Tricks

[xander]

“His pride may be bruised but his ego is intact, praise God,” Xander smirked.

He watched as Gabriel took the cube and waited for something to happen. Nothing did though and then Gabe was handing it back. Xander frowned and looked the teachers with a face that asked exactly what the other recruit had. While life at times had proven to be anticlimactic at times, this took the cake. Grab a box, whistle a tune and put it down, that had been left out of the thrilling descriptions they’d given about being an animorph. Frankly he supported the motion for a fog machine.

Seiya coming down into the hanger was far more dramatic in his opinion. Xander stood and watched as he spoke for once content with just being a fly on the wall when Seiya addressed him.

“He fell,” he answered bluntly and pointed up without looking, “from up there. Savvy or do you need more Guv?”

[Admin]

Seiya frowned at Xander's impertinent tone. And Gabriel's fog machine comment had been pretty flippant as well. No wonder these two had gotten into trouble. He wondered if they were going to be a problem.

"First of all, I'm your superior officer. Now, we working out the official rank system in the animorphs but, whatever it ends up being, you are on the bottom of it so you'll address me with respect. My first name will do quite well for now. Or sir. Either is fine. Secondly, it was reported to me that you told Kovu, who is also your superior officer and your teacher, that this young man fell from the second story balcony and may have sustained head injuries. Now, since none of us were here," he said motioning to the three teachers, "it is left to you to clarify the issue. How exactly did you both fall and what were you doing when you fell? Now, you've taken up a significant amount of time with your sarcasm. If this were a crisis situation he may already be dead or injured beyond repair and we may be dead with him since we've had to stand around waiting for your report. Care to try again?"

[gabriel]

"Woah, woah," Gabriel said, hopping to his feet. He didn't like seeing Xander get ragged on by whoever this was. "I'm fine ok. We were just..." he tried to figure out how to explain what they'd been doing that wouldn't get them in further trouble with this person, "training. I mean, you know, practicing some moves in case we had to run away from yeerks or something. And, uh, and testing our knowledge of the ship." He hoped that sounded official and useful since he had a feeling that was what Seiya wanted to hear.

"I fell when a gun shot startled us and I didn't land as well as my man Xander here," he said patting Xander on the shoulder. "I guess it must have looked bad or something since he went to get help but I'm fine I swear. See," he said jumping up and down and then knocking on his skull. "No injury savvy," he added, using the word Xander had used and then thinking to himself that it probably wasn't the best idea.

[Kovu]

Kovu looked annoyed. "Well that wasted a good five minutes of my life." He looked at Xander with a look that could only be described as mix between anger and annoyance. "Well, you have the morphing power now, do you feel like you need a morph?" Kovu said, looking down at Gabriel. He wasn't sure about these two, they were too childish, they needed help.

"Nice thinking about the vials Seiya, I guess it kinda slipped my mind." Kovu smiled for the first time since he was in the training room. God how he hated the sherade, he would hate it more when he started teaching, he wasn't sure how he was going to do it, of he was goingto be able to do it, but either way, it was necessary.

[beachbeagle]

A young man who somehow had sun bleached brown hair and a tan despite their location walked into the hanger bay. He had an air of being much older in mind than his physical body portrayed. A woman with red hair was walking with him and had her arm around his waist. Physically both appeared younger than Gabe and Xander, but they had an air of authority about the way they presented themselves that said their age was not a factor here.

"Tess and I were walking past and we heard some commotion in here," Matt said. The former L.A. leader seemed to have gotten used to sleeveless shirts in his time in California. He wore a tank top that he could have easily morphed and a pair of looser fitting jeans. "Is everything alright?"

Tess didn't say anything for now, merely surveyed the scene with her grey eyes taking in what she could visually. The way she held Matt had an almost protective nature to it and made it fairly clear to someone who wasn't extremely dense that there was something more than just a friendly bond between them. That, and most of the other staff knew how the two felt about each other.

[Admin]

"I believe so," Seiya said, still looking sternly at the two new recruits. "Just a misunderstanding." He turned to look at Matt and Tess. With these two now here the current training staff were pretty much complete. The only two who weren't here were Adamo and Zach, who would be training the recruits on alien vehicle operation when they had the free time, but Gabriel and Xander had already met them since the brothers had been responsible for flying everyone down here in the first place.

Since everyone was here Seiya decided to turn this into an opportunity to perform introductions all around. "Gabriel Legend, Xander Tae, meet your last three teachers, Matthew Blaine, Tess Williams and Nomar 279. They all outrank you," Seiya said with a small smile. "Since you both seem so eager to train," Seiya continued with a smile on his face, "I'm sure you can start right away. Professors," he said, turning to the five veterans in the room, "I leave them to you." Seiya collected the morphing cube and the vials and exited the hangar bay, glad that his first confrontation with new recruits was over. He was a little unsure about how to establish his and the other teacher's authority, especially since the others were all younger than the people they'd be teaching, but he hoped that he had just helped do that.

With Matt, Tess, Nomar, Jullian and Kovu here the task Cassie had given him didn't seem so impossible now. They could get these recruits trained and they could establish the force she was afraid they'd need. Things had not been going well in the States. In fact, it was the reason many of the professors had been transferred here. These kids were all top of the line at what they did but they all needed a break from the front lines for various reasons. This was their vacation. Congratulations, you've just won a trip to the bottom of the world. But each one had seemed to welcome the change. And if that didn't show how bad things were nothing did.

And with them the training facility was actually a reality now. All they needed were faction leaders. And hopefully they'd get those soon. Cassie had sent along a few names and had Zane out collecting and talking to the prospects. Meanwhile, Seiya was supposed to be talking to Matt about who he thought would be good choices among the names listed. They'd figure it all out soon enough. For now they had three recruits to train.

[xander]

“He’s certifiable,” Xander muttered to himself as Kovu left. He relaxed with the knowledge that Gabe was going to be fine, and if there was any spinal damage now they had a way to fix it. Crisis averted and all that Jazz. Just as one matter ended a new batch of face walked up, a couple from what he could figure.

He was a little miffed that Seiya told everyone his name without asking but gave a wave at each of them still. At the yeerk designation he involuntarily wrinkled his nose and tried to shrug it off. Seiya seemed to have a reason for everything so it likely was a friendly. That or Seiya was a Sadist.

“Bollocks,” he hissed as the Academy leader walked off. A day without getting yelled at by strangers gone in a miscalculation, then again he wasn’t aware that he had a day off. Xander punched Gabe in the shoulder lightly and grinned, “I blame you”.

“And what do you lot have planned for us,” he asked the teachers.

[gabriel]

"It's pretty much my fault so that's fair," Gabriel responded with a grin on his face despite the chastising they'd just received. He was already forgetting Seiya's angry expression, excited at the prospect of meeting their teachers and beginning training. This is exactly what he'd gone looking for when he'd stepped out of his room. He'd come here to fight and to learn, not to sit around. And he didn't care if what they had in store was hard, he was determined to prove he was ready for it. So he turned to the group of teachers.

"Aye superior officer teacher type sirs," Gabriel said, standing up straight and saluting. "What is on the agenda training list class plan?" Gabriel stood at mock attention, a huge grin on his face, sure he was ready for anything they'd throw at him. "I guess morphing is not on the list but maybe something else? Also," he bowed to Tess, "I don't know if you remember me ma'am but we've met before. I lived in Union before I came here. In fact I've seen all of you though I've only ever met Tess. Though, it's ok if you don't remember me. It was only for a second," he said to the pretty YPM controller.

[beachbeagle]

Both teachers were glad to here no serious damage had been done, and formal introductions were made all around by Seiya. They waited while the recruits had their say about things, including who to blame for the whole incident that had lead to meeting the teachers. Still, all in all things were okay and the recruits were in their hands now..... which would not be all fun and games for them.

Tess nodded as Garbriel bowed to her. "I remember your face, though I wouldn't have remembered your name before Seiya said it. And I'd hope you recognized at least Matthew since he lead the L.A. faction. Jullian and Kovu were members there before going to Boston."

Then to Xander she added, "And Nomar 279 is the yeerk I serve as host for. He's one of the members of the Yeerk Peace Movement, our allies on the enemy front so to speak. There aren't many good yeerks out there, but we've got a reasonable handful secretly helping us."

Matt took over speaking now. "As far as lessons, Tess, Nomar, Jullian, and Kovu get you before I do. Tess and Nomar teach Yeerk Culture, everything you need to know about the yeerks both good and bad. Jullian does morphing instruction. Kovu is in charge of hand to hand combat, without using morphs." He paused here for emphasis. "You'll train under me if you're lucky.... or maybe unlucky. I train those who have what it takes to be leaders, help them discover their potential." Matt didn't plan on that being a walk in the park by any means, because it definitely had not been for him. It required learning to focus under pressure and put your faction before yourself as well as other traits Matthew had learned in the field leading the Los Angeles Animorphs.

"So, who wants the first shot at them?" He asked the others.

[stevie]

Nothing to do for Stevie meant finding an empty hallway and doing flips. She couldn't help but wish that there was a gymnastics room here so she could get on the beam or the bars or the spring board. It made her homesick. Worse, it made her wish that she had competed in gymnastics and not just taken the classes. But for now, she'd just have to make peace with an empty hallway. Her Double Full, however, was interupted by a ruckus that landed her wrong on her wrist. Massaging it gently she went in search the reason for her minor injury.

What she found was a rather sizable gathering of people. She recognized two of her fellow 'students', but was unsure if the rest were also students, or the teachers that she'd been eager to meet. Her approach seemed to go unnoticed at first. Quietly, Stevie waited for Seiya to leave before speaking. The man's not-so-hear-warming welcome had left her a little shellshocked and more than a little intimidated. The others in the room, however, seemed a little less... was hard the word? "What are we doing?" she asked in english, not sure if they would understand her french.

[Jullian]

Jullian shrugged a little and looked at Matt and Tess and then at Kovu. "I could take them but we'd just be learning theory of morphing right now. I have some ideas in mind for what I'm going to be doing but it involves a lot of sitting down and meditating. Forgive me for saying so," he said, turning to Gabriel and Xander, "but you both seem like you have too much energy for that. Maybe something more active?" he suggested looking at Kovu.

Kovu was going to be the physical training teacher. Maybe he had something for them to do, some sort of exercise or obstacle course or something planned. They had spoken a bit about what their classes would be like but not much so Jullian wasn't sure.

Before Kovu could answer they all heard a female voice and Jullian turned to see a girl come into the hangar bay. She must be the last of their recruits. He waved and smiled. "Hi, I'm-" he stopped himself from saying his name for maybe the 5th time in less than an hour. He was a little nervous with the students but he was getting it under control. "your morph instructor," he finished instead. "We were just talking about how to start training."

[beachbeagle]

Matt had thought there were three students at the Academy currently. The third, apparently the only female currently, had just showed up in the room so it appeared now was as good a time as any to start training.

Jullian introduced himself as the morph instructor, and Matt decided it was his turn to have a word. "We're all instructors aside from those two," at which he motioned to Xander and Gabe, "who are your fellow students. However, I was telling them that I don't know yet who of you will be in my class. I do Leadership Training, helping make faction leaders out of anyone with the potential to become one. Not everyone has what that takes."

Despite that his words were rather serious, his tone and expression seemed actually kind of friendly.

"And I teach Yeerk Culture, seeing as I'm a YPM member, one of the friendly controllers," Tess said. Then she added, "However, your fellow students seem to have too much energy for what my class or Jullian's would consist of right now so your first lesson will probably be with Kovu, the Physical Training instructor."

[Kovu]

Kovu remained silent for a long time. He wasn't ready or the recruits, not yet. Most of the things he had planned for them would require the morphing ability, so they could heal away their injuries. Kovu scratched his head as every one seemed to be turning to him. He sighed deeply, and put his hand on his hip. He rolled his eyes and turned to his students.

"Well, it seems like everyone has decided to thrust you two on me, well, I haven't prepared anything but I'm sure I can come up with something or the two of you." It was true, they had built an obstacle course or the recruits, Kovu was just leading them to it. "Ok, since you two seem so perky today, both of you will run this obstacle course, and, to burn out a bit o your energy, you will both run it until your combined time is 50 seconds. Get ready.... GO!"

[gabriel]

"Sounds good to me," Gabriel said, hopping in place a little and shaking his shoulders like a boxer. "Xe's a little slow but I'm sure he can get through it," Gabriel said dismissively before smiling to show Xander it was a joke.

He looked over to the recruit who had just entered the hangar and starting walking that way but directed his comments back towards the teachers. "What about our lovely friend here? She doesn't have to run the obstacle course?" Gabriel asked, trying to catch her eyes as he did so.

Here was the recruit he'd gone looking for in the first place, the cute blond one. And wasn't she French too? All pluses in his book. He was hoping they'd have some sort of recruit bonding exercises to do later so he'd have a legitimate reason to talk to her. Then again, that had never stopped him before and it certainly didn't stop him now. "Hello, my name is Gabriel and your's is," he said holding out his hand as he reached her.

[stevie]

Stevie nodded curtly as her teachers introduced themselves. There didn't seem to be anything to speak about, she she stayed quiet. She was excited when Matt said that they'd be working with Kovu. Physical training was exactly the kind of mood she was in. As long as she got to stay off her wrist, that was. Then again, she hadn't and wasn't going to tell them that she'd hurt herself, so there's no way they could know.

It wasn't until Kovu talked up that she was moved to speak. Absently, she started to raise her hand as if it was required for her to ask 'What about me?'. Not that she wanted to run an obstacle course. That could wait. The third recruit... the one she had yet to meet, beat her to the punch. She could see him trying to catch her eye, but wasn't sure how she felt about that.... or the fact that she was their 'lovely friend'.

Suddenly she felt more ready to do the obstacle course. Whether it had been his thoughts or not, Stevie didn't want the other recruits to think she was just a pretty face. She was both strong and smart, and neither of those were diminished by her golden blonde hair. However, she managed to pull together a personable smile when Gabriel introduced himself. "Stevie," she answered, extending her hand in return.