(A/N: Hey, guys! It's good to be back with another chapter for all of you.
I wouldn't expect this to be too long (meaning 2,000-3,000 words most likely), since this will only be very basic training. By "very basic", I mean just a couple of exercises, nothing like what trainee Plumbers have to do. The reason for that is because she's not yet enlisted and she's only really going through with it to improve her health.
Anyway, those are all of the spoilers I'm giving you. (Although if I'm being honest, I pretty much just gave you the synopsis for this chapter.) Please enjoy your time reading this new chapter!)
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A week could not pass quicker for Layla as she eagerly waited for her training to start. As excited as she was, she was also slightly nervous about it as well.
She had no idea what to expect, if she would be starting off easy or difficult. She did have a feeling that it would likely be easy at the request of Patelliday. However, there was this feeling that it may not be because she was his daughter.
She didn't know what kind of training she would be expected to do. It could be physical training or something to do with her powers, or possibly even both.
She hardly slept at night with the day approaching, especially after she got an exact date and time of when it would happen from Patelliday only a couple of days after he told her about it. There were times where she thought she hadn't slept at all the entire night.
On the day her training was to begin, she woke up early, as early as her adoptive father usually got ready for duty. He told her that she would have to because her new trainer had their own duties to attend to later in the day.
She had taken a shower the night before, so she got ready as soon as she was fully awake. There were no specific clothes she was asked to put on, she just decided to wear her usual shirt and plaid jacket.
There was a knock at her door and she heard Patelliday ask her, "Are you ready yet?"
"I just need to put on my shoes and brush my teeth," she responded.
She sat on her bed and slipped her feet into her shoes. She tied her laces and went into her bathroom to quickly brush her teeth.
Now that she was done and ready to go, she opened her door. Patelliday was finishing getting ready himself, he was mostly done, all he had to do was put a couple of items inside of the pockets of his utility belt.
He saw her standing in his room as her door closed, "Oh, ready? You're pretty quick. You must be really excited about this."
She felt slightly embarrassed, "Well, uh, I just don't want to be late."
He smiled and laughed, "Spoken like a real Plumber."
"Um, if I'm being honest, I'm a little nervous about this," she admitted.
"I bet you are," he commented, finally putting on his utility belt. "I know I was when I first started my basic training."
"You did it with a team, right?" she asked.
"Yes, with a platoon actually," he replied. "It was one of the hardest times of my life. I almost considered dropping out and leaving the Plumbers completely."
"Really? How did you do it?" she asked him again, her nervousness rising once more.
"I just kept telling myself, 'You have to keep going. You can do it.' And it paid off, I made it through and I'm high up in the ranks," he smiled.
She smiled back at him and his motivational words. If he could get through his basic training and achieve his current position, then there was a chance she could too.
"Alright, I'm ready, let's get going," he told her.
They left their quarters, but not before he made sure to activate the lock feature since they would be gone for at least a couple of hours. He led her through the halls and corridors to a large room with some kind of flat, circular training arena in the center.
She looked around the room, which she thought was empty at first, and saw a young man looking at his gauntlet. She recognized him as the officer she helped over half a week ago.
She didn't get a decent look at him at the time and now she could see he was amphibious, similar to Patelliday, just a different species. He had purple scales, pink fins with blue tips that ran along his jawline and another down the back of his neck. His eyes were similar to Bai-Obi's, only much smaller. He wore a standard Plumber uniform that was almost the same as Patelliday's, except his legs were covered in armor.
As soon as the doors closed, he stopped looking at his gauntlet and walked up to them. He offered his hand to her with a small yet polite smile, "Hello. You must be Miss Layla. Magister Patelliday told me about you and your goals. My name is Ceto. I apologize that we were unable to meet sooner, I would have appreciated it if I could thank you for saving me in person."
"It's… not a problem," she replied.
She was slightly wary towards him, despite his talkative, friendly nature. She thought she could trust Bai-Obi because he was polite and willing to talk to her, but he only volunteered for the task to bring her food in order to get closer to her father. All he wanted was a quick way to rise through the ranks. At least, that was what she believed.
"Sorry, it's been a little rough for her and she's a bit shy around new people," Patelliday explained.
He nodded, "Right. I heard what happened with that recruit." He looked at her with a reassuring and proud look on his face, "You did the right thing. He doesn't deserve to become a Plumber, not the way he was trying to."
She smiled slightly, feeling a bit more comfortable, "Thank you."
"My duty starts in a few minutes, but before I go, I have something for you, Layla," her adoptive father told her. He opened a pouch on his utility belt and took out a device about the size of a watch, except instead of a clock face there was a small blue lens with an equally small button on the side. He dropped it into her hands, "Here you go. Put it on your wrist."
"What is it?" she asked.
"A communication device," he answered. "When you're done or if you need me, all you need to do is press the button and I'll answer."
She put it on her wrist, like he told her to, and pressed the small button to test it. The lens on the device lit up and a sound came from Patelliday's gauntlet immediately following.
He turned off the sound, "See? Now, don't be afraid to use that if you need to, okay? I have to get goin' now."
She gave him a hug before he left, "Bye."
He left the large room, leaving only her and Ceto inside. Although she had the device on her wrist, it didn't mean she was entirely comfortable alone with someone who was practically a stranger. He could have been the same as Bai-Obi, if not worse than him, but if her father trusted him, she could try to relax.
"S- So what are we doing f- first?" she asked him shakily.
"For now, we're just going to do some basic leg exercises," he replied. "Magister Patelliday told me you're underweight and lacking muscular growth."
He showed her a small, flat remote he was holding in his hand and suddenly a squared section of the training arena elevated and started to move. It stopped moving and he offered her his hand, which she took with some hesitation, helping her step onto it.
"This is similar to the treadmills on Earth, all you have to do is walk or run on it," he told her. "You can just walk for now." He gave her the remote and showed her the functions of the machine, "These buttons set the speed of the platform you're standing on. The top button makes it go faster, the bottom one slows it down."
She nodded, understanding, "Okay."
She set it to a low speed and it started to move underneath her feet. It startled her at first, but as soon as she began to walk on it she got used to the movement.
"Since we have an hour or two, is it alright if I ask you some questions?" he asked her.
"Um, sure," she responded. "Would it be okay if I asked you some too?"
He smiled, "Of course. I know you lived on Earth before here, can you tell me who you lived with or where?"
"I lived in a circus, but I don't like to think about it too much. Before this, I was living in a mobile home with a family, the Tennysons," she replied.
"The Tennysons?" he repeated. "As in Max Tennyson? He's a very famous Plumber."
"Really?" she asked curiously. "I didn't know that."
He nodded with a smile, "Yes, he was one of the first human Plumbers and the first to achieve the rank of Magister."
"That's cool. Where are you from?" she questioned.
"The planet I come from is called Netupen. It's almost entirely a vast ocean with little land masses far apart from each other," he explained. "It is in this galaxy, but not this star system. I believe the star my planet orbits is known as Sirius A on Earth. Do you have a favorite food on Earth?"
She thought about it for a little while, "I ate the same food for most of my life and none of it was really any good. I don't think I really have a particular favorite to be honest."
"Alright, I suppose I can understand that," he commented.
"I know this is a little personal, but do you have a family on your home planet?" she inquired. She then started to become slightly embarrassed by the question, "I- I mean, I'm just a little curious because I only have one family member."
"No, no, I promise, it's fine," he assured her with a smile, chuckling lightly. "I have a fairly large family, I would say. I have my parents and siblings and their children, uncles, aunts, cousins. I am the youngest of my siblings."
She frowned slightly, "I don't know anything about my family, my real family. I don't know if I have any siblings or anything."
He wore a sympathetic frown, "Oh. Maybe one day you will learn who they are. You should not doubt the possibility of meeting your relatives one day."
His words made her smile, "I hope it'll happen someday."
They continued to talk through the duration of their time together. When the time was over, she used the communication device to contact Patelliday. Ceto waited with her until he arrived to make sure that she was safe.
"When will we be able to do this again?" she asked while they waited.
"Hopefully in a couple of days," he answered. "Unfortunately, I have my duties to attend to, mine simply begin later in the day than others. In other words, it might be a week or more before we will meet again."
She was disappointed when she heard that, she enjoyed the time they spent together. It was not every day she had the opportunity to talk to someone for so long.
He was very open and didn't hesitate to answer her questions, although he was unable to give her too many responses regarding the Plumbers, despite being an officer. Apparently, it had less to do with the actual questions and more with her status as a civilian, he would be violating a few codes if he said too much. She understood why when he explained it to her and respected the privacy and policies. Whenever it was something he could say openly, it was a great conversation.
She had been on the treadmill-like machine at its lowest speed the entire time, just to get used to it. At one point, she did consider making it faster, but that never happened because she was enveloped in their conversation. Even though she doubted she made any progress, talking to him caused her to forget the reason for the session.
The sliding doors opened and Patelliday walked inside, "Are you ready to go, Layla?"
She nodded, "Yep, I'm ready."
"Be sure to tell me when you're able to do this again," he told Ceto.
"Affirmative," he replied with a nod.
As Layla and Patelliday walked to their quarters after leaving the training room, he asked her, "How was it? Are your muscles tired yet?"
She laughed, "Not yet. We just talked the whole time while I was walking on this machine."
"It has to be better than bein' bored all day," he remarked jokingly.
"Yeah, I guess it was," she smiled.
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(A/N: Yes, I know it's yet another short chapter, but I did say that you should expect it to be within the 2,000 word range. I'm sorry if it's not too good, but in my defense this was a last minute decision, I have a lot on my mind, and my allergies are giving me too many problems.
Just so you know, Ceto is not Layla's future husband. I've said this before and I'll say it again, her husband is not an OC! He is a character from the cartoon. I can't be any more clear about this.
I'm gonna end this chapter here because I'm exhausted. See you whenever I can come around!)