A Day At The Gym

Kaylee entered the massive main entrance, the doors sliding silently apart, the cool air conditioning of the climate-controlled building greeting her face. She took in a deep breath, readjusted the shoulder strap of her gym bag, and walked in. Shiketsu was in a constant arms race against the rival school U.A, especially since they had more of the top ten heroes amongst their alumni, not to mention the No.1 hero among their Alumni, Endeavor.
She thought of Shiketsu’s Principal, Karaburan. The Principal was known to have a rivalry for the ages with the rat dog thing that was the principal of U.A, claiming that all his quirk does is bring him to her level of intellect, but she still was clearly envious of U.A’s successes. That had fueled this place’s construction, Kaylee surmised.
Shiketsu’s training facilities were second to none, even U.A. Rather than building up into a grandiose but impractical arena, Karaburan had elected to build DOWN. The surface of the complex was sprawling enough, with the amenities that one would expect from a high-end gym anywhere in the world, such as swimming pools, tennis courts, running tracks, and the like. But the true majesty became apparent as you went down each floor. Each floor expanded to a larger floor plan and “higher” roofs, allowing for more activities at higher levels of power. The side profile of the whole thing would look like a pyramid underground, with only the tip above the surface. Not only was this far cheaper in terms of real estate and property taxes, but the surrounding ground absorbed any shock-waves, thus making the place able to host higher level quirk activities while keeping any destruction away from civilian areas. The whole thing was a marvel of engineering and architecture.

Kaylee walked past the reception desk, saying hello to the receptionists. She was a regular here, training every day, and as a result she had gotten on good terms with the staff. The reception room was more of a hall; past the reception desk there was a canteen that served food and drink, there was a section with computers next to the seating, while to the other side there were glass panes that showed one of the swimming pools. Kaylee noticed that her classmate Victor Sigurd was doing lengths. That shark physique was definitely doing him favors in the swimming department, she thought to herself. She went past the reception, going to the staircase, and began walking down. There were lifts she could use, such as the one that they were led to for the entrance exam, but she liked seeing who else was in the gym and what they were doing.

On her way down, she saw Shinken and Bobby sparring, going the rounds in the boxing ring. She had observed them box before and seen both of them win against the other. Bobby had the advantage in the earlier rounds, the times he won usually being then and often by knockout before Shinken had built momentum. The longer the fight lasted, the more the pendulum swung to Shinken. The train headed student would build up power until by the end he was, well, hitting like a freight train. Right now, they seemed rather even, meaning the likely winner would be Shinken. Kaylee made a mental note to inquire who won later.

Further down, she saw Hifumi in one of the obstacle courses. That one was designed for reflexes and dodging, which seemed counterproductive for Hifumi, whose teleporting quirk made most obstacles irrelevant. It took only a few seconds of watching him before she realized what he was training. Sometimes he would allow a rod or sweeper to hit him, then teleport to conserve the burst of momentum. Other times he would teleport in quick succession, jumping from spot to spot in mid-air, trying to stay airborne. Kaylee stopped watching and carried on after seeing him mess up and land face first on the ground.

Kaylee finally arrived at her destination; the quirk training levels. She had asked, and been granted, a training session with her classmate Jugo. He had a similar quirk to hers; both of them were able of manipulating what was classified as an esoteric form of plasma but was better known under the more classical name of Ki (or qi, or chi, or even chee. However these easterners wanted to spell it.) The point was that they both could manipulate this energy, but Jugo was far more skilled in its use. Apparently, his dad was a fighter of some kind, though not one for the public spotlight. Would explain why he was skilled in the use of his quirk, but his family were apparently farmers out in the countryside. She placed her bag into a locker next to the door, and entered into the booked hall.

“You’re late.”

While a statement of fact, Kaylee was only three minutes late, tops. She looked at her instructor for the next hour. His normally happy-go-lucky, wide eyed face was in a frown. It made him look like an entirely different person.
“Sorry I’m late, but it’s only a couple of minutes.”
“I’ve been here for over a quarter of an hour.”
“What? Why?”
“Warming up. If you want to be at your best you’ve got to prepare ahead of time.”
“Huh.” Kaylee had never needed to warm up. Her physiology meant she never needed to; she was just always ready to go.

“Well, I’m here now, so how do you want to start?”
Jugo floated off the floor. “First things first, movement. I’ve seen you fly, but it’s too sloppy. You’re being too reliant on the amount of power you can output, rather than refining it. Try and use as little power as possible for this drill.”
Jugo returned to the floor, walked into the center of the room, pointed at each of the corners, counting each one.

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. When I call out a number, you fly to that corner. Use as little power as you can, if you use too much then we start again. The point isn’t to not use any, but to not waste any. Got it?”

Kaylee smiled. This Jugo was almost unrecognizable to the one in class, much more serious and mature. She gave a thumbs up. “Ready!”

The next fifteen minutes was just a constant stream of numbers, interlaced with instructions and commands.

“5! 1! 7! Too much power, if I can see it, use less! 2! 4! 2!”

Kaylee was struggling; not from the speed of the numbers being called out, that was fine, but with doing it with as little power as possible. She had had enough lectures from the teachers before; she was considered a powerhouse, but if she couldn’t keep her power under her control, then she would struggle to get very far as a pro hero. Too often when she used her power, she would cause collateral damage, sometimes she would lose her temper. She had to get a handle on controlling herself, which is what had spurred her to train with Jugo.

“OK, that’s enough! Well done Kaylee, you’re much better than you were at the start of this.”

Kaylee dropped down from the ceiling, flying back toward Jugo, who hadn’t moved since the start of the drill.

“That was better, keep practicing like that and you’ll get even better. Next step for you; ranged attacks. I’ve seen you in melee, you have no issue there, but becoming too reliant on being that close to opponents will hinder you against foes with quirks that only work right next to them.”

Kaylee nodded, her eyes narrowing slightly as she thought of fellow classmates who would fall under that category: Chihiro, Victor, Minerva. What’s more, beyond the classroom, how many quirks were there that couldn’t simply be punched through? The more tools she has in her toolbox, the better a combatant she will be.

The next half hour was dedicated to long distance combat; fighting and moving at the same time as well as the various energy blasts. Without needing to restrain her power output, Kaylee was able to cut loose and attack with her full power. She thought she was doing well, firing beams and explosions that were higher than she was tall, until she wanted to see what Jugo could do.

“Come on, show me! You’ve been training for so long, you’ve gotta have some killer moves!”
“You shouldn’t focus on what I can do, but instead on what you can do.”
Jugo was doing his best to look stoic, but he wasn’t the best around girls, and Kaylee was tall enough to be able to just lean over his head whenever he tried to play cool and turn away.
“Maybe you don’t HAVE any incredible moves. Could it be that you are actually weak, Jugo-kun?”
Kaylee’s Japanese was obviously accented, everyone knew she was from England, which made her use of Japanese suffixes both cute and irritating enough to provoke him to action.
“Alright, you want to see what I can do? Okay then. Step back.”
Kaylee raised her eyebrows before grinning, she had gotten her way. She flew back a dozen feet and watched Jugo.

Jugo took a deep breath before entering a stance. He raised his hands in front of him, rotated them in a large semi-circle, before bringing them together and pulling them back to his hip. He gathered his energy between his hands, forming an incandescent sphere. With a shout, he thrust his hands forward, and a massive beam flew from them, culminating in a massive explosion. It was more than twice the size of Kaylee’s, but with volume it was more than a dozen times!

Kaylee was shocked, lost for words for a few moments, before rushing toward Jugo.

“HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!”

Jugo’s already weak stoic exterior crumbled, and he broke into a huge grin while rubbing the back of his head.
“Heh, well, it’s all about keeping your energy inside without leaking it out. The more you can build up, the more can be expelled. See what I’ve been saying now?”
Kaylee felt embarrassed. She had been shown how much further she had to go, but in doing so realized how much she had relied on just her brute strength. Jugo picked up on this and decided to end the training session on a high note.
“Hey, we’re about to finish up, so just for fun, can you show me how much you can power up? With your improvements in training, combined with your strength, I bet you could gather a huge amount!”
Kaylee’s face brightened. She nodded, backed up, and began powering up.

She gathered as much as she possibly could; the power spiraling around her into a pillar. The force it put off cracked the floor around her, the air distorting from the heat. Her head dropped, and her arms tensed, as she channeled as much as she could. She continued to draw her power out, veins popped out, her muscles bulged. Her body was able to withstand far more than any without physical enhancement, but she still had limits. As the air crackled with electricity, Jugo called out over the cacophony, using his ability to control air and wind to make his voice audible.
“OK Kaylee, that’s enough! Bring it back down!”
Kaylee raised her head, and for a moment, Jugo thought she was about to charge him. Her eyes were wide and wild; her teeth clenched and bared. The moment passed, Kaylee seemed to relax, and the pillar of Ki surrounding her dissipated as she released it. She straightened up, and exhaled.
“Phew. That was more than I was expecting! How was it?”
“Y-Yeah, that was great! Let’s wrap it up here, we’ve had a good training session and should end on a high note.”
“OK. Listen, I just wanted to say thanks again. You didn’t have to help me with quirk training, but you did, and I’m grateful.”
Kaylee nodded, or perhaps it was a bow, but her height made it hard to tell. The thanks was so stilted that it came across as scripted, and the resulting moment of silence just added to the awkwardness.
“Yeah, it’s OK, I had fun too. Let’s go, if we stay too long, then the janitors are going to yell at us for making a mess.”

The pair walked up the stairs, discussing various aspects of the training session. As they made it to the foyer, they could see several of their classmates sitting in the seating area. Bobby and Shinken both had a black eye each, with Bobby holding an ice pack on his ribs. Hifumi was cracking jokes, while Victor goaded him on. As the quartet saw Kaylee and Jugo enter, they waved, with Hifumi teleporting over to them.
“Ayy, there you two are! Come on, sit with us! Bobby and Shinken went the full 15 rounds!”
“I saw!” exclaimed Kaylee, as Hifumi teleported all three of them to the table “So, who won?”