"Training will resume at seventeen hundred hours. For now, you are dismissed."

"Really?" Terra asked, her voice falling. "Can't we just — "

"Are you questioning my authority?" Slade asked, his voice becoming quiet.

Fear flashed in Terra's eyes for a moment, and Slade held back a smile.

"N-no, I just . . . was it because I lost control?"

"My daily training regimen would be too much for you," Slade said. "Until you are more adept, we will not train together."

Terra's face fell. "What am I supposed to do until then?"
"It is of no consequence to me." Slade turned away from her and began his regimen. He practiced punches, kicks, and multiple flips before he looked and saw that Terra was still in the room, watching him. "You are dismissed."

Terra blinked, then shook her head. Blushing a bit, she raced from the room while Slade continued his training regimen. As he trained, he noticed that Terra passed by the room. This didn't bother him, as he knew that the shower was to the right of the training room while her own bedroom was to the left. However, when she did this four more times, even pausing for a moment on the last pass before continuing on, Slade suppressed a laugh. He knew what she was doing. As Terra passed by the training room for the sixth time, Slade faced her. "Child, is there something you require?"

Terra blushed as though caught in the middle of stealing something. "N-no."

Slade's eye narrowed, and he stepped toward her. "Really?"

Terra took a step backward. "Y-yes."

Slade leaned toward her, his single eye bright. "Are you certain?"

In an instant, Terra ran. After watching her disappear into her bedroom, Slade chuckled and returned to his training. She would make a very good apprentice. Of that, he was sure.

Two weeks had gone by, and Slade and Terra were again in the training room. Under Slade's watchful eye and harsh training, Terra had progressed quickly. Only yesterday, she had managed to go the entire day without losing control of her powers even once.

"I learned another technique, Slade," Terra said, her eyes shining. "Do you wanna see it?"

Another day, another impressive technique. Slade knew quite well why she did this, but he still found it amusing, even after such a long time. He nodded.

Terra bent down and placed both hands on the ground. Her eyes turned yellow, and with a harsh cry, she sent a wave of yellow energy through the entire room. Slade braced himself for the attack.

"It took a while, but I finally got the technique down," Terra said. "I practiced this in the shower. And in my bedroom."

She sounded so proud of herself, and after a few moments, Slade realized why. The rock floor underneath his feet was slowly liquefying. Quicksand.

Terra, breaking a rock from the wall next to her, used this boulder to lift herself above the attack. She watched Slade for a few moments, and Slade saw that she looked slightly panicked when he didn't move. Slade began sinking into the quicksand, but this bothered him little. His armored suit was not used just for weight training and stopping attacks. It was outfitted with almost every gadget thinkable to escape from any attack. This was no exception.

Pressing a button on his legs, Slade felt the soles of his boots shoot out a blast of air, successfully displacing him from the quicksand. Accessing another suit ability, Slade caused his boots to shoot out a continuous blast of air, allowing him to literally to run on top of the quicksand. He jumped up to meet the startled Terra, knocking her from her perch atop the boulder. She fell into the quicksand and dragged herself out of the muck, using her powers to simultaneously clean herself off while shooting blasts of quicksand at Slade. Slade dodged in a fluid, continuous motion, unable to stop moving completely lest he risk sinking into the liquid ground.