"Okay, I'm not doing this..." Stork droned softly. He had been forced to put on a special uniform that had a little more room to maneuver than his normal one. For some reason, he hated the thing.

"Why not, Stork? Everybody's supposed to train in these things..." Aerrow pointed to the sweat suits he and Piper were wearing. The Merb simply rolled his eyes.

"That only means you enjoy looking at each other as you sweat... no thank you, I'm not interested..."

"Stork, do you want to learn how to fight or not?" Piper chimed in, annoyed. He had tried to find an excuse to not do everything they normally did before they practiced. They were beginning to think he was only pulling their legs when he said he wanted to learn from them.

"Yeah... I just don't wanna die doing it..." He sighed softly, and grabbed the sweat suit, mumbling angrily to himself as he walked over to change in a side room. When he returned a few moments later, he had donned the dark green track suit they'd picked out for him; it had little black skulls and crossbones on it. He had to admit; the suit... suited him.

"Okay... now, we need to stretch out your muscles so you don't pull anything... let's start with something simple..." Piper stuck out one foot and bent down to touch her toes.

"Now, you try..." She not-so-eagerly waited for him to protest, but instead, he complied, merely mumbling to himself as he did when he put on the sweat suit. As he stood back up, he looked over to see Aerrow just standing there, watching the 2 of them stretch.

"Aren't you going to stretch too, Aerrow?" Stork asked hesitantly, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

"I already did; so did Piper... she's only doing it again to help you out... I'm not doing it again because, well..." He stopped, trying to look for the right words. Thankfully, Piper stepped in to finish his thought.

"Because I'm more flexible than he is, and stretching too much can make you sore... so, we'll keep going slowly until you're ready, 'kay?" She smiled as he nodded softly, despite the grimace that appeared on his face when she told him about stretching too much. She then went through her normal pre-training stretching routine, and after about 15 minutes of this, Stork finally got through it all, managing to hold back a sigh of frustration when it was finally over.

"Okay, now that the stretching is out of the way, let's try a few simple exercises to get you started..." She nodded to Aerrow, who walked up beside Stork to practice with Piper.

...

After about 2 hours of instruction, the Merb managed to learn a few basic blocking and striking techniques, which he admitted "could be useful". Now, Piper and Aerrow decided, it was time to take a break. Stork jumped at the chance to sit and relax, having used more energy in those 2 hours than he normally used flying the ship for the whole day. He sighed as Piper walked over with a glass of water in each hand. He nearly ripped her hand off as he reached for one, but as he gulped it down quickly, she simply smiled and waited for him to finish; he hadn't learn a whole heck of a lot, but he was on his way, and at least he was trying now. They knew he had some knowledge of how to fight, but didn't realize how limited it was until today.

Having built a foundation for him, Aerrow took over and taught him a few more strikes, including a punch-kick combo that ended with a bruised shoulder. The Merb nervously fawned over the injured redhead, but Piper looked him over, told him he was fine, and then continued while Aerrow rested. Since Piper was a bit faster than Aerrow in close quarters, Stork had to work harder to get near enough for her to have to block. He did his best, but couldn't get through, no matter how much he tried. One really hard swing nearly knocked him off balance, and Piper took the chance so she could take him off his feet, letting him land back-first to soft the blow. He hissed a bit in frustration, but got back up rather quickly, and continued trying to get hits through.

Now, Piper went on the attack, slowly at first, and then faster and faster until he could barely keep up. He was a quick study, though, because when Piper missed with an uppercut, Stork slammed his fist into her chest, knocking her back a foot or two. Piper yelped a bit, not expecting him to be quick enough to take advantage like that. She waved her hand, signaling for him to stop, and he lowered his hands slowly, expecting her to continue once he lowered his guard. She panted lightly, not expecting him to learn so quickly.

"Okay... that's enough for now... we'll pick this up tomorrow, okay? Now, let's hit the showers... I'm getting a bit sticky, here..." She smiled a bit, and Stork nodded. Aerrow had already gone to shower, so they went to join him. Stork blushed a bit at the thought of Piper naked; he had never showered in the same place as anyone else, because he had his own bathroom. Being the insecure, paranoid little Merb that he was, he preferred it that way. But right then, he didn't even remember that he didn't normally shower with everyone else, since they all (except him, of course) used a communal facility to get clean. What did finally remind him was Piper clearing her throat before she went in.

"Not that I mind you using the bathroom with the rest of us, but... don't you have your own bathroom you like to use?" She tried hard not to hurt his feelings with her choice of words. Thankfully, as out of it as he was, he didn't mind her wording at all.

"Y-yeah, yeah... so... see ya later..." He quickly ran off toward his room, leaving Piper to guess what had gotten into him. She hadn't seen his blush, and he was thankfully for that. As the door closed behind him, his blush deepened.

"What was I thinking? I can't shower with Piper! I'd... I'd, I'd... I'd be too nervous, and I'd..." He stuttered, trying to gather his thoughts as his heart pounded in his chest. His face was dark green, all the blood rushing to his cheeks, and he groaned softly as he went into his bathroom, prepping for a relaxing swamp bath...

Author's Note: Got the idea for a swamp bath from "Stratosphere"...

And them wearing sweat suits while they train is something I just kinda made up... don't really know if they door not...