Training (Private and Finally Using Tyki's Rank Up System)

Cole grimaced angrily as he finished what felt to be the thousandth push up so far that day, but which was in reality the hundred thirty first. He had gotten serious. Since the invasion of his home, led to by his own actions, he had been angry. The invasion had been completely his fault, or at least he felt that way. Sira had told him to stop being suspicious, and he had let his investigations into what Christian was stop short of finding a real answer. Sira may have asked him to stop, but ultimately the decision had been his. Then of course, he had brought the Noah home, to the very gate of the main headquarters of the black order. And finally, he had ultimately failed to rectify his mistake. He hadn't been able to finish off Christian. What frustrated him most wasn't that Christian was more powerful than he was, it was that he was unable to overcome some kind of mental obstacle. He had had a chance to try and kill the Noah, but instead he had delivered a blunt strike, and they had paid the price for it over all. Many finders and scientists were dead, and the home he had come to love was burned and damaged badly inside, and worst of all, it was his fault.

With a final, savage effort, Cole flung himself to his feet, before activating his Innocence, and beginning to sprint. The physical aspect of his problem was on the way to being fixed, as he had only been training for the two weeks since the invasion and was already beginning to see and feel the results. The mental aspect would take more time, until he truly managed to stop seeing Christian as his friend. He was practicing increasing his speed while compensating for the added weight of his innocence now, as speed was one of the areas he had been having trouble with. Christian's blocks, strikes, and dodges had all excelled above his own, and he needed to be faster. Next time I won't lose...

You got 18/100 posts for this post. ^^

Add it to your location please.

Oh...so it's like, you write a private essay by yourself, and depending on the grammar, content
and language and such a mod grades them, and you get points?

and at the last point (99/100) you fites an admin? then u get upgraded?

uh, what u mean add 2 location?

Look at the 'Location' under my name.

Cole settled down, coughing, about twenty minutes later having run the six miles that he had made a habit to run everyday. The training room was perfect for this, as it was built with nearly the same proportions as a track field. The length of the walls combined were a perfect quarter mile when all put together, so he simply had to run the perimeter of the room twentyfour times. Slowing from his cool down jog to a walk before simply flopping down on the floor breathing heavily, Cole deactivated his innocence with a slight smile. A start of the day with a morning run and a good workout, and badda-bing badda-boom, he was ready for his mission. That had been his routine for the past two weeks and he felt good about it.

But not today. Today he had requested the day off so he could train. Komui had actually seemed happy to give him the day off, since for the first time in ten years, he was showing some initiative to better himself. I guess I should thank that murdering bastard… He thought, meaning Christian. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have started doing this… He grinned slightly at the irony. After all, the whole point of getting stronger was to be able to defeat people like Christian. With a sigh, he got to his feet, re-activating his innocence. Who was he kidding? He had told Sira that revenge was unhealthy, if motivating, but that was really what he was doing. He was training for revenge.

With a grimace, he jogged over to a set of bars, and began doing pull ups with only his left arm. His left arm was much weaker than his right arm, because for ten years, aside from a few push ups, his work outs were all missions, where his right arm was constantly lifting the gauntlet, while his left arm simply hung around. He gave a sigh. He needed to find something other than revenge to drive him. After all, revenge could only last until he killed Christian. After that, what would his motivation for training be? He had his convictions, that the Earl was Evil, and that he was doing something good by helping the order as an exorcist, but he had had those before. He had fought before, but without passion. He wanted to protect his home, and the people in it, but he lacked a real reason to fight and train.

Dropping from the bars after a few minutes, sweating and panting once more, he looked up at the bar balefully. Only fourteen… Damn. He thought, looking down at his left arm. Still, a little better than yesterday. He deactivated his innocence before heading to the middle of the Training room where there was a small obstacle course. There were basic things, like a climbing wall, a small swinging part over a pool, and a good stretch of crawling. Then there were things you’d only find in the black order. There was a stretch to run while dodging large fists that thrust from the walls, and a stretch where heavy darts shaped like akuma bullets fired from guns around the walls. With a grin, Cole dived in.

I'd give it a 22.

Cole dived through the obstacle course quickly. “Geeze, they really don’t make this easy.” He panted as he climbed the wall, moving quickly hand over hand to try and reach the top. He had never been much of a fan of climbing, despite his after-mission tradition of climbing the cliff instead of using the elevator to get back to the Black Order. With a final tug he threw himself over the top of the wall, flipping once in the air before landing in a crouch on the ground on the other side of the tall structure. I Couldn’t do that two weeks ago… He thought with a satisfied smile, before running through the hall with padded, spring-loaded fists built into the walls.

As the fists began firing, Cole began a quick dance of dodging and ducking to avoid the fists. When he had started running the obstacle course, he could never finish this segment without being hit at least twice and having to block a few times more than that. Now he could avoid nearly all of the attacks, only having to block the last two as he neared the end of the hallway. Launching into a quick forwards roll out of the hall, he stood up, smiling. There are few better feelings than seeing yourself improve, he decided.

Taking a quick run to build up momentum, Cole jumped out over the small pool of water, grabbing the first of several rings attached to a large metal beam that crossed the width of the shallow pool, supported at either end of the pool by a second beam, these ones sticking vertically out of the ground, with smaller beams supporting them from the sides so the whole structure didn’t just fall over. Reaching the last ring, Cole attempted to hurl himself up and do a flip like he had done on the wall, but ending up with somewhat different results. He landed on his back, his breath leaving him in a single large whoosh. “Wow, that looked higher than it really was…” He groaned, looking up at the rings above him before rolling onto his front and getting back to his feet.

Taking a second to get his breath back, Cole jogged into the next course, a hall much like the hallway with the spring-loaded fists. The fists had been padded, but the simulated akuma bullets weren’t so friendly. He had originally been banned from this part of the obstacle course because his internal and external injuries wouldn’t have held up well to the pounding of the blunt projectiles. With a fresh sigh, Cole picked up speed as the heavy, blunted, low speed bullets began to fire, and he began to dodge. This was always the hardest part for Cole. The bullets were slower than real attacks would be, and less painful, but they were still faster than the fists, and he had to block more of them than he could dodge. It took more effort as well, as his quickened breath indicated as he ducked and blocked the large projectiles, steadily making his way towards the exit. Two more meters… He thought, his eyes flicking to the exit. In that moment, as he was distracted by the thought, he was hit in the shoulder , wincing as he was knocked to the ground. That’s going to bruise… He thought with a groan. Taking the easy way out, he simply rolled the remaining two meters out of the room, under the path of the bullets.

Emerging from the bullet hall, he scrambled back to his feet, rubbing his shoulder resentfully. “Dang, I slipped up there at the end...” He muttered to himself. With another groan, he realized that he didn’t need to get up at all; the crawling part was next. Cole raised his eyes to the heavens in exasperation. He’d started the obstacle course by his own will, so he had no reason to complain, but if he disliked the bullet part, he absolutely hated the crawling part. Why would he, a close range fighter, have to crawl in the mud? With a disgusted sigh, he flung himself down on the ground, and began quick army crawl across the dusty ground, passing under height restricting wires for a few minutes until he reached the end, and stood up.

“Ah, Man, I don’t like that thing…” He muttered, looking over his shoulder resentfully at the obstacle course. With a fresh groan he rubbed his injured shoulder as he began walking away.

It keeps getting longer! Good quality.

25

Cole swung himself down by the wall for a quick break, leaning against the sturdy structure with a sigh, and watching other exorcists and finders train in various ways around the large room. After a few minutes leaning against the wall, he got up, and stretched again. It’s just as important to stretch after running and working out as it is to stretch before hand… He thought, remembering his first experience training on the field. He had trained for nearly that whole day as well, and had simply gone to sleep afterwards without stretching. He had woken up the next day with aching muscles, which, coupled with his pre-existing injuries that hadn’t healed at that point, basically kept him in bed all day with pains. Cole scowled at the memory. A whole day wasted just because I didn’t stretch… stupid… Cole thought angrily.

Finishing his stretching, Cole got back to his feet and headed for his final activities of the day. First came a hot shower, something he always looked forwards to after a day of training, and then meditation. Cole stripped off his clothes and stepped under the warm flowing water, sighing contentedly as he began to wash the grime of sweat and dirt off his body. Cole allowed his thoughts to take their own course. He often felt that he thought better in the shower than he did during meditation. At least his thoughts weren’t directed by his mind as much as they were when he meditated. A few minutes later, satisfied that he was clean, Cole dried himself, dressing in some fresh clothes that had been laid out by a helpful finder while he was showering.

With a sigh, Cole proceeded to what he viewed as the most boring activity of the day. Meditation was just like sleep, but without the sleep. You sat still, doing nothing, for up to an hour, while completely conscious. People had gotten mad at him for the first week of his training for repeatedly falling asleep in the meditation hall. Sitting down on the nearest mat and crossing his legs, Cole released a last, heavy breath, before he began to regulate his breathing and closed his eyes. Geeze this is boring… Cole thought, sighing. His thoughts drifted back to his reasons and convictions. “There’s definitely got to be a reason to fig-“ His mutter was cut off by a sharp ‘shushing’ noise from one of his fellow medatators. With an annoyed frown, Cole returned to his thoughts.

I want to fight because I know that it’s the right thing to do? No. Knowing it’s the right thing doesn’t have anything to do with why I want to do it. It’s just a fact about what I do… He thought, heaving a frustrated sigh. Why else do I fight? I know I want to protect this place and the people here, but is that enough? He thought. He slyly opened an eye and looked around. An Assorted mix of finders, exorcists, and even the odd scientist looking for someplace to relax and think met his eyes. Are these people worth putting my life on the line to protect? He asked himself, closing his eyes again.

Immediately Cole was disgusted with himself. Of course they are! He thought, thinking of Sira. Sira is worth it, and all of these people fighting for what they believe in, they’re worth it to. That’s why I fight… He thought, a satisfied smile adorning his lips. I fight to honor their human spirit. I Believe that being able to fight for what you believe in, is worth fighting for. I don’t have a personal reason myself to fight the earl, but they all are willing to die to stop him, and I want to protect that. He thought.

Cole’s eyes snapped open in surprise as he felt his innocence activate. Staring at the gauntlet, he smiled. It was the tool he needed to help him fight for the beliefs of others. But he also knew that they weren’t strong enough. As if in response to the thought, the Innocence began to glow with a pale silver-blue light, and he felt it begin to change against his arm. This is it… Cole thought. I’ve found my reason to fight, and my Innocence seems to agree with me… He thought. Cole used to be frustrated by his innocence. After a few years at the order, it always seemed that everyone’s innocence would change and evolve at least once. He had been at the order for ten years, without a single sign of evolution. But that was because he wasn’t motivated to fight. Now that he was, it was finally happening…

Evolve! Cole!

What's that Innocence? It's Requiem Lv 2!

Cole, Cole, Cole...so I sense a romantic arc with Sira developing?

Yeah, Tyki said I should put it in there... I think. Either way, I can't post here again until the updates I made to level two get approved.