11 Training

Training was hard. No, it was worse than hard, it was excruciating. It was one of the most difficult two hours of Waze's life. On a normal day, it would've already left her sore and beaten, but today her body was already destroyed. Somehow, miraculously, she managed to make it through. They had run around the block a few times (painful), done some intense conditioning (very painful), and then practiced martial arts (she got her ass kicked).

Michelle, Duke, and Sable were fairly encouraging in their own ways. Michelle treated her like a teddy bear, which might've been annoying but she was actually quite helpful in assisting Waze to recover from bad beatings and difficult exercises. Michelle would walk her through breathing exercises and stretches to help ease the pain. Duke was encouraging in a more rough, teasing way. He joked around, asking her things like 'is that the best you can do?' and similar phrases. Waze had to admit, it suited his general aura. But he also instructed her on how to improve her technique and stance to make her exercises flow more naturally. Waze wasn't quite sure how to explain Sable. She seemed cold, but the more time she spent around her, Waze found her to be quite... gentle? She wasn't quite sure the right word. Sable would give her small tips when she was making a mistake. To some, it may have seemed like Sable was insulting her, or pointing out her flaws, but Waze could see she was more trying to help. Waze figured many people probably mistook Sable for a cold-hearted person because of her unusual way of carrying herself. However, Waze found Sable to be more of a comforting presence that urged her from behind and helped her refine her techniques.

The other two were a different story. Marco gave her tips, yet it was in a cold and condescending way. Sure it wasn't blatantly rude, but Waze could tell the intent behind them wasn't to help her. Still, Waze could take critique. She only used it to improve herself. Cassidy downright ignored her. Occasionally she'd make a comment about how on top of being gift less, Waze wasn't anything in a fight either, which was a fair thing to say. Waze was a decent fighter, but she was nothing compared to the others. When they had sparred, she'd been paired with Sable. She almost got paired with Cassidy, but luckily Marco jumped on the opportunity to pair with her instead. So Waze fought Sable. Sable was incredible. To be fair, so were the rest of them. Waze probably looked fairly clumsy compared to them, but Duke, Michelle, and Norris all told her she was doing fine for a noob. Sable occasionally praised her as well.

Finally, they finished physical training. Waze crumpled onto the mat and laid down on her back, panting like a mad man. Her body hurt more than ever. There were bruises all over her.

"Damn, you really took a beating, new girl. I'm surprised you haven't run away crying yet." Duke let out a laugh as he spoke. Truth be told, it took all her effort not to leave the shop and call Alec to pick her up. But she still didn't know what was going on with her godly power, and she needed answers. Not only that, but she did want to get stronger, and this was the only way to do it.

"I promise you she's in more pain then she's letting on. You all should take a lesson from her, she's very resilient. It takes a lot of determination to push through what she's experiencing." Norris took a sip of her tea. Waze was thankful for her input, it was true that her body hurt a lot more than she showed. But the others didn't seem to take it to heart.

"If she's in that much pain from one training session, maybe she shouldn't be here." Somehow, Marco managed to say it with a bright smile. Waze cringed. He really was a snake.

"I promise you, man. When I walked into this shop I already felt like I'd been hit by a train. I really did hurt myself the other day. Though I guess there's no point in defending myself since you probably won't listen." Oops. Her snarky side had come out. That was usually something she reserved for bullies, but this Marco guy was pissing her off. What was his problem? Marco shot her a glare.

"What could a gift-less like you even do to get to that level of agony?" Marco obviously didn't understand the life of a gift-less. Of course, he'd never lived it. Waze was beginning to see what Alec meant about her bringing a new perspective to the world of gifts.

"I don't know, get my ass beat by a high-step like you, like what's been happening my entire life maybe?" She really needed to stop. Arguing with a 'teammate' like this would probably end up bad in the end. Norris seemed about to interject before Waze spoke again.

"Never mind, it's not worth my time. Let's just move on." That seemed to piss Marco off even more. Good. But before he could snap back, Norris interrupted him.

"Waze is right. It's time for our mental training. " Ah, mental training. Right. The mental training consisted of studying common fighting techniques ranging from martial arts to abilities. Mental training helped them to learn how to anticipate and look for certain moves, how to dodge best, and what offense moves work best. It also helped to learn how to analyze different people's fighting styles and learn how to imitate them. By learning many types of techniques from different people, they were able to use those moves and styles in their own fights.

"First, we're going to watch and study the fights from the county tournaments last year. Pay close attention. Make sure to study both fighter's techniques carefully. Duke, Michelle, and Waze, you guys watch the red head and the rest of you watch the blonde. You should be able to imitate their styles by the end of the video." Imitate their styles? Waze didn't think she was on that level yet. Especially since she had close to no experience in tournament style fighting. She'd do her best, but still. Norris walked over to a closet Waze had most definitely not noticed before and pulled out a box TV on a rolling cart. Everyone sat down on the ground around where she had brought it. She popped in a dvd and Waze watched as a fight flickered onto the screen. Two kids her age walked into the arena and began to brawl. The tournament really was on a whole other level.

The tournament was a nationwide competition to select the strongest person in the country between ages 13-17. It starts off county wide, then one person is chosen from each county, then one from each state, then one from the country. In Mode County, Waze's county, close to 1,000 teens enter each year. Each contestant must be a step 6 or above. They are then placed in a match against someone in their same step, and after fighting, a panel of judges gives them a score between 1-100. A 30 would be an average score for a contestant in the qualifying round. The 512 with the largest scores are then selected for the tournament. They fight in pairs for 8 rounds. The half with the top scores in each round advance to the next round until only two are left. The winner of that fight is the county wide winner. This system continues to give a state champion, and then a national champion. As the competition continues, contestants' scores rise as they continue to outperform themselves to beat their opponent. By the nationwide matches, scores are in the 80's. The final national champion usually scores close to 100.

Now, Waze watched the contestants dance across the screen, the light of their abilities flashing through the arena. She had never really paid much attention to the tournaments. Why would she, as a gift-less? It's not like she could ever join. Yet she was awed by what she saw. It was almost... beautiful. Yeah, it was beautiful. The way the contestants dodged each others attacks and threw such accurate shots. The manipulation of their abilities. She wanted to be able to do that one day. With her new power, could she really? So Waze set a new goal for herself. She was going to figure out her ability. She was going to get stronger. She was going to enter the tournament. And then, she was going to win.