Indigo's Owl [Indigo Rewrite]

Chapter 5 - Training

Athira reluctantly followed Shift through Indigo base, the OmNom bar tasting like ash in her mouth.

They headed down the hall to a stairwell, descending three floors before Shift pressed his hand to a wall-mounted pad. The double-door slid open and Shift stepped to the side, waving Athira through.

The floor looked to be a training facility. Rectangular in shape, the ceiling was two floors high, with a staircase leading up to a second level that contained a variety of weights, gym equipment, and a target range. The main floor was a mostly open space covered in mats, though there did appear to be change rooms and a lap pool tucked away against the walls.

The blonde elemental from Starpoint was at the centre of the mats, floating on a sleek, metal board a few metres above the floor. Dressed in a Blue Keeper suit, she broke off chunks of stone from a larger slab in the corner and launched them at moving targets as they appeared sporadically across the far wall.

"Pretty cool, huh?" said Shift, waggling his eyebrows at Athira.

His voice drew the blonde elemental's attention. Still on her board, rock in hand, she glanced over her shoulder and fixed her scowl directly on Athira.

Athira ignored her and continued to look around the room like she hadn't noticed. "This is just for your Keeper team?"

"More or less," said Shift, glancing around the corner. "Believe me, with Raph's training regimen, it all gets used — who, speaking of, is supposed to be in here." Shift turned to the elemental and called out to her. "Hey, Talia, any idea where Raph is?"

The elemental — Talia, Athira supposed — just rolled her eyes and went back to flinging stone at the targets. "Who knows?"

"Oooh-kay then," said Shift, a hand in his hair as he turned his attention to the empty air above him. "Hey, Kione!"

A voice over the speakers answered him. "What?"

"Do you know where —" began Shift, cutting off as a door opened behind him and Raph emerged, dressed in his full Keeper suit. "Never mind, found him!"

Raph spotted Athira beside Shift and acknowledged them with a grim smile. Athira wrapped her arms tight around her stomach, unsure what to expect next, but Raph just turned his attention back to Talia. A frown creased his face as he walked to the edge of the mats.

"Talia, I leave for two minutes and you're already back to just throwing them as hard as you can," called Raph as Athira hesitantly followed Shift over. "Strength means nothing if you can't hit what you're aiming at!"

Talia scowled in reply and made a sharp hand gesture. The rock hovering above her hand split into two fist-sized chunks, and with another gesture, both went hurtling towards the hoop-like targets. One missed entirely and broke against the wall. The other struck the hoop so hard it bent backwards.

As the rock shards clattered to the ground, Talia directed a look at Athira that made it perfectly clear where she'd rather have thrown it.

Raph just sighed. "Start the sequence again. You need to be able to keep your focus — regardless of any external influences that might be around."

Talia clenched her jaw and turned back to the targets, breaking another chunk of stone off the slabs in the corner as she continued.

With a slight shake of his head, Raph turned to where Shift and Athira waited behind him.

Athira met Raph's steady, brown-eyed gaze for a heartbeat before she looked away.

Shift stepped forward, play-punching Raph in the shoulder and breaking the awkward moment. "'Sup, boss? I'm pleased to report that 'mission: don't-let-Athira-explode' was a complete success!"