Slash pushed the light switch inward, causing the key pad to appear, and then put in the password. Suddenly three panels lifted up, revealing a steal elevator, perfectly capable of fitting in ten average sized humans. Why Slash wanted to put in such a big elevator she had no idea, but it was nice and roomy, so Lea didn't mind. As the elevator began to ascend, she was able to see some of the soil and dirt that was visible through the tunnel. It was a heck of a long ride, almost two miles straight down, and she was bored, so she just started to stare off into space. Soon the underground base was visible, and Slash almost started hoping when he spotted the training area; he was apparently happy about not being the runner. "That's just because he can't run…" Lea thought, giving an exasperated sigh. Although Lea didn't much care whether she was the runner or not, after all she was the speed half of the duo, it was cool to be something else every so often… "Oh well," she thought "at least it's better than throwing bombs and crap around like a stupid robots… Hm…speaking of which, why didn't Slash use his robots for the obstacle courses….?
"Yo Lea, let's go!" She was pushed out of her thoughts by Slash's annoying voice. As they passed by Slash's lab, she glanced at a heap of robot parts and mechanisms. That was why: none of his robots really worked. At least the ones she was aware of…
"C'mon Lea, are you trying to keep me from beating you or what; time to train!" Lea growled, but gave no objection. Although Slash's showoffy-ness made training a bit tiring at times, Lea personally enjoyed training; solo or otherwise. When you had obstacles like a twenty foot drop, a lake, bombs, sparing, and even a wall of fire, it was kinda hard to get bored.
"Okaaaaay," Slash almost was singing, "so you want the easy whipping or hard?" He smirked, she hated when he was all cocky like that.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure that I can manage." Lea said, waving him off dismissingly. Why did he have to be stupid like that? She already had enough trouble even getting through the training; let alone passing it with flying colors. "Oh well," she thought as she walked towards the towering metal doors. "At least I'm getting my exercise…" She laughed at herself sarcastically as the enormous steal doors flung open, revealing not only the huge arena of concrete and paved loops, turns, twists, obstacles, and sheer drops, but also her brother holding a huge bag of explosives and what have you.
"Let's begin." He mused, and with all the gusto he could muster, Slash started sprinting down the mile-long path that lay before them. Lea sighed; she hated giving Slash these stupid head starts… But he wasn't half as fast as she was…after all; he spent most of his time with his butt on a chair, staring at a computer. (Plus, he was wearing steal cleated boots, which didn't help. She was surprised his feet didn't catch on fire with all that steal on steal…) She laughed at the irony; despite all those stupid, bulgy muscles he had everywhere, it still didn't help him at all when it came to running…. She took a glance at her timer… "Carp, I'm late!" Once again, in thought, she lost track of time. She sprinted as fast as she could down the semi-paved road. She was sprinting faster and faster, to the point she couldn't even see her own legs, which was pretty cool. It was the first loop; she hated the loops, but it was a way to get her balance.
She began to feel her stomach turn as she ran the fifteen foot loop; it wasn't a very nice feeling, but she had gotten used to it for the most part. First was the tallest, then they got smaller, and smaller until they were minuscule, but still big enough to make you sick. Now it was time for the downhill slopes, which she loved, and hated at the same time. Because it was here, that her idiotic brother did his little, "try to blow up the runner" routine.
And of course, right on schedule, Slash showed up with his little bag of goodies. Even more annoying, she couldn't outrun him because at this point he turned on his jet-shoes; enabling him to out maneuver her. As she gained speed, Slash hovered circles around her, throwing plasma grenades to normal dynamite. She leaned into the wind, and curved her torso so that she could be one step ahead of the bombs. One was right on her left; she jumped and narrowly missed it. Even though it probably wasn't "sportsman-like" both Lea and Slash would always take little shots at each other; getting in a punch in here, and a kick there. After a little bit of fun, Lea remembered there was gonna be a huge wall coming up and she knew she couldn't make it…. As she thought, the ten foot, concrete wall suddenly appeared, blocking off all passage by…. But she could never make the mark in front of her…so….she just had to settle with the one behind her, she thought, glancing back at Slash. Slash looked at his bag to grab another bomb; now was her chance. Lea jumped, opening her arms so that she slowed extremely fast.
Slash was trying to find the perfect bomb to get Lea good.He searched through the bag while he flew on his jet shoes; it was pretty hard because at the speed they were going, the wind was almost ripping the bag out of his hands. He glanced over to Lea, to see how far up she was, and then suddenly there was a foot in his face! "GAAH!" Slash grunted as Lea kicked herself off his face. Slash, his mouth agape, witnessed Lea's white form go into the air, doing a few summersaults on the way, and actually going over the wall! "Way to Lee...! But that won't save you from me..." A dark smile came over Slash's face, as he shifted his eyes toward a metal panel in the wall. He pushed a button on the cuff of his finger glove, and entered a dark hallway. "Oh hey, that rhymes!" Slash laughed in his mind as he went through the dark corridor.
Lea was laughing so hard she could barley run. "Man I wish I'd had a camera back there! Slash's expression was hilarious!" She thought triumphantly; she always had to climb over that stupid wall before, until now! She ran past the corridors of steal poles, dark tunnels, and ray guns that she easily dodged. Suddenly the road cut off almost ten feet away from her, showing a perfect straight edge. Skreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! She was trying to stop so hard that her feet felt like they were on fire! She was sure she'd fall! Then…slowly….silently…. she came to a halt.
"Phew…" She breathed, whipping some sweat off her brow. "That was close." She smiled, and casually walked toward the edge. She studied it as if it was some sort of amazing device she had never seen before. Then, leaning over the edge, gave a summersault and was plummeting toward the ground. Her heart began to race; it always did when she first started to plunge.
It was about twelve stories before she would reach the ground, so she decided to enjoy the feeling for a while. As she plummeted, her hair began to twist around violently. (She was lucky she had it in a pony-tail, otherwise it probably would have poked her eyes out.) She spread out her arms and legs once more, letting herself get carried by the wind; it felt like she was flying. Three fourths of the way down, she spotted her little "obstacles" and knew it was time to really fly. She pressed a square that was on what looked like sheet metal on her shoulder, and suddenly it covered her entire upper body. The metal became sturdier, and then a pair of handles sprang out of the sides, while two jet boosters sprang out of the back. Leaning forward in a sort of Superman position, she grabbed onto the handles and then, bushing forward on them, the rockets ignited, and accelerated.
Fire began to spew from large cavities in the walls; she jerked the controls forward and narrowly escaped getting charred. Suddenly huge stone columns began to emerge, black the way, and then retreat to their holes. Lea shot forward as one began to appear, but then another came out faster and knocked her backwards. She spun rapidly around, but then steadying herself and regaining her composure, kept on forward. It took her about five minutes of aerial maneuvers before reaching the bottom of the "cliff," but her many training sessions made her almost a veteran at things like this. Upon landing, she was face to face with another huge, twelve foot steal door that swung open at her approach. This time, of the usual ring that held her brother's over-masculine figure, was replaced with darkness. Though she never trusted darkness, she knew that her brother would never put in something that could really hurt her… Even with her small amount of self assurance, she stepped cautiously into the ill-lit room. Suddenly, thousand upon thousands of lights flashed on, almost blinding Lea in the process. It was a huge metal arena, filled to the brim with….doors? "Well this is new…" She laughed to herself.
A dark corridor began to open, then another…then another; she did not have a good feeling about this.