Fate of the Worlds

Strength

*Alexius POV*

I jerked awake in a cold sweat. That same dream, haunting me day and night. I shook my head, running my hands through my hair as I stiffly moved to my room and changed into practice gear. I moved to the training room, and set up the punching bag. I stretched and then went through kicks, raising the elevation of my leg with each strike. Once I had finished my sets I wrapped my hands, and moved to rhythmically punching the bag. With each strike, my head emptied of thoughts, eddying. One, You're worthless, two, I love you, one, He's dead because of you, one, you're a waste of space, two,  you should just die, jab, You're a monster. until at last the swirling thoughts in my head were gone, finally I was free of them. But I continued punching.

^Time Skip^

*Poe's POV*

I watched as Alexius punched the ever loving shit out of the punching bag. I was impressed with how her body moved. It gracefully moved like running water, the precision of each hit reminded me of a creature, known as a cobra, striking. She honestly terrified me. Not like Rey, she was scary in a friendly/kindly way, she reacted out of genuine concern. Whereas, Alexius was a loaded gun, dangerous and lethal in every bone of her body. "Scary, isn't she?" a deep voice asked from the shadow's. I whirled around, and none other than Kylo~ sorry Ben Solo stood beside me with a sad, wistful expression on his face. "Sorry I didn't mean to startle you." he apologised. He was actually pretty down to Earth and quiet compared to his egocentric alter-ego Kylo-Ren. "It's fine." I replied shortly.

"You still hate me and are distrustful towards me, it seems." 

"No shit Sherlock." I replied.

There was no reply, I turned as I said, "Hey I'm talking t~" I stopped in horror, Ben was hunched over on the floor, a red liquid dripping on the floor as he disappeared from sight. I whirled around to see if anyone else had witnessed it when my eyes caught on Alexius figure. She was hunched over, cursing. she ripped of her shirt, and inspected the wound on her stomach. That's when I noticed the newly sutured wounds over her body. She pulled a disinfected gauze from her pocket along with cotton and thread. She cleaned the wound and sutured it. Then wrapped it a bandage; she was prepared for it like she expected it to happen. "If you're finished standing there ogling at me, you can come down and start training." Alexius amusedly remarked. I jerked my gaze away like I had  been slapped. Her eyes glazed over as she mind linked someone, and then her body radiated an ethereal glow and her wounds healed. " The others are on their way." She stated as she put her discarded shirt back on. "You might want to gather your thoughts and stop drooling." She added as an after thought. It effective snapped me back to reality, causing me to snap back at her. "I wasn't ogling nor drooling over you, or anyone for that matter." 

"I never said you did, you supplied that yourself." She smirked, "But it's great to know the Great Poe Dameron, Smuggler and Resistance fighter extraordinaire appreciates my physical appearance."

I scowled. Her smirk widened as I accepted defeat. And at that particular moment, Finn and Rey walked into the room, I looked to them and then turned my head to where Alexius was standing. Key word being was I whirled around and found her standing in the middle of the room. My eyes widened in shock. "B-b-but, how?" I questioned.

*Alexius POV*

I internally laughed at Poe's face "Good morning, ready for training," 

"Why? We don't need it, we've all had training. And a fair few fights with hard opponents." She shot back, as I phased to beside Finn and Rey. The both jumped and threw punches at me. I evaded and blocked the punches easily holding their fists. "This is why, the enemies that we're going to fight to accomplish this, are unlike any that you've ever faced, they'll make your grandfather," I tilted my head in Rey's direction," Look like child's play. So, you all will meet me in this room at 0600 hours and start training until 0900 hours and commence study from then on, with training in the afternoon. This won't be easy, it'll hard, especially with our timeline. So I hope your quick learners." I replied. 

" Okay, what we do?" Finn's eyes gleamed with excitement at the thought of learning. *Stupid Kid* I thought, *He doesn't know what he's getting himself into*.

"Come" I evasively replied. I walked into the corridor, and touched the hidden pressure pad, opening to the secret training levels on the Millennium Falcon when I trained here. I turned to see the trio ogling in awe as they turned in circles surveying their surroundings. "This will be your home, living space and training space for the next few weekends. Get comfy." I explained. I walked over to the side and keyed in the code for a rainforest terrain, I then keyed in an obstacle course that would be hard in this weather. "You're going to complete this course without the force or, as I will be referring to it, mana." I looked pointedly in Rey's direction. The course was a complex jungle gym that engaged all muscles, including the one floating in your skull. Most of the activities have problem solving components. The course included high and low ropes, balancing beams, rock climbing, swinging bags, punching walls, and a mysterious group component at the end, as well as many other complex activities. "You'll have a time limit, you goal is to finish this course within the time limit, you'll keep doing this course until you reach the end, and then I'll raise in complexity, this will challenge all of your skills, dexterity, reflexes, mental fortitude, strength, patience, etc. This will be challenging." I clarified in reference to the confused looks I was getting.

"What about you?" Poe asked slightly cheekily.

"I don't need to, but I can show you, we have some time before we officially start training," I said in response, glancing down at my watch "time me." I shot over my shoulder as I leapt up to the first obstacle. As I gripped the rope, the satisfying burn in my shoulder muscles and sting in palms because of the rope burn soothed me. My shoulders burned as I swung my dangling body from the side of the gorge to the platform on the other side. I sprung up the side as I rolled, missing the arrows flying past my head. I ran towards the "assassins" and "killed" them. I vaulted over a laser beam, and ran to the cliff wall, the rain started pouring down as I manoeuvred my body up the slippery surface, my muscles aching from the strain. The rest of the obstacles were a blur as I completed each one. I finished with time to spare, my slight uneven breathing pattern the only indication of the strenuous activities I'd just participated in.  " Once you can get to that level, you can start training with me." I slightly panted out. They all nodded dumbstruck. "Shit, I'm out of shape." I cursed under my breath.

"That's you out of shape," Rey asked, disbelief lacing her words. I nodded.

"Are you ready?" They nodded. "Then, Begin." They all dashed of into the misty undergrowth.