I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.
Training
I slam into the ground for the millionth time and groan. I hear Nine stifle a laugh and I hear Eight sigh. I push myself into a seated position as Eight appears in front of me, crouched.
"You're not getting much better," Eight points out.
"First off, we've been training for about three hours straight now," I growl. "Second, that asshole has super speed and strength. Plus I'm unarmed and he's got that freaky bo staff."
"I thought Marines were supposed to be excellent at hand-to-hand combat and winning no matter the odds," Eight said.
"Yeah against humans," I grunt, pushing myself up and watching Nine as he spun the staff around himself several times before trapping it under his right arm. "Fine. I hope you're fast enough to keep out of my reach this time."
I draw a knife from the back of my belt, a sturdy combat knife roughly eight inches. Nine grins and nods then sprints forward, staff leaving a red trail behind it. He swipes it at my head and I duck under it, stabbing at him only for the other end of the staff to flash around at me. I pivot, flipping the knife to reverse grip and the staff crashes into the blade with a loud clang. I kick sideways, hitting Nine in the stomach and forcing him back before I spin, leaping at him. At the last second, he brings the staff upward and catches the bottom of my jaw, launching me backward. I land in a roll, stopping on my feet just as my somehow broken knife lands at my feet.
"That thing's awful delicate for a combat knife," Nine snorts pulling a Mogadorian knife out of the armory and tossing it into the floor at my feet. "Try that one."
I pick it up and smirk.
"Got a sword?" I grin.
Nine shares my grin for a moment before pulling out a sword and hurling it at me. I dive to the side and it impales the wall. Then, I manage to get it free and put the knife on the floor, lifting the sword and giving it an experimental swing. It's a little heavier than I prefer, but it's better than a knife. I sprint at Nine and he begins to speed around the room at more than superhuman speeds. I slow to a stop as he begins to spiral in. I wait, keeping my eyes on him. Then, I duck as the staff sails over my head. He speeds past me, catching the very end of the staff and spinning, swinging it at me. I raise my sword, blocking the staff and shove it upward before kicking Nine. He staggers backward and I slash at him but he grabs the middle of his staff and spins it, knocking the sword away before swiping at me. I duck under it and lunge forward, my fist crashing into the side of Nine's jaw. Nine staggers backward and recovers his footing just as my opposite knee collides with his abdomen. He doubles over, grunting in pain before I slam the pommel of the sword into the back of his head. He drops to the ground and Eight stares in shock before cheering. Nine stands, groans, and then grins.
"What the hell changed?" Nine grins.
"Honestly?" I grin. "I just decided to use the one martial art that has no rules."
"What's that?" Nine asks, confused.
"Israeli military Krav Maga," I state. "I trained with their military for two months. They were more than happy to show me their martial arts in exchange for me helping them with some advanced tactics."
"Nice," Nine grins. "Why not use it all the time?"
"I don't fight hand-to-hand very often," I state. "I'm usually in a gunfight."
"Right," Nine nods. "I suppose. So, wanna go again?"
"Of course," I grin as I back away and he raises his staff.
He starts off by hurling his staff like a javelin. I duck under it, charging forward. However, just as I near Nine, Eight appears in front of me, staff already swinging. I manage to raise my left arm and it gets broken in place of my head. I fly backward, landing in a heap. I groan, pushing myself up, my arm hanging limply. Eight looks like he wants to apologize. Before he can, I sprint forward, slashing at him one-handed. Nine grins as Eight blocks the sword. Nine steps forward to punch me but my foot meets the crook of his elbow and I step off his arm, jumping into the air and flipping, slashing at him. Eight teleports behind him, blocking the sword before I land, dropping to the floor and tripping Eight. The moment Eight is on the ground, I turn my sword around and slam the blunt edge of the blade into Nine's side. He yelps in pain, staggering away as I slash the staff aside and drive my sword down at the ground beside Eight. Eight teleports away, flipping to his feet and dropping the staff, growing into his ten-armed lion form again.
"Ah crap," I grumble as he starts forward.
I sprint forward, rolling under his first swipe then stand and slam the pommel of the sword into the inside of Eight's leg. He drops to that knee and I turn to put the sword to his throat only for a wall of fists to crash into me. I fly backward skidding along the ground for a ways before stopping, groaning.
"Perfect timing," I hear. "Help our friend out won't you?"
I start to open my eyes just as an icy feeling spreads through my arm followed by pain. After a few moments she's finished and I open my eyes to see Marina's tired face above me. She's less tired than before but she still looks exhausted.
"You should be resting," I say as I stand.
"I can't get back to sleep right now," she says. "I'll sleep after I train for a bit."
I nod just as my stomach rumble. I sigh and glance at Nine who chuckles.
"There's some leftover pizza in the fridge," Nine laughs.
I nod and walk out of the room. I make my way to the kitchen and pull a pizza box out of the fridge. I open it and find half a pizza. I grin and sit at the table, digging in. It's not the best food I've ever eaten, but I'm starving so I finish in a few minutes, then start looking for something else. Nothing. After a bit, I walk back to Lecture Hall just as Nine steps back from a group hug with Ella, Marina, and Eight. Ella looks like she's been crying and there's a bag on the floor that looks like it was packed in a hurry. I don't bother to ask.
"Hey Ella," I say. "You have Telepathy, right? That's how you were able to hear me when I was stuck in that rock stuff?"
Ella nods and turns to me.
"Why?" Ella asks.
"Cause I'm jealous," I snort. "I would kill to have a power like that."
Ella beams at me before I'm suddenly five feet off the air. I look at Nine to see him grinning.
"You let your guard down," Nine grins.
"I didn't know we were training!" I complain.
"We're in the Lecture Hall aren't we?" Nine grins.
I groan and the others laugh.
"Put me down so we can train," I snap.
"Get yourself down," Nine shrugs.
"Oh yeah sure," I snort. "Let me just activate my Telekinesis...oh wait, that's right. I don't have it. Because I'm human!"
Nine rolls his eyes and lets me fall. I manage to land on my feet then dive for my sword by I fly across the room before I can grab it. I crash into a line of Mogadorian mannequins. Then, I'm sailing across the room again. I crash into the armory, and I can hear Nine laughing. Marina runs is as I stand and my eyes settle on a paintball gun. I pull it down and open the hopper and grin as a familiar revolting burning smell reaches my nostrils. Marina covers her nose and looks at me questioningly. I wink at her, hearing Nine still laughing. I step out, firing at him in a constant stream of the horrid spheres. He doesn't have time to react before one hits him in the forehead and several hit him in the torso. Then, one hits him in the chin and I let up, grinning from ear to ear. For a moment, Nine looks like he's going to say something before his eyes widen then snap shut and he shrieks in surprise and pain, falling backward and scrambling backward, ripping his shirt off and using the clean back to scrub at his face, which only makes it worse.
"What is that?" Eight asks, smelling the stuff and staggering away, choking.
"Pepper spray paintballs," I grin.
"That stuff you had on yourself when the Mogadorians came after me?" Marina asks, worried.
"Not nearly as strong," I assure her. "It'll just hurt. A lot. Feel free to heal him."
Marina hurries forward, covering her mouth and nose, and uses Telekinesis to remove the pepper spray and send it out the window. Then, she heals his face and he jumps up, glaring at me.
"That was for throwing me around the room with Telekinesis," I state.
"Yeah?" Nine growls. "Then I'll do it without!"
He sprints at me and I toss the paintball gun into the armory and sprint to meet him. Bad move. He's not playing around anymore. The moment we meet, his fist dislocates my jaw. Just as I recover from that, his foot collides with my ear, crushing it. Then I stagger sideways into his fist again, nose first. My vision goes and I feel several more parts of my body break as Nine works out his rage. Then, finally, it stops, and a cooling sensation starts to flood me. When Marina finishes, I stand and charge at Nine again. He laughs in amusement and meets my charge. I duck under his first punch this time and plant my own fist in his nose. He staggers back and I punch again. He leans out of the way so I flip forward, one foot flying up into the side of his head. He grabs it and spins, hurling my across the room. My back breaks against the wall and I fall to the ground in a heap, glaring at him as he glares back. Marina heals me again, and again I charge at Nine. Nothing will stop me from being able to protect Marina. If I can beat Nine, I can keep her safe.
"He's just a glutton for punishment," Nine scoffs as he snaps one of my elbows then a knee. "No wonder you're always healing him."
He throws me back to Marina and she heals me again then holds me down with Telekinesis when I try to go again.
"Enough," Marina sighs. "You're done. Take a break. You can go back to beating the crap out of each other later."
"Fine," I sigh.
She lets me up then turns and leaves, probably headed back to bed. After a few moments, Eight leaves as well before I turn back to Nine.
"You're not bad," Nine says. "And you've got guts. But you're far from good enough to protect Marina."
"Then teach me," I growl. "Instead of just beating me up, why don't you teach me to fight?"
Nine grins then nods. He takes a fighting stance and I grumble in annoyance, taking one as well. I've decided I don't like training with Nine. Maybe Six would be a better teacher.
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