned and showed Aideen his stats, she had to say that she was impressed. These stats on his progress were very good. She would start keeping a record of his progress, "Very good Jumper," she said with the same solemn expression she usually had, though you could tell she was impressed. "Now, like Ripple I want to see how well you can dodge ammunition when thrown at you. Go stand about ten feet away from Ripple," Aideen instructed as she locked the pedometer and pocketed it.

Aideen turned to Jumper and Ripple and once the were positioned, Aideen jumped in the air, twisting her body and shooting many low heat fireballs of various sizes at them for all directions. She wanted to see how developed their reflexes were and how they used their skills to dodge these fireballs. They didn't take a lot of heat and it would give them a very minor first degree burn at most. That was why Aideen was able to produce so many in the cold weather.

[Fleet]

Jumper was already charged up with his energy and grinning as he moved back ten paces and then he watched as the fire balls erupted and came towards him. Not only was his body sped up, but his mind and reflexes were as well. It was how he was able to keep track of where he was moving at such a high speed. The fireballs seemed to eb moving in slow motion to him. Using his basketball and football training he began to carefully pick his way between the balls. Stopping and pivoting around one. Ducking under another. As he came up from ducking he was face to face with a fireball, he could feel the heat from it. The fireball came in closer and using his speed he turned his cheek just in time to slide past it. But the hair on his cheek was bunrt. Though he could move this fast and react this fast. He stll wasn't quite used to it all happening.

[Ripple]

Dodging fireballs? This wasn't quite what Lian had had in mind. As the first one came hurtling towards her, she had not time to think. Her body had to take over. She dodged it more easily than she thought she should have been able to. She couldn't risk looking over to see how Jumper was doing, if she did then she could end up with a fireball to the face.
At first, Lian concentrated on simply dodging the fireballs, making sure they didn't hit her. Then, as her confidence grew, she began to test out a few more complicated manoevers, going over the top of the low ones or ducking low to avoid the ones at chest height.

[Emma Frost]

Emma had left the kitchen and the incredible smells of Aqua's pancakes behind and led Haven out the front of the mansion. She wanted to check on the progress of repairs and see that the contractors were doing the work she was paying double for, since it was a rush job. The mansion had been destroyed several times prior to her taking over as Headmistress, but this was the dead of winter and no time for a do-it-yourself fix up. Things looked to be proceeding smoothly and she walked through the midst of the construction Haven a step or two behind.

Stepping out the front she looked back to see the front of the building and nodded at how it was shaping up. She spoke not a word to Haven, but simply turned and proceeded out to the area she knew Ember would have her Paragons working out in. A quick glance to the left showed Colossus and his Acolytes hard at work, she would see them after the Paragons.

Approaching the team practice she watched silently and looked down sternly at Haven whose fidgeting would surely be a distraction. 'BEHAVE!' she said to her inside the girls damaged little mind.

[Haven]

Hearing Ms.Frost speak inside of her skull made Haven stiffen up. She had made the deal with her in the Genetic-Lab that she would be on her best behavior, or at least not speak, and up to this point she hadn't. She still hated her, but she was outside at least and her forcefield had finally returned. She might think a thing or two, but she hadn't agreed to not thinking, just to not speaking.

[Ember]

At the corner of her eye, Aideen checked on Katana who by now should be doing her punishment. She turned back to Jumper and Ripple, who were both doing quite well. Ripple started off a bit shaky but she was really getting the hang of it. Jumper had no problem dodging the other larger fireballs and seemed to have more of a problem dodging the smaller fireballs. With that Aideen flipped up in the air and shot dozens of smaller fireballs at Jumper that went in various directions.

Rolling over Aideen crossed her arms and sent more low heat fireballs at Ripple. this time they came at her from straight up from the ground and down from the air. The girl had good concentration and her gymnastic skill were praise worthy. Aideen wanted to push her a bit more and let her discover her full potential at the fact that she could actually be a very skilled fighter.

In the midst of one of Aideen's flips, she spotted a flash of white and blond hair as she turned. Aideen shot several more streams of the low heat at both her teammates, purposely making them more difficult to dodge. After that she stood up straight and looked very satisfied as she turned her dark eyes on her two very hard working teammates. "At ease you two. Very good job. You get a one minute water break and then I want you to to work together on an exercise I have in mind. Since we've all been a team we have been able to watch each other's back, especially in the Danger Room. Now i want you both to use your abilities and skills to help the other person out, but look out for yourself as well. One Minute break starts now," Aideen said checking her watch and then turning her head to watch Katana do the suicides.

Upon spotting her Headmistress at the gate along with... HAVEN! Aideen stood up straighter and her eyes softened a bit. Though granted there were moments when Aideen wished Haven had not saved her, like last night after that dream and every time she thought of Logan. But overall, Aideen knew what a brave act of courage that was and she could never thank Haven enough for caring enough about her to do that. As she was brought up, Aideen walked to her Headmistress and bowed her head respectively to her."Ms. Frost," she greeted in a solemn respectable voice as she looked up at her Headmistress, who she noticed was much taller than her. Odd she always seemed taller and more regal but Aideen never noticed it before as much as she did now.

Her dark eyes met Haven's for a quick second and they softened from their cold exterior a bit for the brief seconds when their eyes met. Aideen looked back at Emma Frost with the same stormy dark eyes as she usually had. "Out on a walk, may I ask," Aideen said softly knowing she was just probably checking up on the team.

[Ripple]

Lian almost let her gaze flick over to where at least one other person was now standing. She could see out of the corner of her eye, and she thought it might be Miss Frost. But the other person, if there was one, she couldn't tell the identity of.
She hurdled another fireball, resisting the temptation to look who was there. Suddenly, the fireballs started coming at her faster, from all directions. She started to adapt her movements accordingly. She was moving too fast to try and pull off any particularly fancy moves, though she waited for a gap in the fire and hurdled two at once with a back hand spring. She decided that was quite ambitious enough for the time being.
She didn't feel ready for a break yet, and she wouldn't quit before Jumper did. If possible, she knew he would turn it into a competition. He usually did. She could beat him. Maybe.
'At ease you two', she heard Aideen say. She straightened up and started to flex. She decided that now she had got the hang of it, she could start to expand a bit on her moves.

[Emma Frost]

"You may, and I am." Emma said as Ember asked. "I see you've split your team up. What is the motivation for Katana to be over there on her own while you train with these two members of your team here?" Ms.Frost arched an eyebrow as she looked at the way Aideen was running her team practice.

[Katana]

When Katana heard her further punishment, she felt even more useless. She had not heard Ember's earlier comments. Her face burned, red hot and she wanted to cry. She had been trying to be good, she had been trying to be the girl everyone expected her to be. She had tried being affectionate with Guardian, being a good friend to Elixir.

Yet this was what broke her, what turned her back into the girl she had been. 'Screw this, I'm not here to just play house, I was never that girl.' She screamed to herself. 'I was never a good person, why should I be one in this place.' Bones erupted from her body and she clenched her jaw.

Ignoring Ember she walked over to the first burnt line. She punched the ground and skid slightly. Her body was thrown left and she kicked right. She flung to the other burnt line. Her muscles screamed, and she screamed in her mind,'I've let everyone in my life hurt me. F*** you, YOU FLAMING B***H' She had been beaten by her gangs, and damaged by the world.

A tear grew in each eye. The right tear fell, as she past her 6th suicide. It fell to the ground covered by her sliding steps. 'I, haven't sulked, I haven't been a cold witch like you since I got here. WHAT makes you so much better than me?' The second tear fell on her 8th suicide.

9...10...11...12..13..14...15...16...17...'can't stop, must go faster and harder' she cried to her soul. She was burnt on all accounts...

...18...19...20...21...22...23...24...25...26...27...28...29...30...Leah slipped on her 31st suicide and her right leg became covered in mud. She stabbed into the ground with her bones. She pushed back up, her leg seared with pain. She wouldn't give the leader satisfaction by looking over, or looking weak.

...32...33...34...35..36...37...38...39...40...41...42...43...44...45...On Leah's 46th suicide she looked up and saw Ms. Frost coming towards the group. She halted with her left leg stretched out behind her and her right painfully bended in front. She panted and huffed. Her lips surrounded each gasping breath. Her throat was dry, and she tried to swallow. Her spit hit her lung, burning it. Her hair had fallen into her face, making her look savage. She felt ashamed and ridiculed. She remembered her task and pushed forward into another suicide. Yet she was caught by Emma's words and almost stumbled. She looked up at Ember, shocked that Emma had cared.