Training in the Closet

The training room was very large, a bright room with an ovular design, a matted battlefield on a matted floor. It reminded Madison of a wrestling gym, the small ones that some high schools and most colleges had. She had opened up three rooms to find each occupied, and therefore had to apologize awkwardly to three separate groups. She was ready to do it a fourth time, but thankfully, it was empty, a dark room only occupied by her mirages. Until she turned on the light, that was. It was pleasantly lit with the switch flicked, thank God, large white gymnasium bulbs above her head.

Madison walked in, looking around the room. The matted floor was red with a beige oval in the middle. 1 wall was a one-way window, or so she hoped, the other a mirror. Materials for fighting, including wooden swords and dummies, were strewn messily around the room, but not too many lay out. That was because they were mostly in the large closet along one of the shorter walls. "It must be dark in there...," she said to herself. That would be perfect.

She walked over to the double doors, timidly placing a hand on them. She'd have to be careful, she didn't know what was in there. Madison quickly threw it open, and sure enough, there were plenty of supplies. The problem was, there were also plenty of hallucinations in there as well. Ape-like humanoids clung to shelves, staring at her from eyeless faces. She saw a cat, a woman with bird legs, and her mother. She gave the darkness an uneasy breath. That was what she was there for, the darkness. She'd kill them all.

Madison had headed to the training rooms as soon as she stopped feeling pain when she walked. The boy "doctor" Logan had healed the wound as best as he could a week ago, but not completely, and she had a limp for days after. Now, she could use it to her full ability, whether to fight or run away.

She hadn't seen Nicola since that day a week ago. Maybe they weren't going to be that great of friends anyway. It would be helpful to know her classes. "Whatever...," Madison murmured out loud. She'd focus on training now.

What the hell was she doing here?

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she wanted to go shoot a line of dummies down after being trapped and constricted inside an infirmary and being beat up by a demon, but there wasn't any use. It wasn't fair that the student volunteers couldn't fully heal all of her injuries, but it was probably her own fault for getting into that mess. The medical boot was still stuffed around her leg, but she no longer needed the crutch and her right arm was still cast into a sling. She had felt completely helpless, being stuck and tended to on a constant basis. Her left arm held itself up, and as she was surrounded by a random group of people that she hardly bothered recognizing the faces of, a spur of red energy swirled around her fingers. With each shot, another dummy would get hit straight down, bulls-eye, as straw and other stupid crap flew around, some of them smacking other students straight in the face. Okay, they had every right to be pissed if she hit them by accident. But all of that bottled up frustration from being stuck was starting to get on her nerves.

The nurse kept insisting she come back to check in at least once a day to make sure she hadn't done anything stupid, but Nicola didn't see the point. Most of it was back to normal, so she shouldn't have to go back. But she was smart enough to know that she'd be dumb enough to possibly break something again. As another dummy snapped! open, her head turned towards the door and a familiar dark-haired girl walked in. Her mouth opened to say something. She wasn't fast enough; the leader of the room already waved her off. Adjusting the bill of her hat, Nicola got up, limping towards the exit. "I'm done in this room - I'll move somewhere else!"

Blue eyes looked around, and she quickly caught a whisp of black hair moving past a different entrance. That was probably her, right? Goddamn, it still took a painstaking amount of time to move everywhere.

By the time she reached the entrance, there was a large amount of light already filling the room, and then there was the giant door opening to the closet. And it was... actually open. As she slowly approached the closet, Nicola couldn't help but think this was some stupid horror movie and she was about to walk to her doom, the limp only bringing on a bunch of unnecessary suspense. And then there would be the stupid jump scare... What was this? A grade B horror movie?

A flicker of red shot through the corridor, whizzing past Madison as a rack of weapons fell off their set, scattering across the floor. "Whoopsie! That wasn't supposed to happen."

It was one of those moments where your body reacts before you do. Your head is still in the past, your mind focused on the world a split-second before the problem occurs. When a red projectile blasted its way into the closet, Madison had one of those moments, letting out a shout and jumping away to land on the floor. Thank God the floor was padded; she whipped her head to look at the culprit. It was none other than Nicola.

"W-w-w...!?" she seemed on the border of forming an actual, confrontational sentence, but just sighed. "It's been a while..." she murmured, getting to her feet, her knees still buckling from what happened. It didn't help that she was tense from the hallucinations in front of her. What if she had tripped or jumped and ended up in the dark closet?

Okay, maybe she shouldn't have done that. An awkward laugh escaped her as she rubbed the back of her head. Probably wasn't a good idea considering they were pretty close to the dark and hallucinations and... yeah, it was a really bad idea. But hey, a horror movie demands at least one jump scare, so there it was, in all of its glory. If she had to admit anything, Nicola would've said that she found Madison's reaction rather funny and would've laughed hard enough that tears would've come to her eyes. "You know, you get scared way too easily." Her eyes trailed towards the weapons that were now flat on the ground to Madison and then back to the weapons. "Though, that's a terrible greeting on my part, so we're even." Madison was awfully close to the shadows right now, and she had to only think for a few moments before her mind pieced it together, especially after remembering that one night back on the rooftop.

"Okay, never mind. I really shouldn't have done that if you had been planning to go kill some stuff."

"21...22...23...24...25..." Counting to himself as he was doing push ups. He had been on his 5th set at the time. D'angelo came to gym almost everyday. Beata had a really nice gymnasium. Front the basketball courts to the training they had filled with dummies and various weapons. Kind of odd to have them just there for anyone to take he thought to himself. "34...35...37...38..." the more he thought about it, the more he began to question it. Would they really need to know how to use the weapons in there? He had heard of some of the missions that students went on. Real or just rumors, it was strange to say the least. "47...48...49...5-" Just as he was about to finish his set. A loud noise of something nearly exploding caught him off guard. The hell was that?

He left one of the weight rooms to go and investigate. Some students just couldn't handle their gift he thought to himself. There was at least one mishap a day here.  He was thankful his gift was hard to control or grasp. When he reached the training room where the noise had came from, he was a bit surprised at what he saw. It was the two girls from a week or so ago. Madison and Nicola. It seemed as if Nicola was trying to hit Madison. Or at least that's how the scene had looked. "At least this time a demon didn't shoot out." He jokingly said at Nicola. "By the way, what are you two up to?"

Madison gave Nicola a long look. Her body language showed regret, so she let out a long sigh. "Just...don't do that again..." Her voice sounded a little more peeved than she meant it to be, and she blinked and smiled quickly. "I mean, when I'm not...there..." When you're not anywhere dark, idiot, you should have said that! She began to comb the floor for a wooden sword, something to train with.

She was about to challenge Nicola to a duel when Madison was alerted by the second person to come into the room. He cracked a joke, and the girl immediately recognized D'angelo, the boy from a week ago. He helped them when the cicadas attacked. She smiled warmly and waved. "Hey!"

She wanted to collapse to the floor from how badly she was holding back her laughs, because good gods, it apparently wasn't an obvious joke. Instead, Nicola just shrugged, a mischievous smile stretching her features, "No promises, but I'll try my best." As much as she regretted it, she had only wished she caught everything on a camera to repeat it over and over again for days. As Madison began looking for some kind of weapon - most likely -, her eyes turned back to see the rather tall boy back on cicada day. There was no way she would forget what happened back then. Same day she decided to demolish half of the school and the same day where all of the insects decided to jump off their leaves and fly at students. Eventful would've been an understatement.

She faked a pout, adjusting her sling as she raised her head up to look D'Angelo in the eye. "It's not like I need to deal with another one after that great big mess." Shaking the hand she had used early to try and nearly shoot Madison in the head, Nicola brought it up to readjust her cap, which was more battered and beaten up since the last time she saw him. Too bad she didn't plan on replacing it unless she could get an exact duplicate that was fresh and clean. "I dunno about Maddie, but I went to go blast a dummy or two... Maybe fifteen. I lost track of my count after reaching seven."

He smiled and waved back at Madison. He then looked over to Nicola. "That would explain some of the straw that was coming out of some of the other rooms." D'angelo looked toward the dummy that was in that room. "I suppose your next, pal." He gave a small laugh toward the dummy. What odd looking things they were. He looked back at Nicola, he hadn't realized how battered she was. He never saw her since that eventful day. "That demon really did a number on you, huh? Even messed up your hat." He let out a sigh afterward.

"Seems to me you are going to train for your gift, right?" He glanced over at where Madison was. She was looking at the various weapons that were present in the room. A small smile came across his face. It felt good to know that she was ready to face her hallucinations. "If you need any help, I'd be more than glad to assist you."

OOC: no color when mobile

"Yeah..." Madison rubbed her arm and looked down, the wooden sword in her hand. "Thought I could gain confidence in fighting those...things. Maybe I could make use of the items if I...take out the middle man, you know..." She didn't know if she was even using that phrase right. The girl did lash her sword, though, at both of them. She declared in an overly zealous voice: "Duel me!" She realized it probably sounded really stupid...

"Too bad, so sad. I plan to spare that dummy for another day," Nicola grinned without missing a single beat in her voice. However, the moment he mentioned the damage the demon placed on her, she was immediately reminded of her fatal flaw. Her weakness. How helpless she was and absolutely pathetic in that fight. With another shrug, Nicola glanced back towards Madison, who had somehow managed to brighten her mood again - however indirectly it was meant to be. "That demon wasn't so bad. I'm still alive, right?" As the other girl waved her sword at them, her head cocked towards D'Angelo. "Can't fight, but I'm sure he'd be willing to."

The use of middle man sounded weird though, and there were way too many times to count now where she just wanted to burst out laughing because of how awkward Madison was. "Isn't a middle man just a person who buys stuff from other people and then sells them off at a higher price?"

"Well that's one way of looking at it. " sure she was alive, but still, she was battered and bruised. He took a step back as Madison began swinging her sword at them. Duel her? He didn't really feel comfortable about that. He did promise to help her though. "If that's what you want then sure. I'll spar with you." Spar? That was something he thought he would never use. He walked over to where one of the wooden swords had been laying on the matted floor. Picking it up and doing a quick examination of it. He had no clue how to really fight with it. He would rather prefer to use his fist in a fight. He swung it over his shoulders, allowing it to rest there. Well there was no going back now. "Ready whenever you are."

Madison held it shakily, giving an eye to Nicola as she corrected her. Well, that wasn't too necessary. She should have let her get away with that one.
As the boy stood in place, the girl assumed she was to be the first attack. The swords were heavier in motion than they were idly, and Madison gave hers a big swing. It awkwardly cut through the wind, slowly coming at D'angelo and making a break towards the ground. She looked like a clumsy moron.

Whatever grace Madison had, she definitely couldn't see it here. All of her movements were sloppy like a ballerina on drugs and each swing was just her moving the sword around instead of actually. If that was a knife trying to move through butter, it wouldn't have been a smooth ride down and it would've melted before she even finished slipping under. A frown deepened on Nicola's features as she watched the fight take place. Did Madison even know what she was doing? Probably not was her first thought, based on her rather poor attempt to put a knife at her neck and well... now. What terrible footwork. The grip on the hilt was wrong, as well. Each and every error kept rushing its way into her head to the point where it was just her nitpicking at every single little thing Madison did.

He held onto the grip of the wooden sword loosely. That's how you do it right? Don't want to be to stiff with it. His eyes narrowed at Madison as she was about to swing. The first swing was very slow, almost like it might have been a bit too heavy for her. He dodged it with ease, not even having to use the sword. Man she was clumsy. He tried not to smile or let out a laugh as she still swamy it around. One swing came rushing at his left arm, he quickly slid the his sword where it would make contact with Madison's. Clack! the vibration of the impact went straight to his forearm like a baseball hitting the part of the bat closest to your hand. An odd, yet tingling feeling it was. That probably was a result of how loosely he was gripping the handle.  "Alright. My turn." A smile crept across his face.

Their swords had still been locked together. He felt her strength and knew he could easily counter her. Using his strength to knock back her sword from where it was. He quickly lunged forward at her. The tip of the wooden sword heading directly toward her right collar bone. It wasn't a quick movement; it was rather easy to dodge to anyone who had some sort of reflexes. Please dodge it. Those words had been repeating throughout his mind as he lunged at her. She wasn't that clumsy right?

A thin red entered the hue of Madison's face. She didn't really want to do this anymore. They were obviously on the verge of laughing at her. She was pathetic, she was pathetic, she was pathetic. She fought to hold on to the sword as D'angelo pushed her back. When he lunged at her, she froze up, looking ready to be hit by it. Panic flooded through her, though, and she thrust the sword rapidly upward, a strong knock sending the boy's sword off course, away from her collar bone. That would have been the time to attack, if the force of the fling didn't put her in an awkward fight with inertia. It took her a few seconds, but she tried to access this panic, tried to push herself to fight back.

"Hgggg!" She made a weird sound as she swung the sword at D'angelo's side, a little more coordinated but still a bit slow. She was as weak as a mouse, after all, and as timid as one too.