Story Title: There is Friendship in Training
Author: Mathais
Rating: T
Fandom: Power Rangers Jungle Fury
Warnings: None
Pairings: Theo Martin & Lily Chilman
Summary: Friendship comes from many places, and training is no exception.
Disclaimer: I don't own the elements and characters of Power Rangers Jungle Fury.
Notes: Written for M14Mouse for Alpha's Magical Fic Exchange 2012. I figured that a story containing Theo would be perfect for my favorite Theo writer. Thank you for your awesome stories~
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Pouring all of her heart into her punches until they burned with her emotion—that was her way.
One two, one two, the sound of her heartbeat echoed in her fists. One punch became two, which became four, which became eight. Every beat of time was a new punch, and each punch, her mark on the world. Faster and faster until she became one with her fists.
That was the path she'd discovered when she stepped onto the training grounds. The path she decided would take her further into her martial arts.
Speed above all else to unify her heart and body into one.
But her fists were slowing. Her hands weren't matching the rhythm in her head, and with each failure came more disappointment. Eventually her fists stopped, and though she tried to pick up again, it just wasn't happening.
There was disharmony between what she envisioned in her head and what her body was doing. Frustration ached in her body, but she didn't know how to fix it except to stand up again and settle into her stance.
"You need to twist your hips more," a voice said, nasally high.
She turned. There was a tiny Asian boy standing next to her, someone she recognized as having joined the temple at around the same time as she did. His voice had a bit of the know-it-all lilt to it, but when he took the same pose she did and punched, she watched the twist and flick of his hips. She took up her stance again and punched, consciously following through, she noticed how much smoother her fists soared through the air.
A grin dancing her on lips, she smiled at the boy. "Thanks! I think I get it now! I'm Lily Chilman, nice to meet you!"
The boy merely stared at her. "...Theo. Theo Martin," he said after a moment.
With that, Lily turned back to her training, counting out the punches in her head until the world narrowed into her fists.
One, two, forward and back.
One, two, three, four.
Four became eight, and eight became sixteen, to the beat of her heart and the growl she thought she could hear at the very edge of her senses.
But even as she punched, she was ever conscious of the boy at her side, his movements completely in tune with hers.
OoOoO
He would never be a physical powerhouse.
Part of that rankled him, but it was something he was forced to accept as he grew. He simply didn't have the right build for it, neither the bone structure nor the height. It took him forever to build muscle, and he'd fought for every bit that he did have, carefully regulated through diet and exercise.
He couldn't control that.
What he could control was how fast he mastered any technique passed onto him.
Whether it was a type of punch or a new kick or a special block, he would practice it for days on end, until sweat ran down his eyes and his limbs ached. He had to internalize every motion until he could become one with it and add it to his considerable repertoire.
If he couldn't be that buff martial artist in the comics Luan liked, then he could damn well be the most skillful one.
When it came to externalizing his animal spirit, however, he was having more difficulty than he would have liked. He could feel the Jaguar inside him, humming beneath the surface. Every one of his strikes was backed with its power. His skin itched. It was just waiting to burst out, but he didn't...
Tension coiled along his muscles as he thrust out with his palm, trying to force the Jaguar through his skin, but it was no use. With a frustrated growl, he fell onto the ground with the Jaguar's rumble in his chest.
"Y'know, you should chill out a little more," sounded Lily's voice with a playful taunt. Still breathing heavily, Theo looked up to see Lily smiling down at him, a water bottle in her grasp.
"I don't think I've seen you anything but chill," Theo scoffed, but it came out just as playful.
Lily rolled her eyes and patted him on the cheek with the bottle. Theo hissed at the cold contact, but then he gratefully took the offered water, making sure to only take small sips.
"I think in this case, you really shouldn't stress yourself out," she said. "C'mon, everyone knows that you're going to get in touch with your animal spirit first. You're one of the best in our group. You're just overthinking things."
And with that, Lily dashed off, no doubt heading for the punching bags, Theo thought.
Overthinking things, huh? He closed his eyes and inhaled, gathering all of his tension and anxiety. When he exhaled, he sent it all out with his breath—all of his thoughts, his fears, and his self-deprecation.
In the space that was left was only him—him and his animal spirit.
When he opened his eyes to sparks of blue dancing over his fingers, all he could do was smile.
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Sparring was meant to foster increased skill through simulation of live combat. The goal was to apply training principles in a way to impart experience without risking permanent injury.
More than one master had used sparring to bleed off excess tension between students, so long as the aggression remained within certain bounds and there wasn't enough of a disparity in ability that the spar would be too one-sided.
There were no such compunctions between these two students, and so Master Mao allowed it to continue.
Under his watchful gaze, Lily and Theo fought it out in a full-contact spar. There was anger and hurt in their strikes, he could easily sense, but their turmoil was not something he could fix. He trusted his students to figure it out, and there was some truth in the philosophy that through trading blows two people could come to an understanding.
As he watched his Cheetah and Jaguar cubs dance across the floor, he reflected on this pair.
Lily's heart shone in her fists, in the never-ending blows she rained down on Theo's guard, in the way she pressed her attack without giving an inch. She had beautiful footwork, and though she sped across the battlefield, her footwork promised that she would grow ever faster. The passion in her blows, however, reminded him of Master Rilla at his finest. Even if the Cheetah and Gorilla styles looked very different in the end, they shared the same heart and soul that shined.
Theo's skill was a beauty to behold as well. Every basic maneuver was mastered and expanded through its use with other techniques until it blossomed to its fullest potential. There was grace in the way Theo shifted away Lily's blinding strikes, looking as untouched as a feather in the wind. The devotion to skill made him remember Master Guin even more fondly. Theo lacked Master Guin's sheer ferocity, but the same polish was in their moves, as if all the world were a stage for their deadly dance.
They complemented each other well. Where Theo would hesitate and overthink, Lily would power forward with her heart. When Lily would falter and doubt, Theo would guide with a hand that wasn't as reluctant as he liked to pretend. A push and pull dance which served them so well.
Master Mao did not know what their current disagreement was about, but he trusted these two. Though he had many students, he knew these two were special, and though they still had all of the bull-headedness of youth, they were also some of the more self-aware of his disciples. Even now, through their mutual blows, he could see whatever tension begin to dissipate without words needing to be shared. When cheetah and jaguar met in the air, even the anger from before could not be seen—only the sharp focus of battle.
They were a good pair, some of the closest students he'd seen in a long while...
...but they still needed a third. Pai Zhua's best teams were in threes, after all, and three would give them a certain balance that they couldn't quite get with each other.
But for now, Master Mao was content to watching as his students' animal projects gave one final clash before he called a halt to the proceedings. Lily and Theo bowed to each other at the conclusion of the spar, and as he called the next pair up, he could hear snippets of the quiet conversation Theo and Lily were attempting to have.
"I'm sorry," Theo said.
"...I'm not some damsel in distress you know," Lily replied coolly.
"I know. I know better than anyone how strong you are. It's just that I don't think you have to do everything on your own."
A flicker of a smile crossed Lily's face. "I've got you though. I'm not alone."
Master Mao was amused to notice the light blush that crossed Theo's face. "Well, yeah. Of course. I'm going to have bruises tomorrow because of you."
Lily laughed lightly. "You dodged most of my hits though."
"Most, not all," Theo loftily said. "You're too fast to escape from."
"And you're too good for me to get anything but a few solid hits. You got me good though," Lily said with a wince.
"You dodged most of it too," Theo accused.
Master Mao enjoyed this little byplay, but he was forced to call it to a close by clearing his throat. Both students snapped to attention and focused on the spar in front of them.
But Master Mao noticed the easy smiles on their faces where before there were tense frowns.
Inwardly, Master Mao was pleased.
Yes, these two would go far.
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Prompt: Some friendships are define by those moments. For Theo and Lily? Master Mao's training sessions totally define theirs.