New Life, Old Memories

Chapter 16

"Hmm ... Your stance needs a little more work, but overall your doing great." Andy circled Mikaela in her human form, tapping her elbow and nudging her feet with her own, "Elbows higher, and feet further apart."
Mikaela adjusted her stance according to Andy's instructions, groaning. She had been standing like this for a good half an hour, her stance somewhat like an archer's. Her right arm was pulled back and her left was extended fully away from her body, both held up in line with her shoulders, with metal weights around each of her wrists to stimulate the weight of a cannon gauntlet.
She had initially shown intrest in the gauntlet when she had seen Andy working on building a new set for a girl called Miko. When asked about her, she was told that she was a fellow Wrecker, who was also human. That is what had sparked Mikaela's intrest learning how to use Andy's mini Ion cannons disguised as bracelets. So the older brunette had told her to meet her outside the hangar in half an hour and she would start teaching her.
That had been three weeks ago.
Now, whenever the human teen had come to base with Bee and Sam, Andy pulled her aside and taught her about the works of the gauntlets and how to use them. She had comprehended the mechanics behind the weapons pretty quickly, impressing her teacher.
Once before, she had accidentally fired one of the gauntlets, launching herself backward in her chair and knocking herself over, as well as putting a new hole in the wall. Needless to say, most of the others were not impressed, thinking that they were under attack. Since then they had done all the lessons outside and away from all other life forms.
Today was the first time they were working on stance, and standing outside in the desert with the sun ruthlessly beating down on her body was not her idea her of fun. However, she had set her mind to learning someway to defend herself and the people she cared for from the Decepticons, and this was her best shot at it.
"Good. Remember, dig your heels into the ground, if you don't the kickback could make you fall, or at least ruin your stance and cause complications for your next shot." Andy demonstrated, standing in front of her and mirroring her stance.
Her heels kicked up dust as she shifted and settled back onto them. Unlike Mikaela's, her arms were wavering, threatening to drop with each passing second. The scarred muscle rippled with power, settling into a familiar stance that she had taken many many times over the past couple of years.

Mikaela noted that her muscles weren't as tense and rigid as her's were, and it seemed that Andy noticed as well.
"Mikaela remember, you have to be able to move. You can't do that if you're are so tense." She dropped her stance, dragging her legs together to stand straight and dropped her arms to her side, "You can stop, for now, I think we should practice something else for a bit."
Mikaela sighed in relief as she let her body relax, dropping her arms to her side. Her muscles hurt like hell as she reached to take the weights off her wrists. It would be a white lie if she said that she wasn't relieved that they were done training for today.

"Tsh, tsh, tsh." Andy wagged a finger at her, her hip cocked and her other arm over her abdomen, "Keep those on. I want you to know what it's like to carry those babies around for a whole day."
Mikaela groaned, her shoulders slumped, "You can't be serious!"
"Oh, believe me, Ela, I am. It's not easy doing everyday things with these things on and I want you to know what you're getting yourself into before you commit."

Mikaela groaned again but didn't protest this time.
Andy seemed to know what she was doing, and what she said was true. Just having these things on, even when she wasn't using her arms, was painful and felt like something was pulling her arms down towards the ground.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it eventually. Besides they build good muscles mass." She grinned, flexing her own arm to demonstrate, and Mikaela couldn't stop the heat that built up in her belly at the display of the other woman's tanned and muscular bicep.
She nodded numbly, turning the weights around her wrist to distract herself.
Andy looked up at the sky, using her hand to shield her eyes from the hot desert sun, "Let's get inside, it's almost noon. The desert ain't a pleasant place at noon."