The World in Between

Chapter 12: Training

Vivian shook Lindy awake. "Come on. According to Jolt and Sunset, our powers are super unreliable and dangerous if we don't train. OOO I'm so excited!!" she bounced up and down. 

Lindy sighed and swung her legs over the bed. "Alright. Give me a minute to get ready." After last night, she had been given her own room with a closet full of plain gray suits. They were the same material as the black ones, but without the vibrancy. Lindy pulled one on and twisted her hair into a silky braid. She opened the door to an impatient Vivian, still bouncing. 

"So, apparently, I have a power called Pixel Warping. I can literally make things out of pixels. With. My. Mind. SO COOL! AH!" Vivian started to bounce even higher. "And you can obviously control the currents and stuff. It doesn't really have a name, but whatever, it's still cool!"

At this point, Vivian's head was practically hitting the ceiling, and Lindy had to grab her hand to get her to stop. They reached a large wooden door. "OOH mysterious," Vivian said.

Lindy gave her a strange look. "What is up with you today?"

"I don't know, I'm just so so so so so so excited! Reality finally sunk in I guess!" Vivian pushed open the door and stopped short. "Whoa," she muttered. A huge room was filled with mats, and equipment. Jolt and Sunset were waiting patiently in the middle. 

"Lindy, Vivian," Sunset acknowledged. "First, we'll see what you've discovered by yourselves. Vivian, attack that man."

Vivian looked confused. "Um, where?" 

A clay dummy popped out of the floor, with a real sword in it's hand. It began to glide towards her, swinging wildly. Vivian just had time to duck before it decapitated her. She came up with a sword in hand, which she neatly plunged into its back. 

"Acceptable. Lindy, your turn."

This time, a man surprised her from behind. Lindy lifted herself with a current and flew over to the weapons wall. She loaded a crossbow and hit the man square in the forehead. "Boom!" she shouted. 

Vivian gave her a high five. "What's next?" 

Sunset waved her wing at a high wall, with a few outcroppings. "Scale it, no powers."

Lindy gaped. Vivian vaulted up, grasping a ledge with both hands, leaving her legs dangling. She heaved herself up, with considerable effort, and repeated the process. She sat on the edge, and rang a bell. Lindy tried to beat Vivian's time of 15.23 seconds, and reached the top with a small boost from a stray current. 14.9 seconds. 

Sunset looked sternly at Lindy. "We said no powers,"

"What difference does it make, they're there to help us," Lindy said.

"You need to learn to become self-sufficient. One day, your powers might fail you. Our goal is to make you stronger."

Lindy snorted. "Alright, fine. I get your point." She turned to look at Vivi, but she wasn't there. A cry of pain sounded from the floor. "Oh my gosh! Vivi are you ok?" 

"I told you to stop calling me that! I think so." There were sounds of grunting and heaving. "Nope, my hand decided to die. I think it's broken. I'll look." 

A cry of disgust, followed by gagging came from behind the wall. "It's bad. Ow. Owowowowowowowow. It hurts. Help please." 

Lindy floated down and dashed behind the wall. Vivian was curled on the floor, cradling her arm next to a pile of vomit. Vivian held up her mangled wrist. Lindy gagged and heaved up water, adding to Vivian's generous pile. 

Her wrist and hand had swelled up like a cow who hadn't been milked for weeks, and it was purple and blue. Blood was dripping on the ground and something white... Oh goodness, was that her BONE?! Lindy ran to Sunset and Jolt. 

"It's...It's bad. She's bleeding. It's definitely broken. Ugh, disgusting," Lindy ran to a sink at the back and rinsed her mouth out. She hoped Vivi would be okay. It seemed like once things were finally worked out, another bad thing happened.