The next morning came swiftly enough. Xaden had already grown accustomed to waking up at the crack of dawn to go and hunt, so it was not much of a problem getting ready before everyone else in the Echelon.
The place at this hour was different. The usual noise of candidates and officers was absent, replaced by the distant rumble of machinery and the occasional echo of footsteps somewhere in the distance. The lights along the ceiling panels dimmed slightly.
Xaden followed the signs toward the training wing. He had a few things to practise before the rest of the Candidates woke up.
He had mastered how to activate the red energy at will, although maintaining it was an entirely different feat. He wondered just what he could achieve with it.
Xaden was about to go through the door when a sound stopped him. Like something heavy had been dropped.
He turned toward it.
The training room wasn't far off the corridor. One of the large doors parted a bit, allowing light to spill out in thin, bright lines across the floor. Xaden stepped closer and peered inside.
Inside, a girl stood in front of a mannequin-like training machine with multiple mechanical arms extended from its humanlike body.
The girl had curly brown hair tied back, loose strands clinging to her face. Her shoulders were relaxed. Eyes locked in at the machine.
She placed her palm at the side of the machine, and it began to emit a soft glow.
She raised her palms to the side of her face and took a battle stance. The machine moved; one of its arms snapped forward.
She tilted her head just enough for it to miss, the metal slicing through the air where her face had been a fraction of a second ago. A second arm came from below. She stepped back, letting it slam into the ground where she'd been standing only a moment ago.
A third arm came, swiping towards her side, and she quickly caught it. Her hand wrapped around the limb mid-swing. The force behind it was enough to drag her half a step back—but she held. The machine adjusted instantly. Another arm lashed toward her side. She released the first, pivoted, and ducked under the strike. It whistled past her head.
'There's barely any wasted motion.' Xaden gasped, awestruck by the grace and style of the girl's movements.
She drove her elbow into the joint of the arm she'd just avoided. Her strike connected, but the machine was quick to retaliate. Two arms came at once—one high, one low. She blocked the high strike with her forearm. The impact echoed through the room, her feet sliding slightly across the floor, then she jumped, just barely missing the impact of the second arm.
Mesmerized, Xaden tried to get a closer glimpse of the girl, unknowingly leaning against the metal door, causing it to move just slightly enough for a small 'creak' sound to echo in the space between them.
He paused, hoping the girl hadn't heard the sound, but of course, as an awakened with enhanced senses, the sound reached her, causing her to pause for a moment, her eyes flicked towards the door. Just long enough for one of the machine's long arms to shoot forward, slamming into her side.
The impact sent her skidding across the floor, metal screeching under her boots as she caught herself just before hitting the wall.
She gritted her teeth, spitting a mouthful of blood on the training room floor, hands on her waist. She angrily tapped the side of the machine, and it switched off, its dim lights fading, its metal arms retracting.
Xaden was about to creep away when..."Hey." The girl called.
Shit.
"Are you going to stand there all morning Creep?"
Xaden took a breather, then stepped into the room. The girl was already at the first-aid kit, applying a layer of salve to her sides. She wore a black top with a pair of military-issued Cargos.
"Depends," he responded, summoning whatever bravado he could muster. "Is there a third option?"
She stopped what she was doing, turning to face him. It was then that he finally saw her face. She was really pretty, with pale blue eyes, now studying him, as if deciding whether or not he was worth the effort.
"You distracted me," she said flatly, still tending to her bruised side. Her voice was soft, yet solid and confident.
Xaden scratched lightly at the back of his neck. "Didn't mean to."
She closed the lid of the salve, then eyed him head to toe.
"Then don't," she said, already turning away to leave.
He watched her go, wondering whether or not he should call her and ask for her name or something. But he didn't, not just because she seemed mad at him, but because she didn't really seem like the kind that would want to make acquaintances.
He looked at the machine she had used.
"It can't be that hard." He reasoned, making his way towards it. Stepping onto the platform, he felt the side for a button or whatever the girl had used to switch it on. He found a set of buttons numbered 1 to 10. Xaden guessed she had used it perhaps around a five or six. He tapped on three, just to be safe.
The machine whirred back to life. Its core lit up, causing a faint glow to spread around the edge of the platform Xaden stood on. Arms unfolded one after another, metal joints clicking into place as it rose to full height, slightly taller than him.
"Okay," he said under his breath. "We'll take this nice and—"
A metal arm snapped toward his head.
"—slow—!"
He barely ducked in time. The strike sliced through the air above him, fast enough to make his heart spike. Another came immediately after. He twisted, but not fast enough.
THUD!
The blow slammed into his side, knocking the air out of his lungs as he stumbled back.
"Shit—"
Two more arms lashed out. He raised his arms instinctively. One hit his arm. Hard. Pain shot through his forearms as the force drove him back another step. The second clipped his shoulder, spinning him off balance. He landed on the floor, barely enough time before another arm came down toward him.
Instinct took over.
His hand shot forward. The thin red aura flickered into existence. The incoming arm halted mid-air, trembling as the faint red energy wrapped around it.
"Aha!"
For a second, it worked, allowing Xaden a second to catch his breath.
Until...
Xaden's eyes widened. "Oh—"
Then the machine adapted.
Another arm quickly came from the side. He barely dodged it just as another hit slammed into his back, driving him forward as the red aura shattered instantly.
The first arm broke free. The next strike came before he could recover.
Then another.
And another.
Each one, heavier than the last.
A blow caught him in the shoulder and sent him crashing back down.
Fortunately, he landed just a bit away from the side of the machine, allowing him to quickly reach and shut it off just as another arm was about to descend on his head. The machine powered down slowly, arms retracting as if nothing had happened.
Xaden lay there, staring up at the ceiling, chest rising unevenly.
Every single part of him hurt. He couldn't stop thanking his lucky stars that he had chosen a three instead of a higher number. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, it was way less fast, and the blows were softer than the brown-haired girl's.
"…I'm gonna need a lot more practice." He muttered to himself, just as the wake-up alarm rang.