Tori let out a gasp, Tessa stared at a wall, and Tyler bounced on his feet eagerly. The room that they had entered into was filled with different types of equipment. An ice climbing wall with multiple paths was on the far end of the room. A large track traveled across the sides of the room, its road full of hoops, hurtles, tunnels, two mud pits, an ice covered area, a few walls, and even a pit of fire! In the middle of the room, several weight lifting stations were centered closer to the door, and targets were closer to the ice wall. A cage like the ones used for wrestling hung above the empty space between the targets and weight stations, its gray mesh-like links twinkling as the light from bulbs on the ceiling hit it.
"This. Is. Awesome!" Tyler squealed, hopping excitedly, and he rushed forward across the track to get to the ice wall. He turned into Chilla, covering the great distance easily in this form, and began to make his way up, digging his spikes into the wall.
"Hey," The guard yelled angrily, "Get down from there!"
Tyler let go of the wall, and fell to his feet. He shuffled across the room, a peevish expression on his gorilla-face.
The soldier continued to scold the boy, his pointy ears turning red with anger. "You DO NOT disobey my orders! And you DO NOT go rushing off to do what YOU WANT! You are a soldier now, and I am your ranking officer. YOU WILL obey my every instruction! IS THAT CLEAR?"
"Yes sir," Tyler mumbled, not meeting the man's eyes.
"Look me in the eyes and speak up! I said, IS THAT CLEAR?!"
"YES SIR!" Tyler answered loudly, like a soldier in the army.
The guard nodded, and turned away to give orders to the girls.
Tyler stuck out his tongue and made an angry face behind the soldier's back. Tessa almost giggled, but stopped herself before she could. Tori was just annoyed. Can't he just listen! She thought.
"You two, what elementals do you have?" The soldier inquired gruffly.
"W-Well, um, I'm pretty sure I can turn into Forty Below and Snare," Tori stuttered shyly, scraping her feet across the dirt surface of the track underfoot.
Tessa somewhat eagerly replied, "And I can be Pummel Weed and Ash."
"I've got Chilla, Rubble, and Thermite!" Tyler, back to his normal self, boasted.
The guard whirled on him. "Did I ask you?" He snapped.
"No sir." Tyler answered.
"Then you don't answer."
"Yes sir."
The guard scowled at the boy, before turning back to the other two. "You," He said, pointing at Tori, "Are the oldest, so you are the corporal. That means you are the leader of this team." He added at their confused expressions.
Tori could faintly hear Tyler grumbling at the prospect of not being in charge. And Tessa thought, No fair!
The soldier continued, "My name is Trainer K, I will be your teacher for the next few months of your training. In the meantime, you will be put through daily exercises to increase your strength, mobility, speed, endurance, and fighting skills; You will also learn how to react in intense situations, traverse obstacles, control your elemental warriors, and be a better working unit," Trainer K pointed to the red line on the track beneath them, "Today, you will run the obstacle course. You will be timed, and use of elemental warriors is permitted. Now LINE UP," He commanded, and the siblings set themselves up across the line, with Tessa on the outside, Tori close to the wall, and Tyler in the middle, "Ready, set, GO!" Trainer K shouted, starting the race.
They took off, Tessa and Tyler sprinting forward, and Tori keeping a paced run behind. "One and two and three and four and," She counted, setting her foot down on ever half note.
Soon, they came up to their first obstacle. A large hurtle stood in their way. Tessa jumped it in human form, Tyler became Chilla and leaped over, and Tori sprung over it behind them. That wasn't so bad...
Tyler now had the lead, and he just kept on sprinting forward, relishing the feel of conquering the others. But his happiness was short-lived, and he soon found his furry paws stuck in mud.
Tessa caught up to him and changed into pummel weed, gliding easily across the mucky obstacle with her leafy legs.
"Hey! No fair!" Tyler yelled thrashed until he had released his arms, and then proceeded to trudge his way through.
As he was doing so, Tori caught up and stopped at the edge of the pit, judging the distance. She had a feeling that Snare wouldn't be any help here, and she had no desire to get the mud in her clothes. Eventually, she shrugged and backpedaled aways away. Steeling herself, Tori sprinted forward and leaped over the pit, aiming for her brother's back. She reached for one of his icy spines and turned into Forty Below just before she was impaled, and she just bounces off the hard on, Tori let her brother do the work while she had a nice ride. Once he was almost there, she turned back into herself, climbed unto his head, and jumped off of him.
"Hey! No hitchhiking!" Tyler shouted, his face furious. He hadn't noticed her until she had turned back to her normal form. The ice on his back had felt normal until then.
"Too bad, so sad! This is what you get for not walking up that mountain," Tori taunted, turning and running off.
"It wasn't a mountain, it was a hill!" Tyler bellowed as he emerged from the mud, his pelt coated with it, and gave chase.
Tessa, meanwhile, had made it far ahead of the other two. She had slowed down her pace, leisurely jumping over hurtles and crawling through tunnels, but she was now stopped at a wall. It was small compared to other buildings, but it reached nearly ten feet in height! There was just no way she could make that jump.
While their sister was trying to figure out how to get past her obstacle, the other two were gaining on her. Well, Tori was running away from an enraged Tyler, who was kicking up brown dust and looked as if he was going to kill his sister.
As they charged towards her, Tessa felt herself change into another form, and she curled up as Major Ruin to protect herself. Tori, seizing her chance, quickly jumped on top of the four-foot-tall armadillo and leaped on top of the wall. Tyler roared and reached up with his long arms and began to pull himself up. Tessa quickly rolled away and spun, gyro-hopping into the air, to get herself off the ground and over the wall.
Tessa landed on the other side with a thunk, and Tori jumped down to get away from her brother. She slipped away from the wall just as the big gorilla fell down. He skidded to the side, almost going off the wide track, and barely managed to stop himself.
The track below them was ice!
Tori quickly turned into Forty Below and started to roll away, Tessa did the same in her Major Ruin form, and Tyler growled at them before transforming into Thermite, rolling after them.
Once they were past the ice, Tyler changed back into Chilla, and he bounded after them. Tori reverted to her normal self and sprinted away, jumping over hoops and through hurtles. In her fear, she overtook Tessa, and she ran face-first into yet another wall.
This time, she didn't have her rollie-polie sister to use as a boost. As the other two came charging towards her, Tori tried to scramble up the obstruction, but to no avail. Freaking out, she wished she could just become a puddle and melt away.
A blinding blue light flashed in front of the other two siblings, and Deep Blue now stood before them. Tori quickly shot her jets at them, drenching her brother's fur and momentarily stunning her sister.
Then, Tori had an idea. She aimed her jets at the floor and shot as hard as she could. The blast sent her soaring into the air, so high that she banged her head against the ceiling and was momentarily dazed. She lost control of her jets and fell to the ground, landing hard. Two of her tentacles snapped beneath her, the crack echoing through the room, and she let out a howl of pain.
Her siblings were on her in an instant, their anger and competitiveness forgotten.
"Tori, are you okay?" Tyler asked.
The girl whimpered, shaking her head, tears streamed from her blue eyes. Their eye color was the only physical trait that they kept during the transformations, and Tessa's blue-green eyes were filled with concern, while Tyler's were filled with woe.
"If I hadn't chased you, this wouldn't've happened," He growled, pounding a big fist on the floor, "This is all my fault."
Tori wanted to reassure him, tell him it was hers for goading him, but the pain was too great. It made her want to go home and cry forever. She reverted to her human form, and her left leg hung loosely.
Trainer K appeared at their side. "Training is over today. Go back to your hut. I'll take you to see the physician." He added to Tori, and bent down to scoop her up.
He carried the young girl out of the training room and across the small meadow, disappearing into another door. The siblings trailed behind him solemnly.
The gruff guard deposited Tori on a bed on the far side of the small, orange room and spoke to an orange fuzzy-fae. When he turned to leave, he notice the other two standing there. "Go back to your hut." He ordered, and the children reluctantly returned to their new home.
Woah, 1,686 words in just a couple of hours, that's a new record! For me, at least. :) Well, I hope yall enjoyed this chapter, and that I broke my leg. *Derp face* Too clumsy for my own good, I guess.
Oh, and what do you think should happen next? Review your ideas, and we might put them in the story! Ta Ta for now!
