Sundays was gym day and I hadn't missed a week in my life. My headphones were blasting the Achieve Men playlist I'd put together. Rock, rap, heavy metal and dubstep, all played loud enough to drown out the sounds of everyone else working out in the gym. The constant, steady rhythm really helped me while I practiced different combinations. Today looked like it was going to be an exceptionally good day. I'd gone through three punching bags in less than an hour, the first was burnt to a crisp- oops- while the second and third had fist-sized holes in them- also oops, but not really. They'd spewed long trails of fine, beige sand across the floor from where I was training to the "Broken Equipment" dumpster. I was glad I was neither the first nor only donor to the dumpster for the day. Beacon's biggest mystery wasn't what was locked behind oddly shaped doors or the several winding passageways that seemed to lead nowhere- instead it was how Professor Goodwitch found the time to fix everything on campus including all of the broken equipment.
Surprisingly, my fourth bag of the hour was holding on for its life. It was a different brand than the ones I was used to beating up and apparently way more durable. Even after a few roundhouse kicks and an uppercut that would've cracked a boarbatusk's armor, it didn't stop bouncing on its chains, swinging like a pendulum just to meet my fist again and again. The next song started, a loud rock song that opened up with screaming guitars and loud drums- I was in the zone, and this bag didn't stand a chance.
"Let's go buddy!" I laughed excitedly, throwing a right hook that folded the punching bag out of shape before gravity pulled it back down. I followed up with a wicked spin-kick that landed dead center and finished with a backfist and right hook that easily could've put any grown man on his ass, especially if he was the owner of a particular night club.
I was focused on what I was doing, but I could see someone setting up an obstacle course out of the corner of my eye. The course room was an awesome, giant room where anyone could program a course into a panel by the door and the room would change according to what they'd decided on. Speed rounds, floorless rooms and punchable enemies were all options anyone could set and the room would assemble whatever you wanted. There was only one course room per gym on campus, which explained why people usually had to reserve them in advance if they wanted to use them. I'd run through my own programs a couple of times but the enemies were made out of some granite material. Punching them usually opened up old scars on my knuckles, so I stuck to the bags.
I attacked my bag until the song finished before I looked back to the course room. I instantly recognized Blake as she started up her training session. She was performing a revolving door speedrun with enemies. Revolving door speedruns were basically timed courses where you'd have to run through randomly placed doors before they closed and sealed you out of the next room. Most people didn't add any enemies because these kinds of rooms were super tricky and only people with Semblances that enhanced their mobility were able to get very far. Blake didn't seem to care.
I took a quick water break and watched her combat roll through an opening that almost slammed shut on her. Her reflexes were always ridiculously sharp and I could see her eyes already honing in on the new door. She swept the feet out from under one enemy, knocking it over and shattering it into hundreds of pieces. Without missing a beat, she cartwheeled and pounced on another enemy's shoulders before slamming it on its back and landing in a handstand. With a quick push up, she just barely made it through through the door and into the next room. All of that took less than five seconds. I was suddenly really glad we had her on our team. I watched for about a minute before getting back to my own workout, totally inspired by my kick-ass teammate.