I struggled to get up, holding Christina's gaze as I did so. She wouldn't see me coming. After a few seconds, I had finally gotten to my paws, and I stood there silently, watching to see what Christina's next move would be. My heart was pounding out of my chest, and I could feel adrenaline and energy rushing through my veins. It was enough to make any normal person tremble, but I was no normal person.
I held Christina's gaze longer as I crept forward slowly. It seemed like she was focused on me, but I couldn't know for sure. Who knew if she were trying to trick me for the sake of the training? I stilled myself, broke my gaze with Christina, and waited until she looked distracted.
Then I jumped, and it was as if time slowed. Christina looked at me, and she started to move and to run. In the slow context I was in, that gave me a few extra moments to think. And what I thought was that I needed to go faster. So I did. Paws pounding against the dirt of the training circle, I pushed myself to go faster, and to land a hit on Christina.
All of a sudden, I was so close. I raised one of my paws, preparing to strike, though it was like I couldn't raise my paw fast enough. But soon, everything fell into place, and I landed a hit onto Christina. I didn't feel bad when some fur was torn out of her pelt.
On the topic of Christina, when I looked at her, I had never seen somebody so glad to get their butt kicked. "That was excellent, Adara! And on your first day, too. This is a sign of big things for you, Adara, big things. Now, I want you to shift back to your other form, so that I can speak with you. It should work, and there most likely won't be any complications. Just focus on being human again."
I sighed, but focused on my human - mostly - self and waited for the changes to happen. Every fraction of a second that the change didn't start was a strike of worry against my heart. But - and thank goodness here - the change began to start. Paws became hands and feet, while fur got swallowed up into my skin. My bones crunched and shifted back into their correct place.
"Excellent. Now, there is something that I must ask you. What exactly was in your dream?"
"My... My dream?"
"Yes. The one that you had the night before you first transformed."
"Well, there was like a... A goldenish feel to the dream, if that makes any sense. And there was a cliff with a lion on it. The lion was absolutely huge, to the point where you would've believed that he should've fallen off. And the mane wasn't wild, it was all slicked back and nice... I'm rambling on, aren't I?"
"You're fine. That was all the information I needed. Now, I want to see just how well you can defend yourself. I will come at you and try to attack you. Your goal is to stay up and to stay moving for as long as you can. Be warned, because I hit hard."
I breathed in, breathed out, then spoke. "Alright. I'm ready."
In a flash, Christina was beside me. I tried to dodge, but still ended up getting a punch to the shoulder. I winced, but I had to keep moving. I swerved out of the way of another one of Christina's attacks, but her third got me in the chest. I muttered multiple swear words as I staggered back up to my feet. The two hits that I had received had gotten my adrenaline flowing, and so every part of my body thrummed with energy.
When Christina threw her fourth punch, I was ready. I spun out of the way, not knowing how long the dodging would go on for. My stomach growled some, but I put my hunger out of my mind for training. An hour - or at least close to that time - was spent dodging. And though I had started off well in the beginning - well, kind of - I still wasn't all that great.
"We'll work on it later, after lunch, alright? You go down to the dining area, and I'll come and get you once lunch is over, alright?"
I nodded in acknowledgement, then walked off to go and eat lunch. It was kind of a long walk back,X but I didn't mind. The breeze was nice, and there wasn't anybody staring at me as I walked by, either. That had become a problem since the day before. Everybody seemed so interested in where I was going or what I was doing. I wasn't even freaking trained yet, and they still seemed to think that I was going to be the person who.... Well, they thought I was going to be their hero, which... I wasn't trained yet, as I had previously stated.
When I got to the dining area, I quickly found Lillian and Isabelle. They were the only two people I knew, so... It wasn't like I had anywhere better to sit. I grabbed my plate and filled it with food before sitting down. Lillian seemed happy to see me, but Isabelle... She hated everybody, so I didn't really get a warm welcome.
"So, how did your training go so far?" Lillian asked in between bites of food.
"Good, I think. I mean, I wasn't perfect, but it was my first try."
"Yeah, yeah. You'll get better. I did."
I began eating, having not eaten much since the day before. After all, I needed my strength for training.
"Hey, don't you have training after lunch?"
"Isabelle and I both do. Why do you ask?"
"Does that mean that you and I'll get to train together?"
"Nah. We're going into the more forest type area for training, Isabelle and I."
"Alright. " I got up from the table, plate in hand. "I'll see you when we're done with training."
"See ya then!"
