Lisanna stood in the knee high grass on top of the wall she'd just climbed, her mouth still gaping open. She felt Bickslow's finger tap under her chin and closed it with an audible snap, turning wide eyes to stare at his face for a moment before looking back at his training course. But of course Bickslow would have an obstacle course to train on. Lifting weights to train? Too boring. Fighting equipment? Why? The babies kept him long range, for the most part. The biggest thing that made Bickslow well, Bickslow was his acrobatics. Well, that and the babies. Lisanna could see this being an exercise for them too, if she thought about it.
Stretched out before them was an assortment of obstacles and walls. Here a twenty foot long bar with rings hanging at four foot intervals. Of course this bar was hung between two posts over a straight drop between the boulder she was on and the next chunk of rock that was jutting out of the ground. Immediately following the landing from this section was another gap, but she couldn't tell what was there as it seemed to lead to a drop off. The next boulder after that had what looked like two sheer walls that shot straight into the sky. They looked to be placed about five feet apart, and there weren't any grips that Lisanna could see from here. At the top of the column these walls made there was a sort of tunnel leading away, another set of walls that stretched further than she could see from here.
"So… this is what you do to train?"
She felt Bickslow wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her in close as the babies all headed off to fly around some of the obstacles in front of them.
"Solo training, yeah."
Lisanna leant back into him, still eyeing up the first obstruction in front of her. The rings were wide apart even for Bickslow, and she didn't think she would even have a chance to get across them. Maybe if she used her bird soul, but then again that would prevent her from using her hands.
"Why haven't you told Freed about it?"
She felt him shrug, before pressing his lips to her scalp and pulling away from her. Turning around she watched him strip out of his mask, cape and wrap leaving him in his shirt and trousers.
"It's nice to have some secrets, sometimes. Freed knows everything else about me, but sometimes I just need to get away and this is where I come. Great for relieving stress."
Lisanna watched him as he started to stretch, before making up her mind and sprinting forward and taking a leap.
Bickslow's heart nearly stopped when he turned around to see Lisanna halfway across his gymnast rings. She had done well, using momentum to swing herself one arm over the other as she made her way across the ravine, but she had slowed down far too much. At that speed she had no chance at making it to the other side. He watched almost in slow motion as she swung her left hand forward, and her fingers missed the ring by a few millimetres. She grasped at it for a second before she swung back, trying to hold back onto the ring above her own head but it was too late. The momentum was lost, and so was her grip. Bickslow started to run forward as her fingers slipped and she disappeared over the edge of the mountain, pouring all of his magic into overwriting all the autonomy that his babies had and forcing them to follow her down. He skidded to the edge of the chasm, looking down to see Lisanna starting to fly up, colourful feathers adorning both of her arms. He let out a shaky breath that he didn't know he was holding, before she chuckled nervously.
"I think I miscalculated that one…"
Bickslow sighed, rolling his eyes as he stripped out of his shirt and took a couple of steps backwards.
"I don't think so if you were aiming to give me a heart attack you were spot on. Now, get over that side and for fuck's sake wait for me this time."
Lisanna blushed as his babies crowded around her, and she realised Bickslow had probably sent them to keep her safe. She watched as he took a running jump at the obstacle, missing the first ring as he nearly flew across them. He took the metal rings two at a time, letting go of one and using the momentum to fling himself forward until he grabbed hold of the next one. He had landed next to her at the other side in seconds, dusting off his hands on his trousers before standing up and facing her.
"That's getting a little too easy. I may have to dismantle it, then again it might be useful for you to train on."
Lisanna's mouth gaped open again. Bickslow was being deadly serious, and he wanted her to carry on training with him. She kept staring at him as he moved onto the next obstacle, deciding to watch him first.
Bickslow stretched all of his limbs out before jumping down the next drop and forcing Lisanna to walk to the edge of the cliff. He had dropped down onto a thin pole that was jammed into the rock about seven feet below. He had already grasped onto it with both of his hands, and was swinging back and forth until he could pull his legs up and hook them over the pole, pulling himself up so he could sit up on top of it. As soon as he was stable he twisted his arms to the side, grabbing a hold of the pole and slowly but surely raising his body until he was in a handstand. His body didn't even shake as he held himself there, and Lisanna realised that despite the serious mood he was in earlier his natural penchant to entertain was shining through. The totems all left her side, going to hang in the air around him as a precaution.
Even slower than before he lowered his legs again, bending his back as he brought his feet up to meet his hands until he was bent in half backwards. It looked painful, and Lisanna couldn't imagine ever being able to do it. Now his feet were on the bar she could see that it was only a couple of inches across, and his feet overhung either side. With a wicked speed that was made even faster by the contrast to his previous leisurely pace he stood himself up to stretch his arms above his head, and turned around to look her in the eye before he bent his legs and bounded into the air, flipping over backwards before landing on his feet again with a lightness that didn't seem right for someone of his size. He stretched out again, pausing for a moment to wink at her before jumping into the air, flipping forwards to land on his hands and spinning around to walk across the rest of the pole on his hands.
It looked like he had given up with his acrobatics, until a few feet away from the end of the pole he listed to the side, allowing himself to fall until he was dangling underneath the pole again. He shimmied back along the pole for a while, before he pulled himself so his body was parallel to the pole, back to the ground as he held his arms fully extended. The amount of strength that must have been required was phenomenal, and Lisanna found herself enraptured by what he was doing. Finally he pulled his knees up to his chest, slipping them between the bar and his body and allowing them to fall down over his head, twisting both of his arms behind his back as he pointed his feet towards the ground. Lisanna could see the sweat starting to bead on his skin, and was glad that this was actually affecting him and he wasn't as untouchable as he portrayed himself to be. Before she could start to speak he pulled his body back up, allowing the metal to hit the back of his knees and hooking them over.
He tensed his abs, pulling himself so he could sit back up onto the pole and spinning around so he rested on top, repeating his first moves as he pushed up into a handstand again and bending backwards to put his feet back down and stand up straight again, shooting another wink at her.
Lisanna watched as Bickslow walked the last couple of inches back to solid land backwards, jumping and doing a final flip from the ground to top it off. She started to clap as he started to take a bow, all of the totems whistling as they congratulated him. Bickslow jumped onto Pappa and Peppe, drifting up to her level again and watching her in anticipation. Lisanna looked back in confusion, until it slowly dawned on her what he was expecting her to do.
"Do I have to do that whole thing?"
Bickslow chuckled, crossing his arms firmly over his chest as he watched her. He was still in one of the most serious moods she had ever seen him in, looking down at her with dark red eyes that weren't even slightly close to transforming. This was obviously his domain, and where he was most in control. He shook his head, flying closer to her and hovering behind her so he didn't need to shout.
"Nope, we'll start you off just running across the pole. That's hard enough as it is. It might be worth keeping your wings out, as well."
Lisanna nodded, spreading out her wings and stepping off the edge of the cliff to allow herself to float slowly down onto the pole below. The metal was cold against her feet, and she nearly jumped before she started to waver and held out her wings to try and get her balance again.
"Move. If you keep moving you keep your balance easier."
Lisanna nodded, taking a deep breath before she started to put one foot in front of the other. She wasn't scared of falling because of the height, her wings would catch her before her head had even passed the pole, but she was terrified of disappointing Bickslow. As soon as her left foot was steady she brought her right around, then her left again until she had built up speed. She was over at the other end of the pole within seconds, and Bickslow began to clap as he landed in front of her and turned to look at the next obstacle.
"You need momentum for this one too. You stop, and you're done. I usually take it straight from the balance bar, but I guess it isn't working like that today."
He walked backwards until his foot was in line with the edge of the cliff, and sprinted forward until he jumped and kicked out his feet until they slammed into either side of the sheer walls. He bounced from one leg to the other for a while, before he lost the momentum he was using after a few feet and had to reach out his arms to run with those too, moving like a spider as he gained height too. She watched until he got to the end, grabbing the edge of the tunnel and pulling himself up into it before he crushed himself incredibly small and wriggled inside, his totems following after.
Lisanna sighed, knowing that she didn't have a chance with this obstacle. This entire course was set up for Bickslow, and the walls were far too wide apart for her to make any headway with it. It looked like he had stopped watching her anyway, so she simply jumped into the air, flapping her wings so she could make it up to the tunnel, before transforming back into her human form so she could use her hands to hang from it freely. Taking a deep breath she pulled herself up, slipping herself into the tunnel and starting to use her legs to push her through it.
The weight of the walls started crushing down on her almost immediately. She had always hated small spaces, and she tried to take deep breaths to calm herself down but it wasn't working. It was a tight squeeze even for her, and she couldn't even begin to imagine how Bickslow managed to pull himself through it. The tunnel stretched for what seemed like miles in front of her, and even worse it wasn't even straight which prevented her from seeing the end. With no light streaming in from the other end, and her own body blocking any sunshine from behind her it was almost pitch black, and even with her cat eyes she could only just see where the tunnel bent upwards. She closed her eyes as she wriggled forward, pretending she was anywhere but there, and soon her fingers brushed the edge of the tunnel wall and she had to open her eyes to pull herself up. She expected to see at least a little light at the end of the tunnel, but was disappointed when it simply bent to the right.
She was completely hyperventilating by the time she had gone through three right turns, two left and down twice. At least this time she could see a small amount of light, even though it was still depressingly far off. She tried to bargain with herself. Just that little bit further, then she would be out. But it didn't work. Whether it was the lack of oxygen in the pipe, the amount of exercise she had been doing to pull herself through it or her mind simply telling her that she absolutely did not like it in here but she completely lost use of her arms as the black spots started to appear in her vision.