Disclaimer: I own nothing, nada, zip. Blaze owns me
Scene 02
The training Wolverine and Blaze had planned for Gambit was organised to build up over a succession of weeks. They started on the first day with a 'light' jog around the grounds. Through the trees and over the grass they ran, feet thudding in perfect rhythm, arms pumping by their sides. The three of them all wore grey and white training gear, and Blaze had her long hair tied back in a ponytail. She and Logan flanked Gambit so he had to keep up with them, even when sweat dripped from him and his body ached from exertion. Finally he had to stop, holding his hands up in submission. Blaze and Logan didn't even look back in sympathy. They carried on their run to the end of the circuit, with Gambit trailing after them at a limp walk.
Another day in the gym, Logan got Gambit racing Blaze on the rowing machines. Forward and back, the repetition of movement extended and contracted their arm and leg muscles. Gambit grimaced, sweat getting into his eyes despite the sweatband he'd tied around his brow after the disaster of the jog. Blaze was trouncing him and Logan standing over them both calling out "Stroke," whenever he wanted them to pull backwards wasn't helping. Gambit glanced over at Blaze's console, trying to work out how far ahead of him she was. The action unbalanced him and he fell crashing out of his seat, losing the handle as it pinged back to the machine. Blaze burst out laughing, whilst Logan chuckled, "Trust you to capsize the damn thing, Gumbo…"
Down in the Danger Room, Logan stood with a stopwatch at the end of a set of monkey bars. Gambit and Blaze were at the start line, ready to jump up and swing their way across the room. Gambit rubbed his hands against his trouser legs, drying his palms. He'd beat her this time just to prove he wasn't a complete imbecile. Logan raised and dropped his arm to signal the start of the clock. Before Gambit had even registered it Blaze had leapt the distance, which was considerably more for the pint-sized girl than it was for the Cajun, and was attacking the bars. Swinging her body backwards and forwards, she built her momentum to make the transfer from bar to bar as easy as pie.
Gambit grimaced and made a leap of faith. He was just over halfway across when Blaze reached Logan. She turned upside down, looped her knees over the last bar and hung by her legs as she took the stopwatch off him. She pursed her lips, nodding at her own time, then looked back up to watch Gambit make his final surge for the finish. He had to ask her how he had done. "Well, at least you finished this time," Blaze offered encouragingly, dropping the stopwatch back to Logan, who pocketed it without sharing the time with Gambit.
Out in the grounds, the three X-Men had changed into ju-jitsu gee, the white kit of martial arts practitioners. Logan led them through a sequence of moves, called a kata. Fists punched the air and kicks surged against an unseen enemy, as all three concentrated absolutely on the synergy of body and mind. Controlling his breathing, Gambit found his muscles start to respond better to what he asked them to do. He didn't ache so much, and he even started to hope that his old strength might be returning. Time to up the stakes a little, and take matters into his own hands.
He completed the circuit of the grounds and rowed practically half way around the world, both before Logan or Blaze had even gotten up one morning. Then he went to the pool, dived in and had swum four lengths before Blaze tracked him down. With no intention of swimming herself, Blaze sat on a sun-lounger in her pink bikini and sunglasses, watching the Cajun fling himself up and down the pool. He coaxed her into timing him and over the next few days they set him targets that quickly came tumbling down. Blaze was always there, sometimes perched on the edge of the pool with her feet in the water, but never getting in herself.
"How fast!" Gambit gasped, thrusting his head out of the water and grabbing the pool surround to either side of Blaze.
"One thirty-two," Blaze replied with a grin. "Well done Rem, that's the first time you've got under one thirty-five."
"Formidable!" Gambit exclaimed, picking Blaze up by the waist and dragging her into the cool water. The fire elemental screamed as half the pool suddenly evaporated. Petrified she clutched the Cajun round the neck, but all Gambit could do was laugh at her. He spun her round in the water once, before she kicked him in the thigh and made him let go of her.
"Okay, I'm callin' an end to the swimming, it makes you too excitable," Logan growled from the side of the pool. He reached over to offer Blaze a hand out, which she gratefully accepted. She climbed from the pool with water streaming from her skin. Blaze turned and offered a hand to Gambit. He lunged to take it, but she withdrew it at the last second and sent him plunging back under the water with a splash. Logan laughed as Blaze stormed off to get changed, telling Gambit, "Serves you right, you know she hates the water."
""She'll get over it," Gambit shrugged, climbing out by himself. "What's next?"
"Combat training," Logan decided. "Get your uniform on and head down to the Danger Room, pronto."
The combat training Logan had in mind started with Gambit taking on machines and projections of enemies. He had Remy take on Toad, then Blob, then Avalanche and Quicksilver. Blaze drew the line at letting them use a replica of Wanda, with whom she and Boom Boom was becoming quite good friends. Gambit had no such qualms taking on his old Acolyte colleagues Pyro and Sabretooth. It didn't help him win; each Acolyte took him a few turns to finally defeat. His sense of triumph when he did win was absolute though. Wolverine was impressed with Gambit's progress, despite the fact that he hadn't turned the difficulty on the techno-enemies up to maximum.
"Get down there Blaze," Logan told his teammate, who was stood besides him in the control room over the Danger Room itself. Blaze nodded, asking, "Do you want me to hold back or not?"
"I'd rather not be scraping barbequed Gumbo off the walls, if that's what you mean. No fireworks, okay? Other than that, you go for it," He turned to the microphone that let him speak to Gambit down on the floor. "Blaze is coming down. One on one battle, no powers, you got that?"
"Sure t'ing," Gambit agreed, turning to face the door where Blaze would appear any second. He whirled his staff weapon between his fingers deftly, flicking his trench coat back behind him as he did so. The door opened to reveal Blaze looking deadly serious, staring levelly at her friend. Gambit raised a hand to beckon her forwards, saying, "Bring it on, Cherie…"