Time and again (Talenny)

Chapter 4: more training

Talon:

It's been about six weeks, and Penny and I have been practicing hand-to-hand combat. She's becoming very good and her muscles are becoming stronger, but I can still see after each session that it tires her a lot.

I need her to be able to at least run two more miles after each training session, so I decided to try out something new.

After the last training session, Penny was about to gulp down the whole bottle of water. "Hold it. We're going to do something new today." I said, earning a little "You're kidding, right?" Look from Penny.

I continued to speak. "Today we are going to run to the nearest Kauai restaurant, and get some after-exercise meals there."

She sighed, stood up and took the challenge. "Right." She said and waited for me to start running. I did and she came after me, catching up to run by my side.

We exited the building and ran uphill. Her breathing rhythm was slightly faster than mine, showing that her heart worked harder than mine on these steep hills.

She was doing rather well, and only after about a mile and a half did she say a word. "How far is the nearest Kauai exactly?" She asked with a dry voice.

"Only half a mile left." I replied and she breathed out an okay. We were quiet for the rest of the "journey" as she called it, and arrived at a big Kauai restaurant, just as I said. Penny's mouth dropped open and she didn't hesitate to go inside.

Later, we were both sitting down, each of us sipping on a pure fruit smoothie. "Ah! Brainfreeze." Penny scrunched up her nose and squeezed her eyes shut, slamming her hands onto her forehead. I laughed at her expression.

She gave me a sarcastic glare and rolled her eyes. "What? You try drinking your thmoothy tho fatht. Ah crap now my tongue'th fwothen ath well." She tried speaking, making me laugh even more. She glared at me.

"Okay okay fine I'll try!" I accepted the challenge and took a big, hard sip from the icy drink. I held the mass in my mouth for a second, and then swallowed, only to suddenly feel a numb coldness at the back of my brain, causing me to shake my head very fast, sending a powerful shiver UP my spine.

I could hear Penny laughing, but I couldn't open my eyes. Not yet. I recovered. "Tho. Thith ith our firtht date then?" I asked, not realising that my tongue was still numb.

"Hm. I wouldn't be tho thure about that. Let'th jutht call it a friend'th day out?" She answered. "Thure. To friendth, and to bwain." I held up my plastic cup, and she clinked against it with hers. "To friendth and bwain!" She cried in a dramatic merry voice.

Over the next two weeks, the running sessions started working. Pretty soon Penny became strong enough to fight multiple people at the same time.

After half a year of practice, we could fights at each other's backs, do professional sword fighting, and shoot with guns. We had finally finished our training.

We were officially announced as partnered field agents. Penny and I were sent to our Captain's office to receive orders for our first mission.