Chapter 72

Couple Trouble

Disclaimer: I had this hit me while at work and thought it was a good idea to do.

JOE Pit Base's Dojo

"Why don't you train with me instead of with the air?" Asked one Althea 'Wavedancer' Delgado to her boyfriend, one Todd 'Toad' Tolensky after several minutes of watching him train in silence with a staff.

But to her annoyance, anger, and hurt, he ignored her and kept on training. Something he'd been spending a lot of his time doing as soon as he was cleared to leave the Medbay over six months ago. Even asking for harder training sessions as he went about getting his body and skills back into shape. All so that he could make a challenge towards Vincent 'Virus' James in order to get a little payback on the traitor for trying to kill him. Todd had rarely given his time for anything else and Lifeline and Lina had practically began to refuse to heal him with their more power based abilities as the two and everyone else were growing more and more distressed over his refusal to take it easy and it hurting him. Hawk was about at his limit with the younger man and was heavily considering his options on what to do with Todd as this whole thing couldn't keep on going. Narrowing her eyes at her stubborn boyfriend, Althea grabbed a staff of her own and charged at him. "Hey! What the Hell, Al!?"

"Gotta do something to get your attention and believe me, I've tried just about everything aside from seduction since the last thing I want to do is cheapen our first time together!" Snarled the young lady as the sounds of their staffs clashed together in the Dojo.

An unhappy look could be seen on the sweaty face of Todd as he was forced to fight back against Althea. Even hissing in pain when she struck at his knee. "You're getting sloppy, babe. Where's that style of yours!? The character!? The charisma!?" Screamed out the girl irately as she began to sweat herself the more the fight went on, her eyes themselves looking a little wet.

"Oh, its still there, its just takin' a back seat right now!"

He managed another strike of his own and then found himself on the ground thanks to a sweep of the leg by Althea's staff. Seconds later saw the same result thanks to Althea doing the same thing again after seeing the direction he was going to go for with his flip. Growling to himself, Todd flipped backwards and got to his feet and barely had time to defend himself. "I thought you woulda got the importance of what I'm doin', yo!? Virus is a damn menace and he needs to be stopped!"

"I know that but not at the expense of you hurting yourself and everyone else around you! ESPECIALLY ME AND ROADBLOCK! That piece of garbage is not worth all that!" Yelled Althea.

"MAYBE TO YOU! BUT HE TURNED ME INTO A DAMNED GREEN SKINNED FREAK OF NATURE! AND I WANNA KILL HIM FOR IT!" Roared out Todd and stunning Althea in the process.

Giving the angry Todd the opening he needed to knock her down with a sweep of the leg with his staff and then pointed the end of it at her face. Something she met head on by pressing against it while looking him dead in the eyes. "Do it then! Let Virus destroy you even more, destroy us completely just like his namesake implies!"

Dead silence reined in the Dojo as the two stared each other down until Todd threw the staff to the side with a yell and started to walk off but Althea wasn't about to let him go and wrapped him up in her arms from behind. "Let, let go, Al." Near whispered the young man.

"NO! That's not happening, I love you way too much, babe, and we'll be here all night if that's what it takes to get through to you! So what if you're green skinned now? Those who really care about you aren't gonna give a damn! For all any of us knows, going green could've happened regardless! You're still and always will be the Brad Pitt of the Mutant World in my eyes!"

Whether it was her words or everything finally getting to him, Todd began to weep as the strength in his legs gave out on him, sending the two to the floor and Althea ensuring she kept on holding him as he cried and apologized. She whispered soothing things to him while neither paid any attention to the fact they were being watched by a tearful Roadblock from the entrance with the Blind Master's hand on his shoulder to provide comfort to the man. Todd would began to ease off the near constant training after this while also attending therapy sessions with Psyche-Out to deal with how he felt about being green skinned thanks to Virus' actions. Everyone would be greatly relieved Althea had managed to get through to Todd and Hawk would even decide not to put him on any KP detail but warned if he tried something like that again that he would. Which Todd understood perfectly as it was only fair.

Author's Notes: Hope folks enjoyed! Next chapter will probably be a time jump.