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Post by chihiro on Aug 19, 2007 16:43:53 GMT -8
Of course he wasn't going to ask if she was okay. She knew at this point that there was no sugar coating. She had said it to Mr. King herself. It was either succeed, or fail and receive consequences. And Chi didn't care. Coddling had made her soft, vulnerable. It had gotten her hurt. And now the reason she had turned soft was gone. Aureus was gone, and so was Max. All she had left was herself. And she intended on making herself strong. Making herself...unstoppable.
Chi followed Valekin out of the church and to the car, glancing away only when she saw the other cars leaving. She got into the passenger's side when instructed, and he sat himself in the driver's seat. Once again, it wasn't much of a surprise as this was his car. "I hope you like wild rides." It wasn't a question. With a nod, she sat her back completely back against the seat so she wouldn't receive a jolt by sudden movement of the car.
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Post by valekin on Aug 19, 2007 17:05:19 GMT -8
Valekin put the pedal to the metal. Literally. It was all the way down, he drove at break neck speeds and blazed through red lights, cut around corners in a drift. He was a very good driver, it was just that he was going so damn fast, that LA looked almost like a blur. He was only approaching a hundred.
They made several turns, and ended up in the industrial quarter, where he slowed down next to a factory, and pulled into the garage. The garage closed behind him, and he parked the car near the door to the rest of the factory. He'd stop the car, take the keys and lock it after she got out. Then he'd lead her into the factory. Taking her to the factory floor, the training center.
It was hot, and that was an understatement. There were a variety of areas devoted to certain kinds of training, but they'd stay in the exercise area mostly today.
"How many days are you willing to spend here at a time?"
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Post by chihiro on Aug 19, 2007 19:13:45 GMT -8
White knuckles gripped the edge of her seat as they raced through the streets. This was madness, it was almost odd to think that at his moment, literally held her life in the balance. Once false move and it was game over. Funny, how that applied to a lot of things when working for Valekin Von Kaluskov.
Soon enough, however, the car game to a stop. And CHi took a moment to wait for her heart and stomach to catch up before finally ungluing herself from the seat and climbing from the car, legs a bit shaky. And then it was back to following, this time into what appeared to be some sort of factory. It was hot in here, and Chi's breathing grew deeper to maintain the level of oxygen she was intaking.
"How many days are you willing to spend here at a time?" Days? Well, first off she didn't know where 'here' was, nor the reason they were here. And second, wouldn't people notice she was missing? The school, her parents? But then, she remembered what Mr. King had told her, and her determined expression returned once more.
"However long it takes."
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Post by valekin on Aug 21, 2007 18:54:22 GMT -8
"Good answer."
He said, walking into the training room. State of the art mats went from wall to wall on the floor. The walls were padded as well. There was a small hole in the wall where a hook protruded from. But it was surrounded by pads, the only way that she'd ever land on that hook, would be if she shoved her arm in there on purpose. And that wasn't likely. Now... it was a rather large room, thirty by forty. Which was twelve hundred square feet of training room. this room was brand spanking new, the black mats almost shone. In a corner, a torso harness sat, later it would be used.
"We're going to see how hot you can get your engines without vomiting, this is very important, because it will condition you for combat. Eventually, I'll teach you how to deal maximum damage, with minimal output. But right now, your body is going to be put through torture."
He pointed to a circle in the middle of the room, it was a rather large circle, and it was red. Which was perfect, because that way she could see it as she ran. That circle would become very important for her training.
"When you start, you'll jog around the circle. Just like this. When I whistle, you'll turn in towards the inside of the circle, and shuffle without crossing your legs. Then I'll tell you to either go back to jogging, or shuffle facing outside of the circle. Then I'll either tell you to jog again, or do high skips. Which is just like skipping through a field, but with no preemptive skip before each high skip. And finally, I might tell you to sprint a particular wall, which means you'll sprint only that wall, then go back to jogging. Got it?"
If she didn't get it, he'd explain it again, and again, until she did. Valekin was very patient. That was how he was when training someone physically. If she got it right away, or when she got it eventually he'd get her started.
"Now.. jog."
After a few laps of that....
"Shuffle in."
Two laps of inward shuffling....
"Shuffle out."
Two laps of shuffling out...
"Jog."
Four laps of jogging....
"High skip, and sprint the east wall."
He pointed at the east wall for her to sprint, two laps of that.
"Jog."
Four. He trusted, that her body would tell her when she was on the very verge of throwing up. In training, she will lose so much weight in water alone. When she either collapsed to start throwing up, or when she told him she needed to stop, he'd have her stop. In the case of her throwing up, he'd bring a trashcan for her to vomit into. If she needed to vomit after just conditioning, she needed to lose those toxins.
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Post by chihiro on Aug 28, 2007 19:11:11 GMT -8
She did as she was told. At first it was quite easy, as Chi had taken up running to relieve her frusteration and had gotten into relatively good shape for an average high school student. Jog, shuffle in, shuffle out, jog.. Her breathing deepened and increased, body temperature rising but not enough to draw a sweat. High skip, sprint to the east wall.. Sprint, a burst of energy to quicken the pace of running for a short period of time.
Breathing in then out, she let out the burst of energy and took off toward the east wall, fingers touching it lightly before she turned around and sprinted back. Her skin glistened slightly with the beginnings of perspiration. She resumed jogging, evaluating her energy level after the sprint to how much she could expel and keep in reserve. Pace herself, or she wouldn't last very long.
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Post by valekin on Aug 29, 2007 14:01:00 GMT -8
"Good, now we're going to do some serious resistance training."
He beckoned for her to come over to him now, he was in the corner now, by the harness. He had picked it up and let it dangle from his fingers, if he were to let it dangle from his claws it'd be cut. Which would be counterproductive. And productivity was all important, especially for her, because she's supposed to be the one that's being trained. If the training wasn't productive, she'd just hurt her body.
"Come here, I'll strap you in and hook you into the system, so you can proceed with your training regimen."
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Post by chihiro on Sept 1, 2007 7:29:32 GMT -8
Large inhale, exhale, as her running slowed to a stop, but even then she bounced on the balls of her feet lightly so she wouldn't suffer that shock thing from pushing her system to complete standstill. That was what killed John Henry right? The railroad guy. She'd seen a small cartoon movie about it when she was younger and since then, it was like it was routed in her brain, like an alarm system. It would be unfortunate to die simply because you went from working to stopping and your heart explodes.
Chi made her way over to to where Valekin was holding out what appeared to be a harness to her. Resistance training, this should be...painful? Difficult? But her goal was to become strong, and she had given Valekin her word that she would do whatever it takes, so that was exactly what she was going to do. She gingerly took the harness from his hands, avoiding the claws, and then pulled it on, starting to tighten some of the straps. It oddly reminded her of getting strapped in for rock wall climbing, but she shook it away. Less thought, more work.
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Post by valekin on Sept 2, 2007 13:46:51 GMT -8
He checked her straps, making sure he couldn't get his fingers between the strap, and her body. That's when it's really secure. She was good to go. With that done and out of the way he gestured for her to follow him over to the wall with the hook in it. Then gestured for her to turn around. There was a loop for the steel hook for her to become hooked to the machinery working the tension chain. He hooked her in as soon as she turned around, and she'd find it to be ridiculously tight. It'd possibly bring her back to the padded wall.
"With all your might, you will use your entire body to get your ass to the other side of the room. You will not pull on the chains with your arms. You will move only you. If you try to touch the chain, you will find a shocking surprise. Now move."
Hye hee hee hee hee....
Valekin giggled, he was finding situational irony funny. But did she get it?
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Post by chihiro on Sept 2, 2007 17:08:20 GMT -8
The moment Chi was strapped into the contraption, she was tugged backward off her feet, her body lightly colliding with the padded mat. It made her think of those games where the two people were going against each other on the same to reach the farthest point before one or both are pulled backwards in a tumble from the stress on the bungee cord. This should be...interesting.
First she tested the friction of her shoes on the floor. She wouldn't be going anywhere if she didn't have any traction. Her shoes were standard sneakers, they would do...she hoped. She set her feet shoulder width appart and began to move forward one step at a time, hands out to her sides for balance. She began to feel the strain and her torso began to fall backward but she gritted her teeth and planted her feet to the ground, leaning forward to resist the pull of the cord..
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Post by valekin on Sept 2, 2007 17:24:45 GMT -8
"Very good."
He commented, she seemed to have a method down. And a method was what would let her succeed. Many have failed their first few sessions with the contraption until they got a method. He had seen many methods, but this one was common. It was... like that of a pack animal. Using the shoulders to resist, and the legs to move. This would toughen up her upper body a bit, and strengthen her legs. Which would be good for speed.
"I should tell you, this is setting one. You're only pulling your own weight plus gravity, which isn't that much. Later, I will add twenty five more, then twenty five more, then fifty more, then a hundred more pounds. Eventually you'll be pulling over five hundred pounds across this room."
He let her soak that in. This was only her own weight, plus gravity. Which... was kinda more than he said it was. She was pulling a raw force of somewhere around 530 Newtons.
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Post by chihiro on Sept 2, 2007 18:09:20 GMT -8
She listened to his explanation, all the while pulling against the contraption. Her back popped, it actually felt kind of good. But she pushed on, her steps becoming slower and better placed to avoid slipping up.
However..
"..Eventually you'll be pulling five hundred pounds across this room."
W-what?
ANd that was all it took. Her focus broke and her left foot left the floor soon followed by her right and the entire force pulling against her flung her back into the padded wall where she came to fall unceremoniously onto her ass. Oww... Her muscles ached from the drug torture and from falling off the ladder, from running and now from this. But she had to do it.
Chi made her way back to her feet, rubbing her backside and legs from the strain. After checking to make sure everything was okay, she started again. One foot after the other, leaning forward against the pull of the training gear. She was soon back to the same spot she had been when she faltered, but she pushed on, passing the halfway mark..
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Post by valekin on Sept 2, 2007 18:14:28 GMT -8
"That was close.. if you had stayed on your ass any longer, I would have took you off it and showed you to dinner, then the showers, then your room, which would lead to your next step. But since... you're so determined, that all can wait."
He watched her, and only watched her. He had heard the pop, and it sounded like the good kind of pop, not the terrible crippling kind of pop. Because if it was, she'd have crippled herself temporarily, and he'd have to work that kink out himself. There weren't any doctors in the factory at the moment, and he was the only one among them rated to treat anyone with any sort of wound. Among that, he was rated to kill them with his bare hands, with knives, guns, and even assault vehicles.
Great little world isn't it?
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Post by chihiro on Sept 2, 2007 19:38:20 GMT -8
Dinner, shower, bed...that all sounded so good. Her muscles ached, her head was spinning, but she had something to do. She felt the familiar tug of the rope as it tried uprooting her once more. But she leaned forward with all of her weight, pushing forward.
Her feet slid, right leg bending and anchoring while her left slid back, lowering her center of weight and balancing it as well. She soon stopped sliding. Touch the wall and you can sleep. Touch the wall and you're done. The senior gritted her teeth. She kept pushing. Five feet to go. Four feet. She slid again but she anchored herself like before and kept pushing. Three feet, two feet...
Her palm pressed itself flat against the opposite wall.
..before quickly leaving it again as her knees gave in and she was flung back once more, though her body reached the ground before it came back to the padded mat. Chi tumbled, cursing, but soon came to a stop and stumbled back to her feet, sore as hell. Her breathing was deep and ragged from the excursion, but deep inside she felt a sense of accomplishment. She could do this. She was going to become strong. It didn't matter that she hurt now, because she would be strong enough to not hurt anymore.
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Post by valekin on Sept 3, 2007 17:48:32 GMT -8
"Let's get you showered, fed, examined, then into your quarters for the time being shall we then?"
Valekin smiled, and unhooked her. He'd let her pull the harness off herself, as she was a big girl, and she didn't need him to dress her. That was how he saw it. Not like she couldn't figure out a bunch of straps and hooks that she put on herself. Valekin'd only lead her to the showers, which was like a modern gym shower. Full area water barrage, multiple drains, multiple temperature controls. That was all there was too it. He pulled a towel out of a locker and set it on a bench, then a black matte pair of pants, and a black matte longsleeve shirt. It was absorption cloth. It absorbed sudden shocks well, such as the shock from landing from a long fall, or from getting shot, or from being stabbed or kicked. They were one size fits all.
"Get yourself cleaned up. Then you'll be fed."
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Post by chihiro on Sept 3, 2007 18:11:05 GMT -8
Sore, so sore. once unhooked from the system, she unhooked the belts of the harness and let it fall to the floor in a heap. Stepping out of it, she slowly followed him to the shower area, glancing at the showers, then the towel and the clothes he put out for her. A pang of self consciousness kept her frozen for a minute after he left, but the allure of the warm water soon persuaded her disrobe and cleanse her aching body. Her aching muscles relaxed under the hot water, and though she as still aching as she got out, the pain was incredibly less.
Chi dressed herself in the clothes he'd left. They were a tad on the large side in places, adn teh sleeves fell over her knuckles, but they were oddly comfortable. Whatever.
Towel drying her long raven hair, she removed the elastic band she'd placed around her wrist when she'd removed her ponytail and threw her hair up in a messy bun and exited the room, looking around for Valekin and the dinner he promised. She was hungry.
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