Sweat dripped down from the bridge of her nose splashing to the ground of the training arena. The training grounds were silent and only a few of the lights in the center of the massive room to allow her to see her way around the place. Laying on the ground she gazed up to the ceiling trying to catch her breath. Her muscles were on fire, but she couldn't feel them. Pain was lost to her. It would be lost to her forever. As the thought sunk in she slowly closed her eyes the view of the room shrinking until only the light hanging directly above her shone through the slit in her eyes. The room seemed to feel bigger and her own existence seemed to feel smaller. Each time she relied on her Berserker ability she felt like she lost some other faint piece of a memory. For now it was trivial things that happened in enough frequency that she was reminded of it before it was completely forgotten. There were other things like her eyesight where she wondered if maybe one day she just wouldn't be able to see. She had to work this hard. She had to train this hard so that she could be strong with or without her ability. Taking a deep breath she was about to close her eyes entirely when a voice shattered the silence.
"Didn't expect you to be napping in here, Salamander," Fletcher said as he leaned against the farthest wall from where she lay.
Salisa kept her eyes closed. She tsked her tongue and muttered," Didn't think you'd be a lazy ass in the training grounds, Fletchling." "Well the great thing about being a lazy ass is I can do it anywhere…" he muttered back lighting a cigarette and blowing the smoke from his lungs up above him. He could see she had definitely overworked herself, but she probably couldn't tell. "What have you been working on in here, Saltine?" he asked with just amount of genuine interest to care about the response.
Opening her eyes the large amount of light poured into them causing Salisa to slowly turn over and slowly try to pick herself up. Immediately she stumbled slightly, her only indicator that she might have gone too far. A normal person would have just sat back down but she smirked and slowly began to keep pushing her muscles more and more until she was on her feet. "I was just doing regular exercises….a few hundred pushups and crunches. Then I did some sprints around for about an hour. Did some backflips and then a few sit ups. I scaled up the walls a few times…." She slowly counted off.
He merely nodded his head as she explained her overly rigorous session that was more or less uncalled for. Taking a deep breath he then scratched the back of his head," I'll make a bet with you. If I can knock you off your feet without moving from this spot, you won't do any more training for a week."
"Her body can't take any more. If she isn't in good shape for a mission then everything goes to shit…" Fletcher thought to himself.
Salisa's grin slowly turned into a frown," A week? Of no training? Are you kidding me, my body will get weak in that amount of time. You must be crazy if you think I'll take that bet Corn Flakes." He took a rather slow drag on his cig before muttering," What's wrong Salt Shaker, you don't believe in your skills to dodge me? You only have to for five minutes. Dodge all my attempts to knock you off your feet. From right here. Won't move my feet from this spot. I swear it." Gritting her teeth slightly Salisa then brought herself to stand up straighter," And if I win this bet?" "I'll personally train with you for the next week," he replied without a moment's hesitation.
Her desire to never be beaten completely overcame her logic that she knew she'd already reached a mental stopping point in her training. Five minutes?
"Piece of cake, Flechette," Salisa grinned.
Getting into position Salisa waited as Fletcher seemed to wait until he could get the last drag out of his cigarette before letting it drop. In the time it slowly dropped from his mouth he created a whip in his hand. Snapping it on the ground with a loud crack. He then flung it in her direction. It moved so quickly Salisa's eyes widened as she jumped backwards to dodge it as he then flicked his wrist to the side and the whip very suddenly seemed to hit the ground and immediately begin to move in the direction she was going. Dodging to the side and then side stepping a few times she could already feel her legs giving out, but there was no way she was going to give up so soon. Absolutely not. Her eyes focused on the whip as it moved towards her feet and around her waist area.
"Knock me off my feet huh? Not with this cheap trick you won't." Salisa grinned with beaming confidence as she was able to very easily keep up with the movements of the whip moving and dancing around to avoid being hit or caught. This went on aggressively for about two minutes, before Salisa called out as she landed weirdly on her two feet," You just going to keep me dancing over here, Fleeter!?"
He gave a dull and bored expression," Yeah I suppose I should stop going easy on you, this is a bet after all." Softly she muttered to herself," Easy…on me?" Then her eyes widened as Fletcher brought the entirety of the whip back into his hands and then dropped it causing it to vanish. Once more Salisa tsked her tongue as she braced herself with what was to come, but one couldn't have possibly imagined he'd materialize two pistols. Holding up both hands he pointed to the ground and began to very skillfully shoot and when each pistol ran out he would drop one only to materialize a new one almost instantly.
Each resounding sound of the guns going off Salisa dodged one after the other. It was dodge or risk being shot by real bullets! The more she pushed herself Fletcher could see her markings slowly beginning to come through. If she went into Berserk mode there could be many more problems. With only two minutes left he was definitely cutting it close on completing this bet before it went too far. Continuing to shoot strategically around the area near her feet.
At this point Salisa was counting down the seconds in her brain.
"Stop…" Something in her body shouted as she flipped backwards to dodge one and then slid to the side to dodge another.
"I just don't wanna see you get hurt, kid," Fletcher's own thoughts ringing loudly in his head as he continued to shoot in her direction aiming only towards her feet.
"Stop…" her inner voice urged again with no response from the girl.
"Move! Move! I keep moving because I have to! I have to!" she shouted back to her inner voice, but then suddenly Fletcher tilted one gun at a slightly different angle and the bullets both hit the same point at different angles causing one to unexpectedly ricochet. Salisa had just moved and as her ankles gave out on her she ended up collapsing to the ground the bullet missing her lodged itself into the wall behind her. Only seconds later Fletcher's phone went off showing the end of the five minutes. She'd been only moments away from victory.
On her back Salisa gazed up once more to the light that had been above her before. The light pouring into her pupils, but this time the light seemed too bright. Breathing heavily, sweat beading down her body, and her heart racing at what felt like a million beats per minute Salisa suddenly felt a stream down her face. Slowly she moved her hands to her face touching it gently and realizing the stream was tears. Was she that upset over losing? The more she wiped the tears away the more they came. Fletcher moved from his spot slowly approaching her. Finally he looked down at her his expression seemingly untouched or phased by the situation," Your body is in pain, Sally May. Give it time to rest. Even if you can't feel the pain your muscles are still human muscles. Your body is still human. You aren't a monster idiot. You can't keep pushing yourself over and over again and expect to get better. Everything you're doing right now is too excessive. It is self-detrimental." Pulling out another cigarette he cupped his hands over it so the flame would catch to the end. Fletcher then put it between his lips before leaning down and pulling Salisa up allowing her to use him to prop herself up.
Salisa listened in silence but then slowly nodded as he helped her up. Normally, she'd never lean against someone to get anywhere. She'd rather lay on the ground for hours and walk out with her own strength than rely on anyone, but for now….she was tired. As she began to wobble out of the training grounds beside him she muttered," You think you can just call me by my wrong name and say something inspirational afterwards and get away with it too, Flecks?"
"No, I didn't, but I can get away with dropping you right here to lay on the ground for the next five hours, so shut up before I do it, Salina," Fletcher said with a small hint of a smile tugging at his lips as he carried his student back to the dorms to be treated.