Beginning a New Chapter

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Bard: I agreed to do this, but only under protest!

Pilot: It's either this, or chemistry with the Triplets. Take your pick. (Roof blows off of science building, and insane laughing is heard)

Bard: (Sighs) Fine. I'll shut up now.

Pilot: Thank you. On to the story!

Author's Note: Starting with the next couple chapters, I will start posting bios.

Chapter 8: Training

The Pit

The next morning, the Misfits were getting ready for training. They were hanging around the Joe's dojo.

"Okay, Bard. Where are Raven and Terra at?" Althea asked.

"They will be here in a couple minutes." Bard answered.

"Will you hold still?" Raven snapped at Terra. The blonde geokinetic was sitting on a chair, her bandaged ankle on another chair. "Do you want me to heal your ankle or not?"

"Gimme a break! I'm not used to having my wounds fixed magically, okay?" Terra snapped back.

"Hey, Bard…" Todd piped up, pointing at the cowboy. "What's with the glasses, yo?"

"My glasses? Well, I'm legally blind." Bard explained. "I need them to see."

"Ah." Todd nodded in understanding. "No offense, yo. I was just curious."

"None taken." Bard shrugged. "Hey, where's-" A crashing noise was heard.

"PIETRO!" Wanda and Aja screamed as they chased after the hooting silver-haired speedster.

"Ask a stupid question, Bard." Lina shook her head.

"Well, that's everyone. Let's head out!" Althea motioned. Just then, they noticed Pietro shimming up the flagpole. He was trying to get away from Aja and Wanda. The blue-haired Chinese-American speedster and the hexcaster had apparently grabbed some baseball bats and started swinging at the whimpering Pietro, trying to knock him back down to the ground.

"Um…what about them?" Raven asked, pointing at the three as she walked up with Terra.

"Oh, that's normal around here. You'll get used to it." Althea waved. A few minutes later, the group arrived at the training course.

"Okay…" The ex-model Joe called Cover Girl looked at the assembled group. "Due to there being a lot of Misfits…" She didn't notice Tripwire and Short Fuze walk by.

"I think the program was too much of a success." Tripwire whispered to Short Fuze, making the mortar operator snicker. Cover Girl continued on, completely oblivious.

"…one group will do the obstacle course, and the rest will train with the Blind Master. Than we'll rotate later."

"Okay, for the obstacle course, the first group will be: Bard, Rapture, Xi, Wavedancer, Starchild, Darkstar, Starway, Toad, Avalanche and Pyro. Those that I didn't mention are in the group with the Blind Master." Spirit, a Native-American Joe tracker, announced. "I probably should mention for those of you who are new on the training courses, we go by codenames."

"Those of us who have codenames." Terra muttered as she shot Raven a look. Raven glared back.

"Well, excuse me." Raven grumbled as the two started arguing again.

"Duck!" Xi yelled out as a wall covered in Raven's black telekinetic aura blew up.

"Knock it off!" Roadblock ordered, using his arms to keep the two girls apart, allowing them to cool off.

"Sorry, sir." Raven and Terra apologized.

"I got a bad feeling about this, it's oh so true." Roadblock sighed as the second group walked away. "Bard, what's the deal with these two?"

"Well, you see, to make a long story short…" Bard told the story. "A while back, when Terra was a Titan, she betrayed the others and nearly killed the rest of the team. She redeemed herself when she saved the city. Raven forgave her for the betrayal, but they're so much alike that they can't resist arguing half the time." Roadblock nodded.

"Okay, Bard! Go through the course with Toad, but no powers and your weapons stay here." The Joe sniper codenamed Low Light ordered.

"Yes, sir." The two nodded.

"Aw, nuts, yo." Todd mock puted as he gave Low Light his bo staff. A few minutes later, both boys came back from the course.

"Toad's time is 2:12. Not bad, kid." Low Light complimented.

"Thanks, yo!" Todd grinned.

"Bard, 6:55." Low Light announced. "Could have been better, but not bad for your first time."

"Sorry about that." Bard panted. "It's just that I've never encountered an obstacle course like that before. The Titans' old course wasn't like that." He looked at Toad. "You were like lightning."

"Ah, don't worry about it." Todd reassured. "I'm more experienced with this course. You'll get quick on it." Bard nodded.

"Thanks a lot, man. I wonder how it's going with the other group?"

The Joe dojo

"Okay…" Gabriel Moore, the African-American martial-arts expert known as the Blind Master told the other group. "Let's try practicing our meditation."

"Yes, sir." The group nodded as they sat down. The Blind Master was very thankful. For the first few minutes, the group were actually rather quiet. However, with anything involving the Misfits, it wasn't going to stay quiet long. Terra opened her eyes and noticed that Raven was quietly chanting, and floating a couple feet in the air.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…" Raven chanted quietly. She wasn't used to meditating with other people, so she tried to be as non-disturbing as possible.

"Raven, cool it with the chanting. I can't concentrate." Terra grunted. The blonde girl then started tugging on Raven's sleeve. "And get back down here."

"This is how I meditate, Terra. Deal with it. No one else is complaining. And let go of my sleeve already."

"Terra, Raven's trying not to disturb us. Just let her be." Lina Chakram, the inect-like mutant codenamed Dragonfly sighed.

"Raven, Terra, knock it off!" The Blind Master ordered sharply.

"Sorry, sir." The two ex-Titans apologized in unison.

"Now the first issue some of us need to learn is self-control…" The Blind Master started to explain, but he was interrupted by the sound of splashing. He turned his head in the noise's direction. "Aja, I'm talking to you. Stop trying to drown Pietro in the lake." Aja looked up from the lake, where she was busy holding Pietro's head under the surface.

"Sorry, sir…heh heh…" Aja Leith, the blue-haired Chinese-American speedster codenamed Lightspeed, apologized sheepishly with a nervous laugh. The Blind Master sighed and turned towards Raven.

"Now, Raven…I know you have your own way of mediating, but try to keep the chanting down, alright."

"I've been doing that, sir." Raven nodded. The session continued for a few more minutes, until…

"Will you be quiet!" Terra snapped. "I can hear you all the way across the base!"

"How can you say so loud when no one else is complaining about the chanting?" Raven argued.

"Not my fault I got hearing like a safe-cracker's." Terra groused.

"What a day." The Blind Master sighed as the other Misfits in the group groaned. "Aja! Wanda! No! Pietro is not a piñata! Put the pipes down!"

"Spoilsport." Aja and Wanda were heard grumbling. The Blind Master groaned.

"I wonder how it's going on the training course?" The marital-arts master groaned. However, the obstacle course was going through its own share of chaos.

"Die, you blasted Coyote!" Lance yelled in rage as he grabbed a bat and swung at thin air.

"Can't catch me!" The Coyote taunted.

"Avalanche, come back here!" Cover Girl yelled as she chased after Lance. "Pyro, no! Stop! We don't set the obstacle course on fire!"

"Burn, baby, burn!" Pyro sang and hooted happily as he ran around setting things on fire. Cover Girl groaned.

"Why can't we get the quiet group?" The ex-model sighed. An explosion was heard. What looked like the roof of the dojo blew off the building, flipped over twice, and landed back on it like nothing happened. "Never mind."

End of Chapter 8

Next: School It's time for the Misfits to do some schoolwork!

Raven: Be afraid…be very afraid.