Chapter 5: Accommodations and Training

Chapter 5: Accommodations and Training

The robot servant didn't take long to arrive. It led them to the elevator, which they piled in, then sent them to the 15th floor. Moments later, the doors opened to another corridor. Following the robot servant, they went walked down the corridor filled with doors until they stopped at one of them.

The robot servant opened it and stood to one side to let them enter. They were amazed to see they had been put up in a sumptuous suite. No expenses had been spared. The entry way had a luxurious and beautiful marble fountain. The main room had doors that opened to individual bedrooms with a bath for each of them, each room with a different style and colour and size of bed.

The living room was decorated with expensive furniture and the top brands of electronic equipment, like a huge plasma TV, DVD players, entertainment centre, game machine with a selection of CDs, DVDs and games.

As they stepped from the marble entryway into the room proper, they noted thick baby blue carpet under their feet, the ceiling was painted a pearl white with drawings all over it, the walls were coloured the same as the ceiling and had valuable paintings hanging here and there. In one corner of the room was a bar equipped with fridge and microwave. Near the windows there was a large dining room table with a beautiful floral arrangement in the centre of it. Along one wall was a large oak desk with a computer and printer sitting on it.

They just stood there and gaped. Leghorn was amazed. His places were luxurious but nothing like this.

"Wow! What a place!" Ace finally managed to say.

"Now this is luxury!" Duck chortled, rushing to look over the games selection.

"Looks like, we're happy with the accommodations." Ace smirked in amusement at Duck's antics.

"Your luggage will be delivered very soon, sir. To summon room service there is a phone on the desk and an information sheet on everything you'll need to know about this hotel." The robot said politely.

"Thank you." Ace said.

The robot nodded and turned to Leghorn and his assistant G.B. "I will take you to your rooms now, sirs." It said.

"Well, then, I'll see you, I say, see you in the morning, Loonatics. Try to get some rest today, because when you meet your personal trainer in the morning, you're going to, I say, going to need every little bit of energy you got." Leghorn told them then turned to follow the robot to his and G.B.'s quarters. The door closed quietly behind them.

As soon as they were alone, Ace narrowed his eyes and looked around. He signalled Tech to do a security sweep. Everyone but Duck, who was wandering around the room, waited to see if Tech discovered anything.

"I can't find anything so I think it's safe for us to talk, Ace. There are no cameras or microphones inside here that I was able to detect and even if there were, my magnetic powers would have shorted them out." Tech reported.

"That's good to hear but I want everyone to be very cautious outside these rooms. I spotted no less than ten cameras, just from the elevator to this room. That means we have to take care slipping in and out of this room when we want to go snooping around. Maybe use the window instead. I want you to double check this room every time we return to it, Tech. Just because there are no security devices now, doesn't mean there might not be later." Ace warned. Tech nodded in agreement. "Good, so let's make ourselves comfortable. Okay guys?" Ace sighed as he made for the couch.

"Way ahead of you, ó fearless leader." Duck said happily as he already sat on the couch flicking the TV on and drinking a soda.

"Where did you get that, Duck?" Mimi asked.

"The mini-bar, of course. You should see all the cool stuff over there!" Duck said excitedly as he sucked on his soda.

The grouped wandered over to the bar to check it out. Suddenly there was a knock at their door. Rev zipped over to it and answered it. It was another robot with their luggage.

"Well, guess we should pick a room and unpack." Lexi said coming back to the door and picking up her suitcase.

Everyone thought that was a good idea and left the bar to get their cases and select a room. There was only a brief moment of dissension when Duck wanted the biggest room that Ace had made a move toward. Sighing mentally, Ace gave it up to Duck knowing arguing with the stubborn bird was useless. He ended up taking a nice room done up in Japanese styling.

Lexi took a room that resembled a fairytale Princess', Duck's was modelled on Julius Cesar's Roman quarters with white columns and matching furniture. Slam's was a recreation of a 50's Malt Shop with a fully functional soda counter to make milkshakes. Rev's room was by far the coolest. It was decorated to resemble an uninhabited planet. The bed was in the shape of a crater, the furniture looked like a space station.

Tech's was done in a laboratory motif. It made him feel right at home. Sylth's room was a tiny replica of Venice with the buildings from there and the appearance of canals designed in the carpet. On one wall a fresco of the ancient city was painted in loving detail with a gondola and its boater in the centre floating on real water just below the image. It ran across the wall in a decorated trough. The water circulated endlessly making a soothing swishing noise

Tweetum's room was truly the most unique of them all. The walls were aquariums, even the floor. Fish of all types swam around in all the aquariums making it seem Tweetums was in a fish bowl. He had a waterbed that made him giggle when he jumped on it, making it bob up and down like a ship at sea.

"I really like this little old room! It's the perfect place for little old me to watch the fishes as if I was underwater." Tweetums giggled happily.

Pinkster's room looked like a 70's Discotheque; fully decorated with jukebox's all over the place, equipped to play different types of music. The bed itself was surrounded by a light animated floor. Mimi's room resembled a library with books on all subjects on the many shelves and heavily cushioned chairs against the wall. The carpet was thick and stopped all noise. The colour was pleasing and there was a big bed with a bookcase headboard and an excellent reading lamp.

Her sister, Patricia's room was a jungle. Plants of all descriptions were in decorative pots all around the room. Ivy hung from the ceiling and surrounded the bed like a curtain. The carpet was multi-coloured camouflage that resembled a jungle floor but soft instead of ruff.

The last Loonatic to take a room was Swift. Mechanisms moved and ticked on nearly every wall so that he looked like he was within a huge clock. Though there was the constant sound of ticking and whirring, the Mexicoolian mouse was rather pleased with his room and the sounds didn't bother him at all. The bed was soft and comfortable and had the shape of a sprocket.

After getting over the novelty of their rooms and unpacking their suitcases, they all decided to take a nap, except for Ace and Patricia, who decided to discuss their strategy for snooping around later that night.

"It's too risky, Ace. There are cameras all over the place. I'm surprised they don't have cameras or microphones inside the suite!" Patricia said, shaking her head.

"Maybe we can't but I'm certain Rev and Swift would be able to. No surveillance device made can capture their fast moving forms. Though I wouldn't put it past Swackhammer to have some new kind of device that could slow down the image and catch the guys. It's a risk we'll have to take and hope we don't get caught. I still think they could run down the side of the building from outside our window. I doubt there's any kind of surveillance devices out there." Ace said slowly, going over his options

"Hmmm, well that might work; we could also have Tweetums go through the ventilation shafts. No one really knows about our new abilities and with his size changing capabilities, he could get around pretty well. He would be able to find out anything suspicions and let us know so that we could check it out." Mimi said, thoughtfully.

"Sounds like a good plan. We'll discuss it with the others when they wake up. We'll also have to discuss how we'll cover for our missing team members as well." Ace decided firmly. "Now that we have a tentatively plan laid out, let's you and I catch some Zzzzs."

Several hours passed as the tired Loonatics slept. When they woke, evening had fallen. Ace picked up the phone to order dinner and was told Mr. Swackhammer had already ordered a feast for them. It would be delivered within the hour.

Ace hung up and looked at the others, a frown on his face. "Seems our host is determined to impress us. He's already ordered a feast and it should be here soon."

"Huh! Looks like Mr. Swackhammer likes to treat his high-class customers like royalty." Lexi commented.

"It's not that difficult to believe, Lexi. We do have royalty among us, remember?" Duck said pointing at Tweetums. "Not to mention the smartest and best looking duck in the universe." He bragged.

Lexi snorted. "I agree with you on the first but on the second, I think your ego is going up into your head at the speed of light." She said sarcastically.

Duck just scowled at her.

Only ten minutes later, a knock was heard. Slam opened it to reveal a group of robots with trays of food. They zipped in and laid an incredible feast on the dining room table. Hamburgers, pizzas with every kind of ingredients and toppings on them, meatloaf with potatoes, French Fries, roast beef, pork chops with rice, rice pudding, veal with mashed potatoes, cauliflower and carrots, among many other things plus there was a slew of exotic dishes like Zerbubian Salmon with Quail Eggs, Stuffed Kirkilian Pineapple with Peanuts and Chestnuts, Berlian Garlic Stew, Fried Iridonian Calamari and Blancanian Spinach Quiche, which was Tweetums favourite dish.

Placed on the bar, the robots left an assortment of drinks and desserts. Finished, the robots all left except one.

"We wish you a pleasant evening and hope you enjoy the meal. Simply summon room service and it will all be cleaned up. Here is a message from Mr. Swackhammer the IV. Good Evening." It said handing an envelope to Ace then leaving them alone.

Puzzled, Ace opened the envelope and pulled out a letter written in gold ink. He read it aloud to the others.

'Dear Guests, I apologize for not being able to join you for dinner tonight. An unexpected emergency has pulled me away. Please enjoy the many delicacies I've provided you. Have a good evening and I will see you all in the morning. Please don't hesitate to ask for anything you want from room service, it is on the house. A robot will lead you to your training area at eight in the morning. Yours Truly, Swackhammer the IV.' Ace finished and looked at his team.

"It was quite nice of him to send us a little message." Tweetums said.

"Maybe… but you never know if he's planning something. I wonder what the emergency was?" Ace said thoughtfully. "Tech, is the food safe to eat?"

Tech pulled out a small scanner and went to the table full of food. He ran the scanner over everything and studied the screen. He was looking for any kind of poison, hallucinogen or toxic substance that could hurt them. After a few minutes, he turned off the device.

"Food's clean. I guess Swackhammer is not going to try and poisonous us, tonight, chief." He reported.

"Good, but we've got to be on the look out for anything!" Ace warned his team. They all nodded solemnly.

"Blagahrgahgalahgh… Can we eat now?" Slam asked, eyeing the food hungrily.

"Sure, Slam, but be sure to leave some for us!" Ace snorted then said, "Dig in everyone!"

There was a mad rush for the table. Slam was on cloud nine with the amount of delicious food on the table. Everyone filled their plates with a little bit from each serving, then taking their seats and dug in. The food was incredible.

When everyone had eaten their fill, even Slam. Ace called and very quickly robots returned and cleared the area. When they were left alone again, Ace gathered them together to discuss their plans for snooping raids. It was decided not to try spying tonight. Rev and Swift said they would be willing to make the attempt whenever Ace gave them the word. Tweetums agreed going through the ventilation system was a good idea and was willing to do it. With that out of the way, the group broke up and made for their rooms except for Ace, Tech, and Pinkster.

They sat in the living room and discussed their game plan for tomorrow as well what to expect from Swackhammer. They knew the tycoon couldn't allow them to win. He simply had way too much to lose.

"This Swackhammer is a really dangerous and sneaky character. He has enough money to do anything he wants and that makes him even worse than the most evil of all our archenemies combined. He keeps us off balance by treating us like royalty but I just know it's a cover for what he's really up to." Ace said with a frown.

"I-I-I agree! T-T-There's definitely s-s-something fishy around here. I k-k-know that… I k-k-know that… I k-k-know that… I admit that we are a v-v-very s-s-special team, but I-I-I never heard of anyone treating the o-o-opposing… the o-o-opposing… the o-o-opposing… the visitor team better t-t-than the home team." Pinkster commented.

"We have to be extra-careful. We'll have to be on our guard at all the times and see if Swackhammer or the Crushers try anything underhanded. Plus, I'll have to come up with a way to keep them from absorbing our powers, so that way we can have a certain advantage against them." Tech said firmly.

"Good idea, Tech. Well, we'd better get some sleep. Keep your eyes peeled tomorrow!" Ace said as he got up and stretched.

All three headed off their rooms. The rest were up for a little while longer, some even ordered snacks but by eleven o'clock, everyone was fast asleep.

At 7 a.m. all of them were awakened by the unpleasant ring of the telephones that were in each room. They were told this was their wake up call, ordered by Mr. Leghorn, and that a robot would be up by eight to guide them to their training area.

Yawning and sighing, everyone got up, showered and dressed. Breakfast was already waiting for them in the living area so they paused to eat a hearty meal. There were plenty to choose from: eggs, toast, fresh fruit, juice, bacon, and cereals of every description with milk. They could get really spoiled by this kind of service.

They had finished and washed up by the time the robot showed up to take them to Basketball Court number four. The elevator took them down to level nine and when the door snapped open they saw a large basketball court with the number four emblazoned on the walls.

As they stepped out onto the court, they saw Leghorn and G.B. coming toward them with another person. The stranger was tall and muscular with spiky blond hair, wearing a white t-shirt, red shorts and black tennis shoes. He looked like a Greek god. They suspected this was their new personal trainer.

"Good morning, I say, good morning, Loonatics. I hope you had a nice night of sleep?" Leghorn asked, in a good mood.

"It would have been nicer if you hadn't decided to wake us like that…" Duck growled irritably. Definitely, not a morning person.

"Don't mind him, Mr. Leghorn. He's usually grumpy in the morning." Lexi smirked.

"So, who's the hunk?" Patricia asked looking the new guy over and blushing a bit.

"Oh, him… Well, G.B., why don't you, I say, don't you introduce our friend to the team?" Leghorn said smiling broadly.

"Sure, Leghorn." G.B. grinned. "Loonatics, meet your new personal trainer and basketball coach, Marc Jones."

"Howdy, folks! Before we all start your training, I have a speech I like to give to all the new players I coach. Why don't you sit yourselves down on that bench there and we'll get started." Jones said briskly.

The Loonatics went to the bench as ordered. When Jones saw they were all seated and he had their attention he began.

"First of all, it's a great pleasure to meet you all. I was selected by Mr. Leghorn to train you for the game that you will have against the Monstrosity Crushers in less than two weeks. Basketball is not a game of strength but of speed and agility and quick thinking." He said firmly. "Now… most basketball teams train years to reach perfection. You will only have two weeks. Because of this, you will have to learn many things in a very short period of time so it's important that you pay very close attention to all I'm going to teach you. You'll be learning a lot of complicated plays and you'll need all your wits to win over these killing machines. Believe me, I know these guys all to well and they won't make things easy for you." Jones said solemnly.

"Well, not making things easy for others, is our specialty, doc." Ace said cheerfully. "As for the training, were all used to tough training sessions."

"Whatever you got for us, mister, we will overcome it!" Duck said cockily.

"That's good to hear… but, first things, first, I'll have to know which of you knows how to play basketball?" Jones asked with his hands on his hips.

Reluctant at first, no one made a move but, finally, Rev, Tech, Ace and Lexi raised their hands.

"Okay, four of you know how to play basketball, while the others know the rules, but don't know how to play… Hmmm, it's gonna take a lot of work for me to put you all in shape." Jones said shaking his head worriedly. "But, hey, don't you worry… I'm sure that you all will give your best. Besides, this is just a practice. Come on; let's start with a few moves!" Jones said moving onto the court, the Loonatics rose to follow him.

But before they could actually do anything, Swackhammer appeared with a bunch of people trailing behind him. These were dressed in white lab coats and carrying metal cases. Behind them were two security officers, wearing black suits and armed with stun batons and guns.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but before you start your training, there are a few things I forgot to mention. We need to examine your blood." Swackhammer said politely, while lighting a cigar, as the guys in lab coats opened their cases.

"What do you mean, I say, mean by "examining", Swackhammer?" Leghorn demanded, affronted and trying to wave the nasty cigar smoke away.

"It's nothing for you to get upset about, Leghorn. According to Nerdluckian Basketball League or NBL for short, rules, all players must submit to a blood test to check for any illegal drugs or stimulants that could give them an unfair advantage over the opposing team." Swackhammer explained easily. Blowing a cloud of smoke in Leghorn's face he said, "Sorry old friend but those are the rules."

"First of all, I am not, I say, not your friend, Swackhammer, and if it's the rules, well, there's no point in arguing, I say, arguing them. Right, guys?" Leghorn asked, looking at the Loonatics.

"You're absolutely right, Mr. Leghorn. Come on, guys, let's do this quickly so we can go back training." Ace agreed, leading his team to the lab guys.

Quickly and efficiently, the lab techs withdrew a rather sizable amount of blood from each of the Loonatics. Tech frowned at that and asked why. One of the techs said it was necessary to have enough samples on hand to test for a variety of drugs. Though he went along, Tech knew this was definitely not right. He would have to tell Ace later about his suspicions.

Lexi thought it odd that the blood samples were being guarded so carefully, but did not said anything to not raise suspections about anything. Swackhammer bid them goodbye and was soon gone from the court. Putting that unpleasantness aside for now, they prepared to focus on Jones and their training session.

"Well now that bit of annoying business is over you should all get to training." G.B. said quietly.

"Yes, we will leave you to enjoy yourselves, while G.B. and I attend, I say, attend a few personal matters, my friends. I wish you, I say, wish you a good training session." Leghorn said warmly then headed for an exit door with G.B. close at his side.

"Okay, folks… The first thing we must do are some warming up exercises. So, I want you all to run 60 laps around the court, with the exception of the road runner and the mouse there. You will do 1000 laps around the building itself and then come back here. Since you two are the fastest pair around, I know you'll not even break a sweat doing even that much. On your mark, get set, go!" Jones barked.

Like a shot, the Loonatics took off around the court. Swift and Rev vanished for only a few minutes before they were back waiting beside Jones who simply shook his head and sent them back out again for another couple of thousand laps. When they were back, only five minutes later, he let them be and watched the others. In another ten minutes, the rest of the Loonatics had finished.

For another fifteen minutes, their coach had them do some callisthenic then they were finally warmed up enough to begin the real training. After demonstrating some of the basic moves for basketball for the benefit of the ones who had never played, he had them learning how to use the ball in some basic moves, dribbling, passing, running, dashing… doing it over and over for hours until their bodies could do them in their sleep. They only took a brief sandwich break before beginning all over again. It was gruelling since it was different from anything they'd done before.

By the time they quit for the day, they were exhausted. Even Rev, Slam and Swift felt tired since they had been required to hold back their speed and do things at the speed of the rest. The training day had lasted some twelve hours. They may have fought some tough battles before but by the time they finished with the days workout they wished they had been beaten up by one of their villains instead of simply learning to play a game.

"Good work out guys! Run lightly around the court for a bit to cool down and you're dismissed until tomorrow. Be prepared to train even harder then with a lot more power behind it." Jones told them.

"More! I thought this was the training itself and now you're telling us this was nothing compared with what you got for us tomorrow?!" Duck squeaked in outrage.

"Pretty much, Duck. This was just the tip of the iceberg. We're going to train harder and harder as each day passes, so you better get used to it." Jones told him with a snort.

"I knew I should have never volunteered myself for this despicable mission!" Duck grumbled as he trotted around the court.

"Nobody really forced you to come, Duck." Mimi laughed as she ran near him.

After finishing the lap, they said goodnight to Jones and made their way back to their suite now that they were familiar on how to get there. They dragged their butts back to their rooms, many opting to use their tubs to ease sore muscles before joining everyone for another nice but not as large meal. They watched some TV to see what had been going on while they were at practice.

"Mr. Leghorn contracted us a tough coach, that's for sure. I know our training sessions are tough, but he's made us sweat more than our danger room has." Ace said in admiration.

"You know, O' fearless leader, he could have told us he was going to contract not only the best, but also the toughest coach he could find in the phone book." Duck said in a tired sarcastic tone as he channel surfed.

"I don't really mind that he's tough… sure, my body's aching and I'm exhausted, but the fact that he's a hunk, makes my mind just forget about everything else." Patricia said dreamily.

"It's safe to say our kitty-cat is in love!" Sylth snorted in amusement.

"I'm not in love with our coach, Sylth!" Patricia exclaimed, throwing a pillow at him. "He's cute and handsome is all."

"Right, and that's why you're in love with him!" Mimi laughed, teasing her sister.

"I'm not, just smitten! And don't think just because you're my sister I won't throw a pillow at you too!" Patricia said firmly.

"You wouldn't dare!" Mimi laughed holding her arms up defensively.

Grinning sneakily, Patricia hurled a pillow at her sister. Laughing, Mimi tossed a pillow at Patricia. Laughing, the others just smiled in amusement at the girls antics then decided to crawl off to bed and get some much needed rest.