The Suite Life X

11 - Training Day, Part 2

Back on the battlefield, the sparring match was hitting its climax as Zero caught the latest of Zack's blows (this one being a charged punch he was proving a little too eager to try out) and, not content with tossing him away this time, kneed him a few times before sending him flying with a vicious uppercut this time. Zero looked guardedly at his opponent, only to relax once it was clear he wasn't getting back up.

He turned his attention to his watchers. "He'll be fine. I've seen all I need to from him." He headed to X. "Wanna get a quick real spar in before we go?"

The blue reploid looked back at the twins, with Zero answering his unasked question.

"Let 'em sort each other out. We should be back before too long. Before you ask, we'll simply call them on comms when we're. I don't imagine they'll be doing too much before then."

With that, they walked out of the arena, glancing at Cody as he ran past them in the other direction, brotherly instinct compelling him to act.

---

Meanwhile, Bailey and Alia were watching the proceedings from back in the Navigation Room.

"That was...something else," the former mumbled, put off by Zero's coldness.

"Well, that's kind of the way Zero is," the pro navigator said, picking up on her mood. "At least, that's how it's been as long as I've known him."

She looked on in thought for a second before making her next statement.

"You know, your friends are adjusting to things in this world surprisingly well..."

"How...?"

"It was pretty obvious, actually. To name one example, London's outburst when she woke up makes absolutely no sense otherwise. That, and when you four first met up, that seemed a bit too chummy as well..."

"Point taken," Bailey conceded. "But how are you so calm about this?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you everything, but suffice it to say, this isn't our first rodeo with this sort of thing."

Any response to that would have to wait, unfortunately.

"Do you mind if I butt in, Alia?"

A blue eyed and blue-haired reploid appearing to be in her late teens with a cream-colored body with blue highlights to it was the speaker. Her lighter aesthetic contrasted with her tanned complexion, which she shared with the smaller reploid girl next to her. That one had a similar cream color scheme, just with red highlights and hair instead of the other's blue. She looked to be around 10 by appearance.

"No problem, Sapphira. We weren't doing that much at the moment, anyway. This is Bailey, by the way."

"I see," she said, turning to the gray reploid and shaking her hand. "I'll be handling the navigational duties here."

"You'll be helping each other out," Alia interjected, trying to put a stop to any confusion before it started. "Our usual Navigators, Layer and Palette, were recently temporarily reassigned anyhow, so we could use the extra hands. There was someone else who was supposed to be here, too, but I haven't seen him yet..."

"Who's your little shadow there?" Bailey asked Sapphira, changing the subject.

"Ruby here, she's my sister."

The redhead wordlessly waved.

"Were you the one that opened my pod?" The brunette asked, to which she nodded the affirmative before running off...

"Sorry, she's shy,"

Bailey watched her go. Considering all her past adventures (and this one), this definitely wasn't the strangest thing she'd ever seen by far...