Time For Training
"All right! Move it out! Move it! Move it!" Roadblock shouted as the kids went through the obstacle course. "Come on get the lead out!" He and Beach Head were supervising the students. They had just finished some exercises and now they were getting down to the main training.
The X-Men, Todd and Althea were on the obstacle course, which seemed pretty basic with swinging logs and tires. Not as fancy as the Danger Room, but it did have it's surprises. The triplets were doing other exercises not that far away. Leading the pack to everyone's surprise was Scott, Althea and Todd. The others were straggling behind. The others were moving behind at a slower pace. Mainly because of the mud they had to run through.
"Yuck! This is disgusting!" Kitty grumbled, as they had to crawl under a short stack of barbed wire.
"My uniform is already filthy!" Jean groaned.
"What's the matter Red?" Althea sneered. "Afraid of a little mud?"
"Less talking! More working!" Roadblock shouted. "Move it! Keep going! We are gonna do this until you all get it right! About five or six times ought to do it!"
Actually it was more like seven. They all finished covered with mud and dirt. "Look at this!" Jubilee groaned.
"Look at the bright side," Todd quipped. "You're getting a mud treatment for free. Most people have to pay hundreds of bucks for them."
"Hey maybe you're content to wallow in the mud you pig," Jubilee snapped. "But we're not!"
"Yeah our uniforms weren't made for this type of stuff!" Bobby snapped.
"My fur is going to take forever to clean," Kurt groaned.
"I have never heard of such a bunch of prima donnas in all my life!" Althea snapped.
"Yeah you think you're to good to do this?" Todd snapped.
"All right! Shut up!" Beach Head snapped. "Unless you all wanna do that again five more times?"
"He's right," Roadblock said. "No one got hurt because of a little dirt. Now let's take a little walk over to the training grounds shall we?"
"They should be running," Beach Head snapped.
"Don't worry Beach Head they will be," Roadblock told him. "It's only a few feet away anyway."
The students looked at all the tanks and vehicles as they made their way to the training area. "Hey can we learn how to drive a tank?" Bobby asked.
"Are you nuts?" Beach Head snapped. "These are highly sophisticated pieces of government machinery! Not to mention classified! What do you think we just let anybody drive them?"
"Hey Beach Head!" Bazooka called out as he drove by in one. "Where are the breaks on this thing? Maybe this one?"
Immediately a missile launched and blew up a pile of crates. "Oopsie," He said. "Sorry about that! Out of the way!"
CRASH!
"Okay I know that's not good," Bazooka said.
Beach Head stared at the insanity before him. "Is this afternoon good for you?" He asked Bobby.
"All right pipe down!" Roadblock shouted. Standing next to him was Jinx and a black man wearing sunglasses and carrying a cane. "Here comes phase number two! You'll all be a lot stronger when we're through with you! This here is the man with the plan. We call him the Blind Master!"
"Why do you call him that?" Evan asked.
"Because he's a blind ninja master, duh!" Todd snapped.
"All right!" Roadblock snapped. "This man will teach you how to fight."
"That's true," The Blind Master smiled. "Now the first thing to do now that you're all warmed up is get to the real exercise. You are all going to run a mile. That's four laps around this track."
"Well that ought to be a piece of cake," Bobby snapped.
"I haven't finished," Blind Master said. "You'll all be running while wearing these," He held up some weights. "Jinx, help strap them to their arms and legs."
"Man how much do these things weigh?" Evan groaned.
"Only ten pounds each," Jinx said.
"That's forty pounds!" Kitty snapped.
"Very good! You can add," Roadblock quipped.
"A mile with these on us?" Rahnee yelped.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Kurt groaned. "I can't even lift my arms!"
"You get used to them," Todd explained. "Of course Althea and I don't get those!"
"That's not fair!" Jubilee snapped.
"We get the heavier weights you moron," Althea snapped. "That fair enough for you?"
"How much are their weights?" Kurt asked.
"Fifteen for Wavedancer's," Jinx said. "Toad has fifteen on his arms and twenty on each of his legs."
"It's cause my legs are stronger," Todd explained. "Of course the Triplets only get five pounds, cause they're still pretty young."
"Now hustle," The Blind Master told them. "GO! GO! GO!"
"This is torture!" Evan whined. "I'm a city kid! They don't do training like this in the real army!"
"No this is a special program put together just for us," Althea told him, running by him easily. Soon Todd, Althea and the Triplets were ahead of the pack. Of course Todd was hopping more than running.
"Does Toad even know how to run?" Kurt snapped. "I've never seen him run! Have you?"
"It's just the way I move!" Todd snapped over his shoulder. "I can't help it!"
"You can't help it if they're weak," Althea teased.
"Okay that's it!" Scott shouted. "Let's get them!" He and the others put on a burst of extra speed, but to no avail. After the mile was over they collapsed in one big heap on the ground. "Okay. New plan. We'll get them later."
"Good idea," Jubilee groaned. "As soon as I get some feeling in my body again."
"Not bad," Roadblock said. "Good hustle. Next time I want to see you all go faster."
"Faster?" Bobby moaned.
"I don't even know if I'll be able to crawl again let alone run," Rahnee moaned.
"Okay take five," The Blind Master said. "You've earned it."
"Five years," Evan groaned. "Yeah right. That's fine."
Todd chuckled. "Hey I'm a bit tired too, but otherwise I'm fine. Boy you guys really are weak are you?"
"Toad remind me to punch your lights out as soon as I get some feeling in my arms back," Scott snapped. "If I ever get any feeling in my arms again."
"That's enough you two," Jinx gave him some water and helped him remove the weights. "Now drink up and rehydrate."
"Oh this is so good!" Kitty sighed. They rested and drank for a while.
"All right!" The Blind Master said. "Break time's over! Now the real training begins!"
"Oh goody," Kurt stood up wobbly. "I can hardly wait."
They went into a building that served as the Joes' fighting area. "All right, here I am going to be judging your fighting skills," The Blind Master told them.
"How can he judge our skills if he can't even see us?" Bobby whispered to Evan.
"I have excellent hearing Iceman," The Blind Master said. Bobby blushed with embarrassment. "Plus I can sense several things that you cannot. And Jinx will be watching what's going on."
"Finally some action," Bobby rubbed his hands together.
"It's time we show what we X-Men are made of!" Remy said.
"Yeah and show some people that they don't need smoke bombs and tricks to fight," Jean glared at Althea.
"You want another black eye Jean?" Althea snapped.
"Fine," The Blind Master said. "Let's see how well you fight in hand to hand combat. Jean…Wavedancer, you two are up first."
"With pleasure," Jean growled. They both got into the ring. "I'll try to go easy on you."
"Now remember," Jinx called out. "No powers. Just skill."
"Not a problem," Althea glared at Jean.
"I'm ready," Jean said.
"Go!" Jinx called out.
Jean grabbed Althea. "Don't feel too bad when you lose," Jean said. "I've been trained by Logan for the past year."
"Oh really? I've been trained by ninjas ever since I could walk!" Althea smiled before she threw Jean down. A few punches made sure she stayed down.
"Next!" Althea crowed.
"Okay Gambit, your turn!" Jinx said. Logan had come in during the first fight.
"Not bad," Remy nodded at Althea. "Now let's see how you do against a master thief! HA!" He leapt forward and flipped over her.
However Althea knew that maneuver as well and before Remy could react her foot found his jaw. He went down quickly. "Pretty well actually," Althea smirked. "Next victim!"
"Remy!" Rogue went into the ring and helped him up. "Are you okay?"
"Yes Grandmere," Remy said in a dazed voice. "I am eating all my vegetables."
"Hey uh, maybe you ought to rethink that rule about not letting the X-Geeks use their powers," Todd snickered.
"Maybe you ought to just shut up!" Scott snapped as he stepped into the ring. Two seconds later he was flat on his back thanks to a punch.
"You were saying?" Todd snickered.
"Who's next?" Jinx asked.
"Are you kidding?" Evan blanched.
"No way I'm going in there!" Rogue said.
"Yeah we know when we're outclassed," Rahnee grumbled.
"Nice to hear you finally admit it," Todd sneered.
"Hey I'll go against you any day Tolensky!" Evan snapped.
"Bring it on Daniels!" Todd snarled.
"That's enough! I'll fight her!"
They all looked over. "You Mr. Logan?" Kitty blinked.
"All right!" Althea grinned. "Finally a real challenge!"
"Okay let's see how well you do with me," Logan smirked. "Time to go to school little girl."
"I'm always ready for an education," Althea smiled. Soon the two were going at it.
"Whoa," Rogue blinked. "She is good. She actually hit him a couple of times."
"Yeah but Mr. Logan's way faster!" Kitty said in awe. "Go Wolverine!"
Although Althea put up a furious fight, Logan was obviously the superior fighter. Soon Althea was knocked down on her butt. "YES!" The X-Men cheered.
"Hey," Logan held out a hand to help her up. "No hard feelings kid?"
"Are you kidding?" Althea got up. "That was the best training I had in a long time! Now I have to work twice as hard if I'm gonna beat you someday!"
"Now that's the attitude I like," Logan smirked. "Hey Jinx can I see you for a sec?" They walked to the door. "Are they looking now"
"No why?" She asked.
"Good," Logan then winced. "Ow…"
"She hurt you huh?" Jinx looked at him.
"Yeah," He grimaced. "Nothing serious. But let's just say if we have a rematch a few years from now…I'm not so sure of my chances."
"Okay now let's see how the rest of you fight," Blind Master told them. "Let's see, Shadowcat you and Wolfsbane are paired up first, then Spyke and Nightcrawler, followed by Rogue and Jubilee and finally Iceman and Toad."
"This is gonna be good," Bobby snickered.
"You got that right," Todd glared.
"Careful Iceman," Scott said. "Even without using his powers, Toad's pretty strong. Watch out for his legs!"
"Ha!" Got into the ring. "Don't worry! This will be a piece of cake!"
THUD!
Bobby had hit the floor in three seconds. "You got that right," Todd snickered.
"I told you to watch out for his legs," Scott groaned.
The other students did pretty well against each other. Rogue, Kitty and Kurt won their matches. "Not bad for the first day," The Blind Master told them. "All right, now that I know what you all are capable of or in some cases not capable of, we can start your training in earnest. Tomorrow I'll split you up into groups for training. That's all for today!"
"Good," Kitty slumped against the wall and slid down to the floor. "Because I am like totally exhausted.
"Me too," Kurt groaned.
"Man that was fun," Althea said.
"Toad you have one sick twisted girlfriend," Remy groaned.
"Hey it's not my fault you guys can't fight," Althea pointed out.
"Oh yeah," Kitty snapped. "Well you didn't do that great against Mr. Logan Miss Ninja!"
"Oh?" Todd looked at them. "And what's the longest any of you have lasted against him? Two? Three minutes tops?"
"Point taken," Kitty grumbled. "Do we rest now?"
"No," Althea said. "Now we get cleaned up and go to class."
"Hallelujah," Remy groaned. "I never thought I'd ever be happy to go to class!"
Soon they showered and cleaned up. To their surprise there was more.
"This feels like heaven," Kurt sighed as he was massaged. Roadblock and the Blind Master were massaging them. They had been able to get cleaned up first and got the first treatments. Kurt had never had a real massage before. The Blind Master's hands were strong and adept at removing the pain and tension from his sore muscles. "I could almost go to sleep right now."
"Told you this wasn't so bad," Todd told him.
"You get this every day?" Kurt sighed. "This does make it worthwhile."
"It's a special program," Roadblock explained. "Part army, part ninja training, part our own program. The results have been very promising with Todd and Althea."
"Jinx and Bree our nurse are doing the girls," Roadblock told them.
Suddenly a loud scream could be heard. "What the heck?" Roadblock blinked. "They're not that bad at this!"
"WAVEDANCER!" Jean's voice shouted.
"Oh no," Roadblock groaned.
Althea walked in. "Gee what's her problem?"
"Althea!" Todd whined, trying to cover himself even more with an extra towel.
"You know you ain't supposed to be here!" Roadblock snapped.
"Oh for crying out loud they're not totally naked," Althea waved. "Besides its not like I haven't seen my Toddles before!"
"Toddles?" Kurt blinked.
"Althea not my pet name," Todd hid his face in his hands. "You promised not to do that in front of people!"
"WHERE IS SHE?" Jean stormed in wearing a bathrobe, still wet.
"Why don't you just come on in Jean?" Kurt grumbled.
"You changed the water temperature in my shower didn't you?" Jean snapped at Althea.
"I did no such thing!" Althea snapped. "I can't control the temperature of the water using my powers! You probably had a defective showerhead or something! Don't blame me for your bad luck!"
"Its true," Roadblock sighed. "She doesn't do that Jean. NOW GET OUT OF HERE!"
"Touchy, touchy," Althea muttered as they were ushered out. Althea waited for Todd to come out. "So how did you do it?"
"Do what?" Althea smiled innocently. "I did nothing."
"I told you it would work," Daria came out with a small device in her hands. "Just a little turn of this dial and voila! Instant insanity!" She turned the dial again. Several more screams could be heard.
"Very clever," Todd smiled.
"Well I did tell the truth," Althea smirked. "I didn't do it."
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Not long after Hawk found Roadblock relaxing in the rec. room.
"Well how are they doing Roadblock?" Hawk asked. "I know Day One was a disaster so there has got to be some improvements today."
"So far so good," Roadblock sighed. "I mean the kids haven't killed each other yet today. Maybe they got it all out of their systems yesterday?"
"I hope so," Falcon sighed.
"Where are they now?" Hawk asked.
"Well they're now at class," Roadblock sighed. "Just the basic History, English and Math today."
"Who did you get to teach them?" Hawk asked. "Jinx? Gung Ho? Bazooka?"
"Nope," Roadblock grinned.
"Then who?" Hawk asked.
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"All right everybody put your pencils down!" Beach Head snapped. "Why do I let people talk me into these things?"
"Because you have such a kind and gentle heart," Althea snickered.
"Very funny," Beach Head grumbled. "Okay who wants to read their stupid essay first?"
"Me!" Todd rose his hand enthusiastically. He was the only one.
"Anybody?" Beach Head looked around. "How about you Jean?"
"Well my essay is entitled 'Hope for Peace'," Jean started.
"Oh god forget I said that!" Beach Head groaned. "Anybody else?"
"Ooh! Ooh!" Todd rose his hand and nearly jumped out of his seat. "Pick me! Pick me!"
"All right how about you Spyke?" Beach Head asked.
"Mine's titled '101 Reasons Why I Hate It Here'," Evan said. "Number one, living with Toad!"
"Lists are not essays Spyke!" Beach Head snapped. "They don't count."
"Well they should," Evan grumbled.
"Does any one of you have an actual essay with a halfway decent topic?" Beach Head looked around, ignoring Todd. "How about you Shadowcat?"
"What am I invisible?" Todd snapped.
"Mine's entitled 'Heartbreak'," Kitty said.
"Oh no!" Rogue groaned. "It's another long rant about Avalanche, her insane boyfriend!"
"Ex-boyfriend!" Kitty snapped. "The fact that he ran off and left me puts him in that category!"
"Well he didn't exactly have much of a choice you know," Todd spoke up.
"Are you defending him?" Kitty snapped.
"No I just…" Todd started.
"Never mind!" Beach Head snarled. "Anyone else have an essay? Please? Oh all right Toad you might as well read yours."
"Ahem," Todd stood up and cleared his throat. "Mine is titled, 'Why the American Army is the Greatest in the World.'"
"Oh for crying out loud!" Jean snapped.
"Shut up Jean!" Beach Head snapped. "Finally one of you has a decent topic. Go ahead Toad."
"Why is the American Army so great?" Todd read. "Because it is filled with dedicated men and women who give their lives every day for this country! Especially the Rangers who are the toughest of them all. What makes them so wonderful? The first thing is…"
"You're not actually buying this are you?" Jean snapped.
"Jean one more outburst like that and it's detention!" Beach Head snapped. "Forget reading it Toad, these people are obviously unappreciative of such fine material. You get a gold star!"
"Teacher's pet," Jean sneered. Todd stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry.
"It's not his fault he knows his audience," Althea pointed out.
"Just when I thought school could not be any worse," Remy groaned.
"Hey you could all learn a thing or two from Toad!" Beach Head said. "Did I just really say that?"
"Learn what? How to be annoying?" Kurt snapped.
"Or stink up the place?" Evan joined in.
"Or cause trouble?" Bobby snapped.
"I think you guys know that lesson pretty well," Todd snapped. "You ain't exactly perfect either you know! Remember the time you guys experimented with Fuzzy's teleportation powers and let loose those Jurassic Park wannabes at the dance?"
"Yeah at least we never stole from anybody!" Kurt snapped.
"I did that to survive!" Todd's face flushed. "And I don't take money anymore!"
"Interesting choice of words," Beach Head grumbled.
"Well what were you doing when you and the Brotherhood trashed the soccer game?" Bobby snapped.
"Hey! Well as long as we're dredging up the past, I never took joyrides in the X-Jet!" Todd snapped.
"No just the spaceship!" Beach Head said.
"WHAT?" Evan and Bobby said at the same time.
"What's this about a spaceship?" Jubilee asked.
"Uh nothing," Todd said. "It's classified!"
"Oh you might as well tell them!" Beach Head snapped. "We have a spaceship hidden on the base. A ways back these two took it out on joyride!" He pointed to Todd and Althea.
"This spaceship wouldn't happen to be a silver would it?" Evan growled.
"Well now that you mention it, yeah," Beach Head said. "Why?"
"Uh oh," Todd gulped.
"That was you?" Bobby screamed.
"You mean to tell me you guys are the ones responsible for nearly knocking them into a mountain?" Scott shouted.
"You guys nearly killed us!" Evan snapped.
"We were nearly pancake!" Rahnee growled.
"It ain't our fault you guys are such bad drivers!" Althea snapped.
"That was not the right thing to say," Todd gulped as the X-Men started getting ready for a fight.
"I wonder how the kids are doing?" Roadblock asked aloud. He and Falcon were walking the hallways towards the classroom.
BOOOM!
"Does that answer your question?" Falcon said as they raced down the hall.
"What in the…?" Roadblock ran in the classroom and saw all the kids going at it like crazy. "Not again! STOP IT! STOP IT!"
Beach Head crawled out from under the fighting students. "Beach Head what happened?" Falcon asked.
"Mommy?" Beach Head moaned and passed out.
"So much for starting over," Roadblock moaned.
