The Powershifter

Chapter 46

Four more days. Four. Days.

My breath came in and out of my lungs as I stared up at the blank ceiling. Strangely, sleep came easy for me night before, but I only woke up in reality again.

By the time I dressed and met my friends across the hall they had breakfast fully prepared. I decided to come in later than usual to give the two their private time.

"How are you, Shakti?" Mira greeted.

I smiled back at her, "I'm well. How're you?"

Breakfast past by with our usual conversation. The days were beginning to be so repetitious. 'Wake up, go to breakfast, have training, rest, and then sleep.'

Agni twirled his fork, "We got a message that we'll be training with the others today. Veda wanted us to learn to receive orders from an officer and work together with fellow teens as a team."

Thirty minutes later I found myself in a huge gym that was almost exactly similiar to the one we were trained in by Veda. The difference was that there was an obstacle course on the farthest side. The other difference was that there were roughly thirty to forty teens in the gym. Obviously, this wasn't all the teens in the Baladeva compound. They were broken down into separate teams so they could be trained better.

Most of the teens stood talking quietly in groups. We were about to try joining a conversation when the officer, a tall yet well built man, called us to attention. We lined up without a second's hesitation.

"Alright, everyone. The day we're training for is four days away. Though I doubt you would forget such a thing." The officer had a deep intimidating voice that was loud and made him sound like he was on the verge of yelling.

He went on, "Today, we have three joining our team. Agni, Mira, and Shakti." The teens seemed to all give us quick looks and raised eyebrows, "We start with warm ups as usual. You will be called during warm ups to go through the obstacle course. Last night we added more of those things you guys love dodging. Now get at it."

I didn't know this man's warm-up routine, and I expected that it was up to us figure it out ourselves. The rest of the teens walked by us with stuck-up looks and quick glares towards the three of us. This was their training practice. They knew what to expect and by the looks on their faces they thought they were superior.

There's two halves here. Those who respect us and then the half who think that I'm not the real Striker but a pathetic weakling.

This fact didn't bother me. I had dealt with that already. My problem was that I had to gain these teens' trust or we wouldn't be cordinated together in a battle.

My feet picked up speed and I raced up to join the crowd that stayed at a steady run. I wanted to go faster and pass by the group, but that would only make me appear to be a show-off. Mira and Agni always kept up. The three of us watched to see what else was involved in the warm-up process the others went through.

During the daily exercises, names were called every minute or so. The person with that name would leave to go through the obstacle course on the far side of the gymnasium.

Every so often a person would make a mistake in their exercise or obstacle course run. Our officer, who I still did not know the name of, would make an example of the mistake. Usually it was to teach us and to harden the one who was being chastised harshly.

Agni was soon called forth to make an effort through the obstacle course. A few near me chuckled mockingly under their breath. They expected Agni to be green and completely unskilled.

They have no idea that Agni was a former Avinish soldier. Good thing they don't know.

To my expectations, my friend successfully finished the course with no problem. I silently cheared him on.