Cold As Ice

CHAPTER 22: Training

I woke up the next day to a knock on the door. “Ice, training’s gonna start in twenty minutes so wake up.” It was Rose. I groaned and slid out of bed. “Ugh, Coming!” I changed into my new Silvers uniform (which was so white I thought I would go blind) and then went to the balcony to see Night somehow made his way outside and was wagging his tail, “Sorry Night, you’re gonna have to catch your own breakfast today.” He stopped wagging his tail and then wagged it again. He then barked and ran towards the wall. He jumped over it with no trouble and ran into the forest.

I walked to my door, opened it, walked out, closed it, locked it, and then walked to the waiting Rose at the end of the hall. Then we walked outside to a large building behind the dorms. We entered it to see that it was huge. There were so many obstacles and dummies I thought I would faint. Everyone was stretching, talking, or warming up in some way.

I scanned the area to see Xavier talking to Jake. They were in their school uniforms.

When they noticed us, Jake motioned for us. Rose and I walked to them and stood next to Xavier. “So now that the group’s all here, we will start training.” We stretched for about five minutes and then ran twenty laps around the building. Then we got in line and stretched again. “Alright, now that we’re all warmed up, let's get to the fun stuff. Xavier since your the man of the group you’ll go first.” Xavier sighed and then stood in the spot he was told to go to.

“Now I want you to sprint to that brick wall, jump over it. Do the same thing to the other five walls. Then run to the rock wall, climb it, and then jump off. Use whatever way you can to get down while falling, meaning jump and use whatever you find comfortable to land. Also meaning use your powers if necessary. Then run five laps and repeat the wall jumping step. Then shoot the twenty targets that will appear with the guns on the table. You will be given twenty bullets. Then run to the other side of the room and jump over the ten foot wall. You will complete all these tasks timed.”

Xavier sighed and scanned the obstacle course. He got into his running position and waited for the ‘go.’ “GO!” Xavier sprinted as fast as he could to the wall. I smirked, ‘I could run faster.’ ‘Screw you.’ Xavier jumped over the wall and repeated the process five more times. He then ran to the rock wall and climbed that as fast as he could. He then jumped off and made a huge gun appear. He stepped onto it and shot the gun. The shot pushed him up before he landed on the ground. He then ran the laps and jumped the walls. Then he picked up the gun and shot it, bullseye, on all targets. Then he ran to the other side of the room and barely jumped over the wall. Then he sprinted all the way back to us for a total of twelve minutes and forty eight seconds.

“That was good, but not good enough. You need to work on your speed. You passed the rock wall and target rounds, but were a bit too slow on the running. So work on your speed.” Xavier sighed and sat down to take a breather. He was panting very hard. “Alright next Rose. You’re up.” She steps up to the starting line and scans the obstacle course. “*exhale* okay, I got this.” “Go.”

Rose ran faster than Xavier and jumped over the walls like they were nothing. She struggled a little with the wall but jumped off without a sweat. She created a flower bed and landed on that. She ran the laps but was losing her stamina. She jumped over the walls and then ran to the gun. She picked up the gun and shot away. She only hit ten targets (not one was a bullseye). She then ran to the other side of the room, jumped over the wall and ran back to us for a grand total of eleven minutes and twenty one seconds.

“That was good. You have good speed but not enough stamina. You get tired too quickly. The rock wall climb was too long, but the jump and landing was okay. You did great on the walls. You managed to hit ten targets, but you didn’t even get one bullseye. You need to work on your aim. So to sum up on you results, great speed and jumping but not so great stamina and aim. Work on those two.”

Rose took deep breaths and sat down next to Xavier. Rose then frowned in disappointment. I sighed and walked to the line, “My turn.” Jake nodded and asked, “Do you need me to repeat the info on the obstacles?” I shook my head, “No, no need for that.” He nodded and then yelled, “GO!!!”

I took off faster then a bullet, jumping over the walls, and climbing up the wall (more like running up it). I jumped off and landed on my feet without using my powers. I zipped through the five laps and the walls. I grabbed the gun while running and shot the targets (Bullseyes). I sprinted to the other side of the room, jumped over the wall, and zipped back to my spot for a total of four minutes and thirty five seconds.

“That was great. Good speed, jumping, climbing, landing, aim, stamina, strength, and control. This is how you need to finish the obstacle course. Good job Ice, you have passed the first test.”

I sighed and waved my pointer finger in the air and said, “Whoop de do Bazzle.” I took a gulp of my water and looked over to the other two who were looking down and frowning. I then frowned in realisation. “Hey, lord Jackass. Don’t you think this test is a bit unfair, especially for Rose?” Jake glanced at me aggravatedly and said, “What makes you say that?” Everyone in the room was looking at me with hate for the name I called Jake. “One: This test is based off of speed, stamina, aim, and precision, but it does not let anyone really train their skills. Sure we run, jump, climb, and shoot, but we don’t learn control, agility, strength, or flexibility besides the walls. Two: this test is mainly for speed which many people do not have and or will never develop. They are still human and only have human capabilities. Three: there is no point in this test, because it does not focus on the skills of all three of us.”

Jake stared at me with wide eyes. Then he smiled. “You have passed the real test.” I paused and then said, “Huh?” The other two were confused as much as I was. “I said you pass, you managed to notice that this test was unbalanced and nearly impossible to beat unless that someone was you.” I frowned, “So this was a test for me?” Jake gave me a close eyed smile, “Almost, This test helped me figure out the others’ weaknesses so not all you.”

We trained on the course for the rest of the day. I managed to lower my time to three minute and two seconds. Xavier lowered his to seven minutes and thirty one seconds. Rose finished with eight minutes straight.

I stood up and walked away once we were done. “Hey where are you going?” I kept walking but yelled, “Back to my room to get ready for classes. It’s almost time for school so screw you.” I walked out the doors hearing Xavier's thoughts, ‘Hahahaha, man that was cool. You took on the King of the Silvers. You got some guts.’ I growled to myself, “It was worth every second.”