First Training

Two men stood facing each other in the middle of a circular patch of earth. Stone walls encircled the area, it was like a small room without a ceiling; letting the sun shine its bright rays into the area and warming the ground. A slight breeze found its way into the training field and brought with it a few leaves that danced between the two men. Nothing seemed to break the gaze each man held on the other – so fierce was the look in their eyes.1

The man with black hair moved his foot out in front of him slightly, and in a flash the spar was on. With his black hair flying behind him carelessly, he raced towards the bigger, blonde man and he moved so fast that you could hardly see him. He jumped, putting himself straight above the larger man and thrust his fist down with such power that his whole body flew down with him. With a sharp pivot, the man avoided the other’s fist, causing it instead to smash into the earth as dirt flew into the air and a patch of dust covered the black haired man. Instead of waiting for the him to recover, the other man ran for him and picked him up as he was running. He kept going; faster and faster until he was no longer visible and the only thing that told where he was in the sparring ring the sudden break in the stone wall and the scream of angst that came from the black haired man as he was smashed against the hard stone. With a grunt, he fell down onto his side and stared up at the blonde man who looked down at him expectantly.2

With a swift movement of his legs the black haired man took the other’s legs right out from under him and he came falling down. The man beat him to it though, and his fist slammed up against the blonde man’s jaw, causing his body to fling back up into the air and fly away from the black haired man. He crashed against the ground and slid across the ground as the black haired man stood himself back up and stretched slightly, checking his bloodied shoulder as he did. The blonde man stayed on the ground for a bit, but his eyes were open and his hand was clutching his face; blood oozed out from between his fingers and down his wrist.3

“You’re sorely mistaken if you think I’m going to be partaking in that.” I said, with my one hand over my mouth and the other one at my stomach.4

“Yours will be much less severe, I promise, and you’ll find that you are good at sparring.” John assured me with that familiar smile of his. We were above the sparring ring in somewhat of a balcony, except there was nothing that stopped us from walking right off of it and falling down into the ring. I was sure they did this for a reason.5

“Who’s winning?”6

“This one isn’t about winning, it’s more about just showing you how things go. The black haired man is Speed and the blonde haired man is Tank.”7

“Tank. That’s a suiting name for him – he’s huge, but they both move so fast – how do they do it?”8

“You can do it, too, I’m sure. That is just the way they were made.” John explained.9

“Well, what are their powers?” I hadn’t seen either of them start any fires or turn into a cow or fly or anything.10

“Not all of the projects have particular powers, you are one of a handful that do.”11

“How much is a handful?” I inquired.12

“A few dozen.”13

“Oh, so I’m special. Ha.”14

“You are special, I’m surprised they even made you,” The way he said that made me sigh angrily, but he continued on anyway. “I mean, our last fire starter that we awoke a good fifty years ago ended up killing one of the main Hive leaders and a few dozen rogues all at the same time.”15

“Why? Was he with the rogues or the Hive?”16

“He was with the Hive but he couldn’t control his powers well enough and well, he had an accident.”17

“I see… what makes you think I’ll be able to control them.”18

“He doesn’t think that at all.” Said a voice at my ear that made me jump and turn around, but since we were right on the edge of the balcony I lost my footing and slipped. Things seemed to move in somewhat of a slow motion as I felt myself fall and watched as neither John nor the black haired Speed made a single move to keep me from falling. In seconds I was on the ground, with both feet planted firmly and no pain to be felt. For a moment I just stood there, trying to get myself used to the feeling, and then I tilted my head up to see two faces looking down at me from a good thirty yards up.19

“Well hey at least you can fall right.” Said again another voice that was at my ear. I turned and saw the blonde haired man they called Tank. From this view I saw that the name fit him even more than it did before; he was huge, I had to tilt my head just to see his face.20

“Yeah,” I laughed awkwardly, “but how do I get back up there?”21

“You jump.” He said with a smile and crouched as if to prove his point.22

“If I do, and I end up jumping 3 inches and looking like a complete ass – you owe me.”23

He laughed. “Alright, deal.” 24

I crouched my legs in the same way that he was crouching his and, looking up towards the two faces, I jumped. After only a few moments of flying up effortlessly I was facing John once again. With a little amount of effort, I pushed myself forward and slid onto the balcony beside John while Tank landed next to Speed. I thought it was fairly humorous that he didn’t land with a thud considering how big he was. John held onto my arm to steady me and I smiled what I’m sure was a big, goofy smile that you’d see on a child when they go into their first candy store. Assuming they still had candy here in the future, or children for that matter.25

“She’s too small,” Tank remarked, more to Speed than to John, even though Speed nodded in agreement.26

“Yes but she’s full of power I’m sure,” John insisted, to which Tank laughed.27

“You mean you haven’t trained her yet? At all? Have you even tested her abilities?” Speed gaped at John when he shook his head and then looked back to me, his gape was soon replaced with a snide smile. “Let me try her out.”28

“I’m not an object you ass.”29

“Damn this girl’s got spunk! That’ll make it even more fun. Come on, let’s have us a go,” Speed tried to convince me but I just looked at John who looked unsure.30

“Well…” John began, “she does need someone to spar with her.”31

“Yeah, I’ll be gentle don’t you worry!” Speed clapped his hands together and looked at me like he was going to eat me. Maybe my name would be turkey.32

“What do you think?” John looked at me and I knew he was waiting for my approval, so I gave to him.33

“Alright,” I sighed reluctantly as Tank and Speed gave each other a similar look and then Speed offered me his hand. Hesitantly, I took it and, with one last look at John, we were flying up and into the sparring ring. 34

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you too bad.” Speed assured me before he winked at me and let go of my hand. Without him guiding me it was fairly hard to move myself through the air but, I got the hang of it. Setting myself down where Tank had been before, I turned to see Speed in his original spot. I let out a slow sigh, I could feel my heart beating fast and worriedly as I saw the spot on the stone wall where Tank had smashed Speed against it – his blood was still smeared over it. I gulped and tried to calm myself down as I crouched myself down into a defensive position; I surely wasn’t going to make the first move. In the next few seconds I saw that that was not going to be a problem for Speed.35

He did just as he had before; taking one step at first and then dashing towards me with such a speed that it was hard for me to keep him in my sights. I was able to see him running towards me though, until he seemed to disappear from in front of me and appeared above me. I didn’t think I’d be able to move as fast as Tank had the first time Speed had tried this maneuver, so when Speed tried to strike I reached forward and grabbed his arm in my hands and flung away from me; in the way someone would do if they were chopping wood with an axe, I threw him straight over my head with my eyes closed.36

I blinked at how easily I had done that – it was like he was no heavier than a box or a tote. I straightened myself up with my fists in front of me, ready for him to strike me for I was sure he had only landed a few feet in front of me; however, I was wrong. Tank’s cheers from the balcony made me look up at him when I saw that Speed wasn’t in front of me, he was pointing to the stone wall across from me and sure enough – there he was, his body completely embedded into the stone. He was slammed so tightly against it that it held him in place, but he wasn’t moving and his eyes were closed. I looked down at my hands, and then back up at Speed’s body in the stone. I looked around to see if someone else had stepped in maybe and done that to him, but no, I knew it was me.37

After making my small, obvious discovery, I started to make my way towards Speed. For a change I tried running and found that I could almost move as fast as he had before, but I didn’t quite meet the same speed. Still, though, I was running fairly fast and was standing in front of him in no time. He was still not moving and he looked unconscious to me. John yelled something to me from the balcony but I was too preoccupied with trying to pry Speed from the stone to give it much notice; I should’ve paid attention to him.38

One minute my hand was on Speed’s arm, trying to pull it from the stone, and the next his arm was around my neck and he had a knife at my stomach. I tried to scream but his tight around my neck was too tight and I shrank my stomach in away from the blade of the knife. He laughed, a cold sound that echoed in my head and gave me a headache. I struggled to get free of his grasp, annoying him and making him turn me around and then push me with an incredible force into the stone wall behind me where his body had just been. With a loud bang I felt my body crash into the stone, and there was pain but it wasn’t that much of a pain. I hadn’t broken anything but it still hurt like none other. Speed looked at me expectantly with his knife still pointed at me, and that stupid sneer on his face again.39

“What’s wrong, princess?” He leered at me, jabbing his knife at the air in front of him. “Your little Johnny not here to protect you anymore? Why not just give up and admit you have no chance at all, little girl.”40

I growled. I wasn’t aware that it was coming from my throat until I felt the shallow vibrations of it course through me. My teeth were bared and I was growling at him, as if I were some kind of animal, but as soon as I realized I was doing it I stopped myself. One look at Speed and I saw he was just as confused as I was, but he soon shrugged it off and poised the knife to his side and held onto his wrist with his other hand. As soon as he made that familiar step forward with his one foot I was ready for him. I lunged my body forward, as did he. He tried to strike me with the knife but I clumsily avoided its blade and gave him a swift uppercut. After I felt the sharp sound of his teeth slamming together with an unwanted force, I took a hold of his hand that held the knife and flung him over my shoulder as I had before. This time was different though, because instead of throwing him out in front of me – I threw him up into the air. My plan wasn’t that well thought out, and as I watched him struggle to contain himself in the air I made up my next move in my head and jumped up to meet him; pivoting off of the wall for an extra boost. I met him in the air, but he had seem me coming earlier and he jabbed the knife towards me once again; this time, he struck my shoulder and I cried out in pain. I clutched my shoulder and, as he went to strike me again, I took a hold of his wrist and spun in mid air. He spun with me, confused as I was seeing as how I had no clue what I was doing and was making up every step as I went – and then it hit me. With one final thrust, I took a strong hold of him with both hands and threw him down with all the strength I had in me.41

Speed flew down to the ground and landed on his back with a huge crash that ended in a flurry of dirt in the air and dirt spread all out around from his body that had hit the earth so hard it had made a Speed-sized hole. I smiled slightly, but my victory didn’t last long, as I felt my eyes roll back into my head and my body fall from the sky. Luckily, I slipped into unconsciousness just before my body crashed down onto the ground not too far off from Speed.42

Watching the sky get bigger and bigger as I fell from the air was the last thing I remember before falling into complete and utter darkness.