Training with Ven-Ghan had sounded like a logical next step and it had been a good idea in the past already. While Max usually used Berto's creations as simulation dummies, or picked a level in the new training facilities, he and Ven-Ghan had come up with a semi-regular routine of refining defense and attack. The Kadounnian was a good teacher and Max had found that he had gotten a lot better with thinking on his feet, listening to instinct, and finding weapons of offense or defense around him. He had the fire power inside him; he just needed to learn to stop relying on it as his sole weapon.
Now he needed a way to defend himself against an Ultralink Skewer, as Berto had nick-named it. The name hadn't come across very well, especially with Steel, but it had stuck.
No pun intended.
"What are we? The next daily special? Max Steel shish kebap?" Steel had grumbled. "Side of rice or fries, optional salad?"
Yeah, Max hadn't been thrilled either.
What both of them hadn't counted on was that Ven-Ghan would actually bring the Skewer along to the first training session after his recovery. Steel seemed to freeze at Max's side, a weak whisper that sounded almost like a curse coming over the link. He suddebly hovered behind his host's shoulder, peering over it with dread radiating along their connection, small spikes of panic adding to the overall sensation of rising terror.
"Uh, what are you doing with that?" Max asked, edging a little away from the taller alien, Steel almost plastered to his side. He could feel his touch through the suit, along the link, like clinging to him with a death grip that Steel wasn't aware of.
Ven-Ghan was decked out in full gear, with his gun, the sword, his arsenal of smaller weapons, and the Skewer. He looked ready to take on an army of Ultralinks and Max felt a queasy feeling spread through his stomach.
"I acquainted myself with the device."
"Uh, why?"
"It is a formidable weapon."
"Right. We know that. Got the proof up close and personal."
::He can kill us with that thing!::
::He's on our side, Steel::
::Right now I'm not so sure!:: the Ultralink snapped.
"So what's the plan?" Max asked out loud, trying to look at ease, which he wasn't. He was actually very far from at ease.
"You always get in close with your opponents. While it is necessary for some situations, in this case it can be deadly," the alien hunter explained calmly. "You need to learn to make a choice between close combat and fighting your opponent with a healthy distance between you."
"He threw that thing at me!"
"Then you need to learn how to duck," was the dead-pan reply.
"You're a riot. Laughing so hard here," Steel grumbled out loud.
Ven-Ghan cocked his head, fingers loosely curled around the Skewer. In his hands it looked like he had used it all his life, the loose-limbed ease deceiving and a warning in one to someone who knew how this man fought.
"You depend on the armor too much. You trust in your symbiont to uphold the structure and cushion a blast."
"Which worked just fine until now," Steel replied, clearly pissed off.
"Yes. Until now. You came upon an opponent who had a weapon that can hurt you. You need to learn how to not get hurt by it again."
It was a sound argument. Reasonable. Logical. Made absolute sense.
And Max shared Steel's silent dread that it would also be very, very painful.
xXxXxxXxXxxXxXx
So Ven-Ghan was using the Skewer, with permission from Forge, to train and teach Max Steel.
It didn't go as well as expected.
It was actually as painful as Max had suspected.
Ven-Ghan was crazy good, a seasoned warrior, and he knew a ton of tricks. He was fast, agile, knew moves no human being had ever seen before, and he had his wormholes. While Max and Steel had gone up against him before, facing him in a serious confrontation where he was intent on taking them down or out, this was different.
Very different.
Painfully so.
Max gave a yell as the sharp blade of the Skewer bit into his hand and he pulled it back, flip-flopping out of reach, cradling the injured limb. He was in Spike Mode and had yet to really land a punch on Ven-Ghan or disarm him of even one weapon. Shifting back to Base, he looked at his palm and grimaced as he saw the black line running over the light blue material. He almost expected it to have small curls of smoke drifting away from the charred area.
::That hurt!:: Steel exclaimed.
::Oh really?!:: Max snapped back. ::I didn't notice!::
::Bite me:: his symbiont shot back.
Ven-Ghan watched him emotionlessly, all at ease, waiting.
"You still fight hands-on," he finally said, walking over to where Max was riding out the pain. "You always trust in the protection of the suit."
Steel grumbled something very R-rated under his breath and Max carefully flexed his hand. It hurt like blazes.
"The weapon can cut your suit, Max Steel. You cannot touch it, unless you have a better armor."
"Yeah, well, noted," he bit out. "It's not like Steel finds a handy little program for a new Mode just like that!"
Ven-Ghan hummed softly. "It takes time to switch an ingrained fighting style or tactic, to adjust to something completely new. That is the sign of a great warrior."
"Which I'm not, I know."
"You saved your planet countless times. You defeated Makino. You are a great warrior, but you still need to learn."
"Yes, Obi Wan," Steel sniped. His level of annoyance was still rather high.
Ven-Ghan seemed a little puzzled by the movie reference, judging by his silence, but he let it slide. Max knew he would probably research it later on. As much as he had learned about Earth culture through his association with Max, a lot still confused him.
"You tried to grab the blade of the Skewer with your hands, believing your re-enforced armor was enough," the hunter finally said. "What you should have done was evade and try to disarm me." He stepped back. "Again," he ordered.
So they went at it again.
Using Stealth and Speed, but it still got him nothing but more blows.
"The one wielding the Skewer is your target, not the weapon," Ven-Ghan said calmly, patiently, not even out of breath.
"I'm trying!"
"Don't try. Do."
Max gnashed his teeth, too sore, too tired, too pissed off.
::He really has the whole grasshopper routine down:: Steel growled. ::And not in a good way::
And they went for the Skewer again. For Ven-Ghan. Really trying to disarm the guy and grab the weapon from him. Going so far as to try Clone.
Ven-Ghan had his teleportation device to get him out of trouble and it left Max exhausted, running low on energy, and frustrated. He sported several more black lines on the armor, though none went as deeply as the first one, and Steel's language was getting worse and worse. Max was convinced Ven-Ghan could have done a lot more damage than draw a few lines. They were the equivalent of cat scratches. He was holding back, only teaching them a lesson instead of handicapping them. He sometimes even used the blunt end of the Skewer to deliver a blow, which bounced off Max as he was used to, but the sharp end was a serious threat.
When they finally stopped, he was breathing harder than after even the worst of his fights and his suit was criss-crossed by black lines. He felt utterly depleted and very, very bruised.
As did Steel, who was muttering rude things about their friend and the so-called training.
Ven-Ghan held out a hand to him and Max took it, the taller alien pulling him to his feet with ease. It was ridiculous, driving home their differences and his lack of power right now. Max was truly running on fumes and while recharge wouldn't take long, he didn't feel he could punch so much as a balloon right now without falling over.
Steel agreed tiredly. He hadn't detached and was busy inspecting the damage to the suit, which wasn't actually worrying. They had had worse at the hands of Toxzon.
::We failed spectacularly:: the symbiont just remarked.
::Can't ace everything the first time:: Max mumbled, exhaustion in his voice, as he dragged himself to his quarters.
Ven-Ghan walked beside him, not even close to breaking into a sweat it seemed. The guy was unbelievable. Max had thought so in past fights as well, either as an opponent or as an ally. He had no idea where the Kadounnian's limits lay, but they sure as heck were a lot higher than his own.
"Rest and recover," Ven-Ghan told his hapless training victim. "In our next lesson I will teach you how to confront an enemy without getting into striking range."
"Next lesson," Max echoed hollowly.
"Fun," Steel added sarcastically.
Ven-Ghan simply walked on, leaving them to collapse in Max's room. Steel detached and hovered over the prone figure, scanning the severely scorched suit. He carefully touched a rather dark bruise the size of Forge's hand and Max winced.
"Ouch," he mumbled. "Ow, ouch, gnh."
"He didn't pull his punches, that's for sure."
"Yeah. Noted. I felt every blow, Steel," Max grumbled into the mattress, voice muffled. "Every. Single. One."
"Hey, I was there, too. It's not like I get the cushy part either."
"Hn."
His partner floated over to the tousled head and poked gently at the dark hair. Max batted weakly at him. He turned on his back and groaned as muscles protested.
Steel curled up into himself as he settled down next to Max's head. Blue eyes blinked at him. Steel reached out over the link and Max let himself fall into it with a sigh, eyes closing again. He didn't even try to get under the covers. He was too tired and the bed felt too good.
The cyber-render was almost blurry, his mind too tired to take in the details, just making it into a warm, welcoming place, hugging Steel's presence close.
xXxXxxXxXxxXxXxxXxXxxXxXxxXxXx
He woke a few hours later, feeling a lot better than before, and while his very bones seemed to creak, the deeply bruised feeling was gone. Max took a shower, the Camouflage changing accordingly, even though he knew he wasn't really naked.
It was a great illusion, though.
He shuffled into the mess hall a little later, nodding at Jefferson, who was at his either first or second breakfast. The man was truly a bottomless well.
"Morning, Max," he called, smiling brightly. "Heard you got your ass kicked."
Steel rolled his eye and zipped around the man, inspecting the heap of eggs, bacon and toast. "What did they feed you as a kid? Super soldier serum?"
Jefferson slurped up his last orange juice from the squeeze box. "Also heard Ven-Ghan is using the Skewer with the boss' permission. How's that goin'?"
"As you said, he kicked our asses," Max sighed and slumped onto the chair, elbows on the table, fingers digging into his hair. "Thoroughly. I'm still bruised."
"Guy's good."
"You don't say," Steel muttered. "He's the best bounty hunter out there. He has freaky tech. He has the Skewer!" He gave an exaggerated shudder. "And he's Ven-Ghan."
Jefferson grinned as he cleaned off his plate. "That alone makes him good. It's all about teaching and learning, right? You'll learn."
Steel made a sound like blowing a raspberry.
A cup of coffee was plonked down in front of Max and Forge took a seat, nodding at Jefferson, who was just finishing his eggs. He was carrying two plates himself, pushing one over to his nephew.
"I don't need to ask how I went, hm?"
"No," Max muttered. "And if you do, I'll tell you what I tell everyone: it went nowhere good." He grabbed the coffee and drank it, enjoying the rich, bitter tasted. N-Tek's mess hall had great coffee.
"Ven-Ghan's a seasoned fighter. You're still learning. No amount of simulation can prepare you for an alien fighting style, let alone such a powerful weapon. All we can do is work on your reflexes, your Mode shifts, your endurance. The rest you need to figure out, just like us normal grunts."
Max looked at his uncle's calm, slightly amused face from behind his coffee, fingers curled around the large, hot mug. Forge toasted him with his own cup, lips curling more when Max scowled at him.
"I know he'd kick my keister," Forge continued cheerfully. "Guy's really good and he has tech we can't replicate or even use."
Yep, he had. Like his teleportation wormholes and the reformed Ultralinks. Max knew he still had so much to learn, needed to master new techniques to confront new enemies and old alike, and he had people who would teach him.
He ate his breakfast, suddenly more hungry than he would have thought, and Jefferson raised his eyebrows at how he wolfed it down.
"Oh, shut up."
Steel snorted. "Must be a proximity problem to you, big guy. Osmosis. Assimilation. I'm not going to say penetration because…"
Forge grabbed him with his cybernetic arm, fingers curling around him and muffling the last words.
"Nope," he commented.
Steel grumbled and batted at the metal. Forge's narrowed gaze held a ton of warnings and the Ultralink subsided, muttering something under his breath that only Forge could hear – and Max, since his mind was open to his partner.
"Good," the Commander only said and released him.
"That wasn't nice!" Steel snapped and went over to Max, looking at Ferrus from behind Max's shoulder. "I'm not some pet!"
"Could've fooled me."
"You take that back!" Steel exclaimed, rising a little higher, shaking a hand at him.
"Nope," was the answer, Forge popping the p.
The symbiont huffed.
The Commander just gave him a toothy grin that was far from reassuring or funny. Actually, he almost looked like a feral wolf about to pounce.
::He loves you:: Max told him, smiling at his partner.
::The way he looks, he wants to eat me!:: Steel countered.
::Nah… But he's the boss. Our boss. And you were being a little too obnoxious::
::Was not::
::Was, too::
::Not!::
::Too::
::Wow, look at you stabbing me in the back!:: Steel poked him hard in the shoulder.
Max didn't reach out physically, but he hugged his symbiont mentally, deflating the Ultralink a little.
Kat came by and collected her partner for their scheduled patrol, and Forge went over Max's schedule for today, which was mostly boring for him, but he was a student now. One who was also a special operative and had super powers.
::You don't have super powers:: Steel commented, glancing at the schedule. ::And yeah, you're all over the place again::
He hadn't disconnected from the hug. Max didn't even feel embarrassed. It was natural to be that close. And Steel never minded, really.
::No, I don't:: came the confirmation. ::You're like a sieve today, Max. Get a grip! All that mushiness…::
Max shot him an amused look. ::I don't see you disconnecting::
Ultralinks couldn't blush, but Steel could do embarrassed pretty well. Like right now. He flailed a little, then his eye was firmly on the schedule again.
::So! School day! Aren't we all happy to be back to studying? And later pummel-Max-and-Steel-into-the-ground day. Presented to you by Ven-Ghan::
Max chuckled and Forge shot him a quizzical look, then rolled his eyes as realization set in.
"Don't even wanna know. Well, I've got important, boring things to do. You two get going."
"Yes, sir," Max replied and did just that, Steel with him.
xXxXx
He checked in with Berto, bringing him a sandwich and a coffee, which was gratefully taken. They talked, circumventing the topic of the Skewer, and Max was rather glad about it.
As was Steel.
He hated the weapon with a vengeance.
tbc...