Arriving

[Nineteen]

Nineteen nodded. "Yeah. You'll probably be getting your morphs tomorrow in Morphing 101. If it like, aligns with the celestial bodies or whatever mojo stuff Jullian thinks is necessary." She looked over to Richard. "Yep, only tres. But you'll spend a lot of your free time doing assignments for Seiya and practicing your morphing. As for History, I don't blame you. Seiya will have my head if I, uh, say any more about that."

Her eyes moved over to Alain. The new guy before the newer guy. Another quiet one, but she knew that it wasn't the same as the other two. He was a special case, for one, Seiya's newest project. As Seiya's previous project, she didn't really envy him. He was probably more Seiya's type, though. Nineteen realized what she'd just thought, went over it again in her head, and smirked to herself. That was definitely one to use for later.

"Hey Alain. You're not the new guy anymore." Nineteen gestured towards Richard. "Richard. And if you didn't run into him before, Dustin." She let the three of them get acquainted.

"Okay boys, now here's the most important classroom." She shot them a wink and pushed off from the wall she was leaning against to walk across the hallway. The door opened on a room so wide it could have been the main floor of a gym -- and it was outfitted in much the same way, only with alien as well as human technology. "Combat Training, which you'll be taking with me." Nineteen smiled, and it couldn't be taken as anything but a challenge.

[Dustin]

Dustin waved to the new guy, but didn't strike up any sort of conversation. Nineteen, Richard, and Alain, Dustin said to himself mentally. Nineteen, Richard, and Alain. He didn't want to forget any names, and it seemed like more were being added to his memory all the time. Like Jullian and Seiya for instance, whoever they were. Dustin couldn't remember if he had met those two specifically or not.

But Dustin's mind didn't stick on name memorization for long. Nineteen opened a door and the Combat Training room was revealed. It was awesome. Dustin had never been particularly interested in bodybuilding or physical fitness. That was mostly just a byproduct of his other hobbies. But this room made him feel motivated to pump some iron, or run some laps, or do a back flip. Something.

"So... In this class we try to beat each other up, or what? What is Combat Training exactly? We don't have to fight you, Nineteen, do we?" Dustin wasn't sure what would be harder. Trying to beat up a girl, or getting beaten up by a girl.

[Richard]

So the only real homework would be the assignments from Seiya, who was teaching the history class. Richard could handle that since the assignments might just be something like how was this significant in the battle of some weird place. It would probably be easier than the last class he had an assignment for, which was write a paper describing how Darwin's theory could have been proven false. This Julian guy sounded like he had a pretty easy class if he was just going to show them how to morph and what not. Richard didn't see any difficulty that could come out of that class.

A new face appeared near them, which was given the name Alain. "Hello Alain." Richard figured they could all do the meet and greet in more depth after the tour was done. He wanted to memorize the route they were taking so that he wouldn't have to ask for directions later from someone he didn't know. Nineteen pointed out what she deemed the most important class in the entire place. The class that she was going to teach them. Dustin seemed a little hesitant about this class at the thought of fighting Nineteen.

"I think we would have to spar with her if she is the instructor, but I think the most important aspect of this class is to learn how to defend yourself when your in a situation that leaves you no other option." Richard was just taking a stab in the dark with his little explanation, but it seemed to fit into what he thought was right. He was looking forward to continuing his training in Mixed Martial Arts.

[Alain]

Alain nodded to the other two young men. He felt a bit like the guy that showed up at his old high school long after he should have been gone. He wasn't only the biggest one here, he was also the oldest he was pretty sure. The other two carried themselves with the same awkward newness that he was sure he had himself. At least 19 seemed comfortable with life on the ship but she was a teacher here. He had a feeling none of the students stayed long enough to really make this place feel like home. And maybe that was intentional. It was just as well. It would give Seiya less time to feel like he had to dissuade Alain from his choice of career.

Alain hung back as the others walked up to the gym. He could easily see over their heads and a lifetime of being that awkwardly tall guy had made hanging back a habit. His eyes swept the gym and he wondered how classes would be conducted. He knew being an animorph was more about using the weapons available to them, including the morphing technology, instead of their own bodies. But his relaxed, spotty and mixed martial training had still left Alain with the feeling that there was simply no replacement for knowing how to handle yourself in a fight without a weapon. It gave you the confidence or the determination to know you could be in a fight, could take a few hits or a bad throw, and keep going. And nothing could teach you that except fighting itself.

Alain looked over at 19 when the others voiced their questions. He figured she was much more qualified to answer them than he was so he didn't offer an opinion.

[Nineteen]

Nineteen laughed. "Like Richard said, you'll have to spar with me. Morphs are weapons like guns or lasers, but people sometimes forget that you have to be able to rely on your human body too. Sometimes you won't have time to morph. It is about defense..." She looked over at Richard, eyeing him, "...but it'll be more than a self-defense class." The sound of which always made Nineteen think of older women in sweatpants kicking to 80s power-pop.

Gross.

"Your morphs probably won't be combat-level at this point. That's something you have to work your way up towards, including me. The idea is that you start with the lower power stuff to begin with, get a good handle for what your own strengths and weaknesses are, before you try to run off and take on a whole stadium-sized Yeerk pool by yourself." Nineteen shrugged. Personally, she thought that the more heavy-hitters, the better. But it was Cassie's orders, and, well, Cassie was their Supreme Ruler or whatever.

"Anyway, Jullian will teach you how to morph well. I'll teach you how to morph when your insides are rapidly becoming your outsides." She smirked. It was hard to tell how much was metaphorical, and how much was literal. "Also," she added, looking between Dustin and Richard, and then finally settling on Alain in the back. "Room is open at any time for you folks. You'll need to check in with me if you want to check out a weapon to practice with, but other than that, you can come and go as you please. Just leave the stuff in relatively the same shape and place as you found it."

Nineteen let them look around a bit more, and then headed for the exit. "Thus concludes the tour of the classrooms. Are you guys hungry? Mess hall is next."

[Dustin]

Dustin looked around at all the equipment for a while and thought about what Nineteen had said. He still wanted to get started, but wasn't too keen on the "insides becoming outsides" bit. The way she was talking, it sounded like this morphing business was actually real. Dustin still wasn't sure he totally believed it all.

So far morphing seemed mostly like a rumor. A gimmick. A rumor they used to scare the yeerks and entice new people to join. Dustin half expected the Morphing 101 class to be all about letting the new recruits in on the secret and making them promise not to tell anyone.

Dustin decided he would just have to wait and see for himself. He set down a dumbbell he was holding and put it back into its rightful position. "I hope this Mess Hall of yours has some actual food. Not the smelly old scraps I've had to get used to over the past few months," he joked. He had already been there once before, so he already knew the answer to his own half-question.

[Alain]

Alain walked around the gym with a small smile on his face. He wasn't really looking forward to having to fight Nineteen, he imagined that was going to hurt, but he would gladly take her up on her offer to come here in his spare time. He'd gotten a bit soft in his tropical retreat and his body would be happy to get some real exercise. Besides, he hadn't really been in control of his body for so long. It would feel good to feel it move under his own direction again.

He looked over his shoulder, realizing he'd wandered father into the gym than any of the others. "I could eat but aren't you a bit worried about the resulting vomit puddle if you plan on turning our insides into our outside?" Alain asked innocently as he walked back towards the door.

[Richard]

The first thing Richard noticed when he looked around the gym was that it was big enough to stage a miniature war in. He wasn't sure if there was going to be a game at the end of their training that involved the students taking on the teachers, but he was pretty sure that the students would get beaten in no time flat. It did not help that Nineteen made the comment of teaching them how to morph when their guts were spilling out of them.

Richard couldn't wait until he had what Nineteen said was a combat morph. It would be really interesting to have something that could actually handle a fight. He also made a mental note to come and train with weapons that did not rely on ammo. It was a personal thing that Richard did not like guns, so he wanted to avoid them if at all possible.

Then something was spoken that brought a new feeling in Richard's mind. Mess hall equaled food, which equaled the feeling in his stomach that he hadn't eaten in a while and was now just realizing that. "I could eat enough for at least three of me, so I hope that you don't run out of food." He just hoped that it wouldn't come back up at the sight of someone morphing as he figured that it wouldn't look pretty.

[Nineteen]

Nineteen smiled at their reactions to the food. "Yep it's real food -- mostly from cans though -- and there's plenty of it. But I'm not sure who's on cooking duty. Which, by the way, rotates. So you'll all get your turn to treat us. Or poison us," she added with a smirk. It was probably good that everyone learn how to safely make food in a post-war world, since they would be once they hit their factions.

"And as for the puking, well, yeah. I don't advise you eating before my class. They're going to be pretty early in the day, and you'll probably be in groups of twos or threes. First class won't be until later this week. You'll have your morphs from Jullian by that time." Nineteen ushered them all out, and closed the door behind her.

As she lead them to the Mess Hall, she told them a little more about her class. "First you'll be starting on basics: good fitness routines, how to throw a proper punch, all of that. You'll begin sparring once we have a few moves down. Then we'll move on to some weapons training, mostly marksmanship since, unfortunately, I have yet to see any lightsabers." The Mess Hall was about as noisy as it ever got now, which was pretty quiet. It'd been a while since the area had been filled with people. "When you're ready, we'll work on morphing away serious injuries. It all comes together at the end, and you'll be practicing all of it in combat simulations."

Nineteen waved them through the bigger Mess Hall door. Inside was a large open area, set up not-unlike a school cafeteria. "This is where the tour ends. Follow the lights on the floor if you get turned around when heading back to your rooms. Dig in, boys." She smiled, but didn't leave immediately in case they had any questions.

[Dustin]

"When you're ready, we'll work on morphing away serious injuries. It all comes together at the end, and you'll be practicing all of it in combat simulations," Nineteen said.

When Dustin heard this, he looked down to where his left forearm was supposed to be. Morph away injuries? he thought to himself. She probably means injuries you get while in morph. That is, if this morphing thing isn't just a hoax after all.

Dustin shrugged to himself, then headed toward where they had some food lined up. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting something to eat. All this talk about working out and stuff is making me hungry." Dustin grabbed a try, then began piling it full of whatever looked tasty. He felt a little bad just walking away from the group, but hunger was calling him and he didn't know these guys very well yet anyway.

[Alain]

"Ah, well thanks for the tour," Alain said to Nineteen, stopping near her before entering the room. "This may sound a bit stupid, but how will we know when and where our classes are?"

He hadn't seen a schedule posted anywhere and, while he appreciated the tour he also knew he couldn't find his way out of a paper bag without a map. A good sense of direction simply wasn't included in his abilities. So he had already decided he'd leave for any class he had early to give him time to get lost. But that required knowing when the class was going to be.

[Richard]

Nineteen said something about morphing away injuries, which made Richard think of how serious all this was. He would have to prepare himself for whatever he was going to be put through. She mentioned something about the weapons they were going to be trained in. "Well I never was a Star Wars fan anyway." He would have to remember the whole thing about following the lights to find his way around just in case he ever did get lost.

Dustin headed off to get some food without even waiting for anyone else. Richard was about to follow Dustin's example and go off for grub, but Alain's question made him. It sounded like something that he would want to know the answer to, since it was probably something that he would need to know in order for him to graduate. Richard wondered if this place did it through direct conversation or leaving notes on people's doors. Either way seemed effective to him, but some people did prefer the direct approach.

[Nineteen]

"See you Dustin." She turned to Alain, but not before staring at Richard in horror as he said he was never a Star Wars fan. But we're practically living a science fiction movie now! She wanted to argue, but really, maybe that was why the appeal had faded. After she'd recovered, she responded to Alain's question.

"You'll probably get a love note from Jullian slipped under your door or something. He likes personal touches like that." Not that you could exactly slip notes under the doors on the Blade Ship, but they seemed bright enough to get the gist. "Just wear your morph suit. If you feel self-conscious or whatever, a bunch of folks like to wear them under their clothes." Nineteen shrugged. Bodies were bodies, whatever.

[Alain]

"Is he the tooth fairy?" Alain asked after hearing Nineteen's answer. He wasn't sure what to think about this Jullian guy now. Nineteen made him sound as eccentric as Merlin. Then again, maybe that was fitting for a person who was going to teach them how to turn into animals. But he had still expected things at the Academy to be a bit more...serious. Not that Nineteen's course didn't sound serious but Jullian's sounded almost like a circus, not a class.

Is this what Cassie had sent him here to learn? He'd been sure that she had sent him to the Academy to discourage him and so, he'd come here expecting everything and everyone he ran into to be unpleasant or, at least, a hard ass. He hadn't expected astrology class.

[Richard]

Apparently the whole not being a Star Wars fan was weird around here or at least that is what Richard assumed when Nineteen stared at him after his statement. It wasn't his fault that he had never joined the large fan group. He personally blamed his dad who had decided that focusing on real life was more important than going to see some fictional movie.

With Nineteen giving her answer about how classes were decided, Richard's stomach woke up again and was urging him to go and get some food. "I guess I will go and get food now. Thanks for the tour and nice meeting both of you." Richard turned around, grabbed a tray and began gathering food. He was not sure if he was going to be able to eat it all, but his stomach said that it had more than enough room.