No. 14: Training Hard

No. 14: Training Hard

The Professor met them outside the mansion. He was leaning on his cane with a smile on his face as he saw them walk over.
"So I see you have come to an agreement then?" He asked as they drew closer.
"Well lets just say we understand each other better. We still haven't talked about the whole, Bonding thing." Brandon explained.
The Professor nodded.
"Well you'll have plenty of time for talking latter. But right now we have other things to tend to. Come."
The two kids followed the elder man to the strangely shaped building Kaleigh had noticed when she first came to campus, though other things had kept her mind from dwelling on it too long.

The building was made entirely of glass, and seemed to made up of several pyramids all connected together by halls.
"Who cleans all that?" Kaleigh wondered aloud. Brandon chuckled beside her.
"What?" She asked, suddenly getting defensive.
"Nothing! It's just that anyone else would ask stuff like 'what's inside it?' or 'what could it's purpose be?' or even 'why is shaped that way?' and you ask 'who cleans it?' It's just funny."
Kale shrugged, as they walked up a gravel path to it.
"Yeah well the glory of being me. I don't see things the way everyone else does."
"That is very true Miss Kaleigh. Very true indeed." The Professor agreed.

He pushed the glass door open and when they had gotten closer, she found that it wasn't actually glass. It was some kind of other metal that simply glinted in the sunlight like glass, but was not clear.
"What kind of metal is this?" Kaleigh asked.
"It's one that is made up of all four Elements. Only made by Elementals, very powerful, nearly indestructible." The Professor explained. "It's called ealantean."
Kaleigh had a look on her face as she nodded that said 'well duh, I should have known that.' Making Brandon try extremely hard not to burst out laughing.

The Professor led them inside and Kaleigh stood shock still in awe.
The inside looked much like she would have imagined a pyramid to look like. Just with out the stone walls, sand, hieroglyphs, freaky dog faced statues, and mummies.
The first pyramid was practically empty except for a couple benches on the far wall, and the floor was covered in black mats, which she could only assume were for tumbling and learning to do flips. Filling the floor looked like what might be an obstacle course. Beams of wood hung from the roof on cables that was attached to the tip of the pyramid on a pulley system. Targets of various sizes and shapes were everywhere, giving testimony that someone had the precision to hit a fly.
However, along two walls, cases that took up the entire length of the wall were full of various weapons. Almost anything she could think of, it was there, except, to her surprise, guns and hand grenades. Actually, nothing modern was in there, it was all knives, and swords.

"Holy molly." She muttered. "You've got an entire arsenal in here."
Brandon nodded in agreement, he was standing at the edge of the mats with his hands shoved in his pockets.
"Yes, we do have that. Now listen carefully Kaleigh." The Professor agreed.
Kale turned to the older man and waited for him to say what he had to say.
"Air has always been an Element that needed something to help channel it, most of the other ones besides Fire can be used on their own, but Air and Fire are harder to master. Now don't take this as a discouragement, they're hard, but not impossible." He added when he saw the worry line in her forehead.
"So, for example, if you wanted to use your Lightening to hit an enemy, with out something to direct it, you could hit your ally next to you. Do you see what I mean?"
Kaleigh nodded.
"You will not have to use it for everything, somethings will be so little it wont be needed, but especially in combat you will need something to direct your Element."
He turned and started walking to one of the weapons cases.
"All of these weapons have at least a hint of ealantean in them, making them stronger and more durable with Elements. I would suggest you try to get something that is made of pure ealantean so it would have the best chance of lasting longer." He picked up a dagger that was made entirely of the silvery metal, but already she could feel that the alien feeling inside her had rejected the object.
"Now this is a dagger from the Yuan Dynasty in China, we modified it of course but it's still in prime condition. That's the lovely thing about ealantean. It doesn't corrode like normal metals."
Kaleigh respected his knowledge, but shook her head when he offered it to her.
"Not your type I see. Yes it does take a bit more muscle to wield." He added on second thought. Kale sent Brandon a glance who was just grinning like usual and shrugged at her look.
   The Professor continued on in this manner, providing various weapons, all the way from swords, to ninja throwing stars. But none of the ones he showed her struck her as something she'd want to fight with.
"So really, none of these hold your fancy?" The Professor asked halfway through the second wall.
Kaleigh shrugged with an apologetic look.
"No. I'm afraid not. I'm sorry Professor."
Wallace sighed and walked over to a bench.
"Well why don't you look around and see if maybe you can find something on your own."
Kaleigh nodded and wandered around, trying to take in all the various weapons. It seemed so overwhelming seeing so many at one time.
She almost gave up when she saw something twinkle in the corner of her eye.
Turing around, and looking up she noticed a silver string hanging between two pegs.
Captivated, she reached up to take it down, only to find she was too short. Once she saw she was defeated she let out an exasperated sigh.
"Brandon could you...?" She didn't need to finish the sentence. He was already by her side, reaching up and pulling the silver string down for her.
"Yeah. Here you go." He said with a genuine grin.
The first thing Kaleigh noticed, was that it was only slightly bigger than her thumb at one end, then grew smaller at the opposite end.
It was cool to her touch, there was something about it that made her know it was both beautiful, but deadly.
"It's a whip..." She muttered in surprise.
"Yes. I'm not quite sure where that one came from. It's just been here since the beginning. Nearly as old as I am." Professor Wallace proclaimed.
"It looks like a decoration." Brandon observed. "A pretty thing, but not really of any use."
Kaleigh was already shaking her head.
"Haven't you ever seen Indiana Jones? Whips can be very deadly, no matter how pretty they look."
"Indeed. But they are also extremely hard to train with. It will bit you before it lets you master it." The Professor warned. "It might not be the easiest weapon to use, the knives would be more gentle."
"No. This is the only one I can actually see myself using." She explained. "All the others seem menacing and not exactly gentle."
"Plus that one looks more girly." Brandon chipped in.
"There is that. Girls are known to be graceful." She teased. He rolled his eyes and scoffed.
"No one told my little sister that." He murmured.
"You have a little sister?" She cried in shock.
"Yeah. Why? You think I was an only child?"
Kale shrugged. "The thought crossed my mind but I didn't really think about it too much." She admitted.
Brandon shrugged but didn't say much else.
"So you are sure you want to use this particular weapon?" The Professor asked once again.
Kaleigh nodded as she twirled the whip between it's fingers.
Despite the fact that it was made of metal, it was extremely, and shockingly flexible.
"Very well."
The Professor walked over to a dark cupboard that had blended into the shadows, evading Kaleigh's notice.
He opened the doors and pulled out what looked like pieces of fabric.
"These will be your training clothes. They're just light weight cotton, so they'll allow you to move about freely. You will find changing rooms in the hall just through that doorway on the left."
Kaleigh and Brandon set off across the room to the doorway.
"So, what weapons do you use?" She asked, her hand still clutching the whip tightly.
"Anything I can throw really." He answered. Kale laughed out loud.
"That could be a whole lot of things. So are we talking throwing knives or battle axes?"
Brandon's eyes bulged at the suggestion.
"Can you really imagine me hurtling a battle ax around?!"
Kaleigh's nose crinkled as she shook her head.
"Yeah I didn't think so. I use various throwing knives."
They came to the doorway, and Kaleigh noticed that darkness was the only thing that waited beyond it. She shifted slightly so Brandon was now in front of her.
He didn't seem to notice the movement and went into the darkness with out hesitation.
"Does that include ninja stars you can throw at people while your running from roof tops? Please don't tell me you can perform air assassinations!" She pleaded.
Though she couldn't see him, she could hear him laugh up ahead of her.
"I probably could if I wanted to, but no, I don't. At least not the air assassinations."
Kaleigh rolled her eyes playfully but chuckled just the same.
A shriek left her lips when she suddenly rammed into something quiet solid, only to realize it was Brandon's back.
"Here we are."
A light suddenly flared to life in front of her, blinding her eyes.
She peered around Brandon and saw that it was a locker room.
"Oh good gracious." She muttered.
Brandon made a sweeping gesture with his hand.
"After you."
Her eyes grew wide as she misinterpreted his words. He caught on and moved away from the room a bit.
"I'll wait 'til your finished."
Nodding numbly, she walked in and shut the door behind her.

She shimmied out of her usual warm clothes and put on the lighter ones that didn't prevent the cold air from hitting the skin underneath.
Kaleigh caught her reflection in the mirror above the long row of sinks, and looked down at her outfit. It was all brown, a long tunic that almost came down to her knees, and a loose fitting pair of pants. She hadn't been given any shoes so she had put on her orange converse again, which threw the outfit off kilter. Her dark hair fell in thick waves over her shoulder, and it looked even darker with the dull cotton underneath it. Her skin had always been darker than a sun tan, which had always made her wonder what her heritage was, people had assumed that she was part Native American, but she had never really given it much thought.
But now looking at herself in the mirror, in the brown garbs and her long black hair, she was shocked that she hadn't guessed it before.

When they both had changed, leaving their street clothes in the locker room on one of the long benches in the middle of the room, they both met the Professor back in the first pyramid with the mats.
He eyed them for a moment, Kaleigh still clutching the whip. He instructed to take off their shoes and called Brandon up to demonstrate what he had learned in his last lesson.
It came as no surprise to Kaleigh, she had figured Brandon had probably been training for a very long time.
She was sitting down on one of the observing bench as she pulled off her shoes and socks.
Brandon was dressed in similar clothes as she was, however he had on several belts. One strapped across his chest, another around his hips. He too, was barefoot as he crossed over to the middle of the mats.
He paused and eyed the beams for a moment.
Kaleigh started to quickly French braid her hair, knowing she was in for a work out and didn't want it in her way.
The sudden flurry of motion in the corner of her eye called her attention to where Brandon had been standing.
Only he wasn't there any longer.
Her eyes darted around wildly 'til she finally saw the brown blur that was jumping in between two poles and landing lightly on one of the beams.
He had his balance almost as soon as his feet touched the wood. He erected himself and looked down for a moment, that usual grin still on his face as he saw Kaleigh's shocked face.
"Didn't believe me when I said I could do parkour?" He asked her, raising his voice a little.
"Nuh-uh." She answered, making him laugh lightly.
"Please get on with it Brandon, we do not have all day." The Professor reminded.
Kaleigh quickly tied off the braid in her hair with one of the many hair bands she wore on her wrist, then she dropped her hands and looked up to watch Brandon.
The beams swayed slightly as he hooked himself up to a safety line that ran along the course. After a moment with fiddling with the harness, he took off at a run. He pulled out a dagger from his belt and held onto it by the tip of the blade lightly, keeping his wrist loose.
Kale was about to shout at him that the beam was coming to a quick end, but that's when he threw himself across the gap between the beam he was on, and the next one. Kale barely saw the flash of silver until she heard a low thud and looked in pure shock and awe as she saw the blade of a knife protruding in one of the lower targets, perfectly centered in the red bull's eye.
"Oh good grief..." She whispered, but her eyes were torn back to Brandon who was once again a blur of movement. It was hard for her to follow his movements, they flowed together so seamlessly, and he was moving with such speed she thought he was being propelled along, gliding not really running.
Flashes of silver kept coming, always hitting their marks and always dead center.
It finally dawned on her.
"Professor..." She breathed, hating the idea that her voice would break Brandon's concentration.
"Hmm?" The Professor asked, joining her on the bench.
"You said he was Wind right?" She asked.
"Correct."
"Ah..." She was right.

Brandon slowed down at the end of the last beam, coming to a stand still. He looked down at the Professor expectantly.
"You were better, though you seemed to have forgotten that the wires of the beams were there." He said.
Brandon cringed and nodded. Feeling the burses all over his body on where he had rammed into the wires. He hadn't let him stop him, but it still hurt just the same.
"But your even more swift with your blades as I've ever seen." The Professor glanced down at Kaleigh who was doing her best to look anywhere else but at the other two people in the room.
"I wonder if that's due to the fact that she's here." He muttered almost to himself.
Brandon had shimmied down a rope that was at the end of the course and was walking to a large pillar next to their bench. He flipped a switch and leaned against the pillar.
"You think so?" He asked. Kaleigh jumped slightly when the grinding of mechanisms working shook through the room.
The targets Brandon had shot at began to lower themselves from their various positions in the room so he could retrieve his knives.
"I did feel stronger than before." He went on. "Faster, like I had a strength I didn't know I had."
Kaleigh finally looked up at him with curiosity on her face. He wasn't looking at her, his gaze was fixed on the Professor. The line of concentration on his face deepening.
The Professor shrugged as he followed the boy when he went to retrieve his knives, with his eyes.
"It's possible. I haven't encountered a complete set of Guardians before so I am not sure how much of a connection you already have even with out the Bonding, but it is very possible that even just her presence would affect you."
"And I do happen to be sitting right here you know." Kaleigh jumped in. Getting sick of the way they talked about her as if she weren't even in the room.
Brandon looked back at her and flashed a playful grin as he pulled out the last of his daggers.
"Hit that switch for me?" He asked pointing to the one he had just used.
Kaleigh reached up and flipped the switch, the targets returning to their original position.
"And I know your here. It's very hard to ignore your presence." He added, addressing her statement.
"M-hmm. Sure it is." She was unconvinced. "So you used your Wind power for all that?" She asked.
Brandon nodded.
"So...you were cheating?"
His jaw dropped in mocked horror.
"It's not cheating using all of your skills." He said.
"It is if it's not exactly natural. And with out using your powers you probably suck." Her jab was challenging as she cocked an eyebrow, though the smile tugging at the edges of her lips told him she wasn't trying to be mean.
The targets had come to a complete stop, the grinding of the machine silent.
He was very aware of his surroundings and knew there was a target behind him just to the left a little.
Making a quick calculation in his head that was now second nature, he spun on his heel, brining his arm holding the knife back, then throwing it swiftly, letting go with a flick of his wrist. Sending the knife into the dead center of the target. He turned to Kaleigh was  smile.
"Professor wouldn't let me use my power 'til I could throw a knife as well on my own as with my power."
Kaleigh looked genuinely impressed.
"Alright fin. It's not that bad." She admitted, pretending to be a bit scornful.
The Professor had watched their conversation with interest. Seeing how they were already very familiar with each other, very aware of the other. He had a feeling they'd be very close friends and would lean on each other as if it was second nature to them.
"Come Kaleigh." He instructed. Setting down his cane and standing.
Kale watched in surprise as she realized the can and the hunched over man was just a mask.
Wallace had removed his own shoes as well, along with his tweed jacket. He had the sleeves of his button up shirt rolled up to his elbows. Any sign of an ageing old man who suffered with pains all over his body, melted away like a mirage.
His back straitened, his foot step steady and sure. Kaleigh saw ripples of muscle in his shoulders and arms.
Brandon's chuckle brought her out of her thoughts.
"Is he actually....?"
"Yup." Brandon answered her question as he took a swig of a water bottle he had brought along.
"It's weird at the beginning, but you'll grow use to it. Now go before he calls you a second time." He shoved her back, sending her stumbling forward.
"Okay, I'm going, I'm going. Sheesh." She mumbled.

In middle of the room, Kaleigh and the Professor stood in front of each other.
"So when your...alien feeling," Must have talked to Brandon. She thought. "came yesterday, what was going on in your head? What made it come out?"
She had already comet a conclusion of that very question when she had stayed up thinking about the whole thing.
"I was under emotional duress during both times." She answered immediately.
"Hmm...well we're going to have to see if you can access it with out the emotional strain. Other wise we're going to have to put you in some kind of situation each time you need your power, and that would not do us much good."
Kaleigh nodded absently, wondering what on earth the Professor had in mind.
"That will come in time when you're more aware of yourself. I've given instructions with Brandon and he will try to help you. I have a feeling that he'll be able to help you more than I."
"Then....what are we doing?" She asked.
"Teaching you how to use that whip you've decided to hang onto." He said as if it should be obvious.
"Oh..."
"Now get a firm hold on the thicker end. Yes there you go."

For the next two hours the Professor taught her how to use the whip for various things. This being just the first lesson, she was very clumsy at it all except for being able to wrap the end around the pole, that she was able to do, and when they provided her with a mannequin to practice on, she was still able to 'grab' things. Though not always what she wanted. It was hard to grow accustomed to how she had to move her body around in order to get it to do what she wanted.

Brandon practiced several things on his own, doing more of his parkour and his knife throwing. It was something to keep his mind off things and he found that it unnerved Kaleigh that he watched her from the hanging beams, which for some reason he found unreasonably funny. Laughing every time she sent him a glance that soon became a glare.

In the end they were both sweaty and hot. The locker room had showers and they each took a turn waiting outside for the other as they took their shower and changed out of their training clothes.
Kaleigh watched in surprise as Brandon slipped six ninja stars into his belt under his t-shirt. He caught her watching and looked up at her with raised eyebrows.
"What? Did you think we'd do all that training and not even be allowed to keep the weapon?"
"W-what?" She stuttered as they walked back into the first pyramid.
"You get to keep the whip. Is mainly what I'm saying." He repeated with fake exasperation.
He held the door open for her and she stepped outside, grateful for the cool air that whipped past her as she placed her beanie on her head.
She wasn't sure what to do with her whip, something where she could get to it easily, but wouldn't be obvious.
"You could use it as a belt...or...something." Brandon piped up from next to her, seeing her dilemma.
"I was thinking more like a necklace." She said.
"That could work I guess." He shrugged.
She wrapped the whip around her neck several times, finding that it was flexible enough to lay there limply and comfortably. She didn't have a mirror, so she couldn't see what it looked like, but when she asked Brandon's opinion, he said it looked fine to him. But then again he's a guy, and his fashion sense wasn't up there with a girl's.
"Well I've got to get to my brothers, they're going to freak out since we've been gone all morning." She said.
"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow. We've got training again."
"Okay. Bye!"
She ran off to her house with a wave over her shoulder.
Brandon chuckled and kept walking home. He'd be glad to get back to his art studio so he could finish up that painting.