Thankfully the blackout didn't trigger any dreams, so I woke up rather quickly. Though, when I did, I found Leslie staring into my face. I could feel her hips mounted on top of my groin as she stared at me with this big grin, and my face flushed immediately. She spoke, teasing me as she patted me up and down with humor, checking for injury. "You didn't die, did you? Nothing's broken? Those were quite the acrobatic moves you pulled."
I did feel hurt, but it wasn't anything to cry out over as I tried to lift up, pinned down by Leslie's light heft. "No, but you could have warned me about the machine ... " she didn't seem to be letting me up, and my eyes found hers as I turned to look at her directly. "Leslie, you heard the Headmaster. I've got training to do. Can't we do this later?"
She was grinding back and forth on my groin now, her light frame moving almost gracefully as she smiled at me, shaking her head slowly without breaking contact. "Nope. We do this now. You and I both need it ... besides, nobody's watching. Nobody's even here, or will be until at least Ten AM, so relax~"
I could feel her luscious soft cheeks grinding against me still as her gentle but hungry gaze drilled into me, and I knew that she wasn't going to back off easily. Her hands had been steadying herself on my chest, and I smiled, pulling them out from under her and watching Leslie lose her brace and fall down onto my body.
I wrapped my arm around her and began to hotdog my newly hardened bulge into her horny cheeks as a way of getting back at her for taking advantage of me. I felt her body shiver as it responded to my stimulation, and I whispered to her gently. "Training first, fun later~" her gaze found mine as I added onto the promise, knowing I'd have plenty of opportunity to keep it. "Tonight or later today, with Victra and me. We'll make it a threesome. You can get in, right?"
Leslie nodded, her eyes a little fogged over from the lust. I raised my arm off of her and she began to get up. "Back to the grind." I said as I joined her on my feet, trying to clear my head of the lewd thoughts swirling around inside of it. I felt myself go down, and I focused on the cannon again with a more relaxed composure this time as Leslie took her place next to the machine. She breathed deeply, bringing herself back to reality. "Okay ... are you ready, James?"
There was a wistfulness in her voice, but she seemed more or less focused now. I nodded, deciding on the method I'd be using to defend against the balls. Leslie hit the button and the shooter thrummed to life, immediately firing off a rubber shot at me. Leslie must've tampered with the settings because it wasn't nearly as fast as last time. I dodged it, and the ball hit the net with an inaudible thunk.
The machine followed up with another shot, and then another. All of which I dodged, already having gotten hit once and not intending to repeat that. I could still feel the place of impact. It throbbed, and I thought it might've been bruised. I ignored it, instead using it as motivation to move faster.
The balls kept coming, and I could have sworn the machine was speeding up. Not that that should have surprised me. Back in my day, we had shooters like that too. It took me a little adjusting, but I managed to acclimate to the new speed. It was going well until the machine decided that one wasn't enough, and ended up firing two in a row. In the unexpected confusion, I panicked. Freezing up as the two shots hit home in my gut.
My hand immediately went to my stomach as if to brace against the pain It hurt ... but they weren't as fast as the first. I heard Leslie hit the button and watch me, concerningly. The pain quickly began to recede, and I almost told Leslie to start it back up when I heard the door to the elevator ding across the quiet space. It was a faint noise, but echoed all throughout the floor. I turned towards it and heard Leslie sigh exhaustively. She spoke, and I could have sworn she sounded annoyed. "She's up. Everyone's favorite student."
I turned toward Leslie and spotted a light frown creasing her expression. "Who?" I asked, already having a good Idea of the person she spoke of. Leslie pointed towards the group, her finger landing on the person at the fore, leading them to any one of the platform porter pads. "Chasey, James. I doubt she'll be coming up here, but just Incase you might want to be prepared to head out."
I nodded, and turned towards the ball machine as I asked a question. "I've already dealt with enough of her to last me a life time. Let's finish up here and take my training somewhere else, then." Leslie nodded, and we turned on the shooter to resume.
It was another thirty minutes in, and I'd been making good progress. The movements came easier, and I was feeling more confident about my skills. We were about to call it when the group we'd spotted earlier teleported in on us, appearing at the same spot we'd come in on. I didn't even need to think hard about it, there's only one reason they'd be here, and it wasn't ball practice. "I thought I heard someone up here! Though I had no idea it'd be my favorite practice dummy."
Chasey was at the head of the group as the group behind her watched with little interest. Apparently they wanted no part in this, but Chasey sure did. She began to walk over, and Leslie intervened. Stepping in front of her in clear defiance as she spoke. "Keep to your business, or I'll have you reported."
Chasey stuck her face in Leslie's and smiled arrogantly as she clutched her own hips with both hands. "Report me for what? I've come to practice, just like you two." I glared at her obvious retort as I spoke up towards Leslie. "If she wants to practice, we should let her. We can always come back when she's not here, Leslie."
Leslie ignored me. Chasey had apparently lit a fire underneath her as they stared each other down. "Go back to your platform, Chasey" she said. Both of them stared at each other for a while, an intense silence growing between the two, but after a minute or two, Chasey sighed. Turning to her companions as she spoke. "You're annoyingly, but I don't need the Headmaster breathing down my neck." Chasey stepped past her group of followers onto the porter pad, and vanished. Saying a final word of warning. "We'll settle this on the War Games. Believe it ... "
The foremost person of the group looked at the both of us sadly, like we were about to join the dead a second time. "I hope you know what you're doing, Les." He was the only male among the group, and he looked like an athlete. Tall, fit. A light tan and a face that you might see in a model magazine. Without introduction, he led the group back down through the porter.
Leslie looked like she might suddenly combust. She was breathing hard now as she let go of the moment. I felt like I needed to do something, and took a step toward her as I placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping the feeling if another might help her calm down. "Thank you for that." I thought I might get squared in the jaw, but after a few moments Leslie turned to me and laughed. A fake smile plastering her discomfort. "Of course, James."
I looked at her as my hand rejoined my side, and a question I'd put off in the moment came to me as Leslie finished calming down. "What are War Games?" I asked. Leslie nodded, seeming to acknowledge the question as she spoke. "They're exactly what you think they are. Two teams facing off in violent competition. Don't worry, James. The War Games are optional. The school put them forth as a way to provide real-time experience to those who need it."
I don't know why, but I wanted to be a part of this. I responded almost immediately, my voice almost getting the better of me. "Can a Freshmen compete?"
Leslie nodded, giving me a closer look as she hugged her Mid-raft and spoke. "Of course, but the War games are tough. If you're going to join them, we'll need to do some training with weapons." I looked over at the platform I knew Chasey was on and asked another, hoping that her answer was to my liking. "The school has multiple rings for each training style, right?"
Leslie blinked, clearly a little confused. She responded to my question. "Yes. Don't worry, we won't be training with Chasey." She pointed across the floor to another platform that was much the same as the one we stood on, except for the equipment. Training dummies and weapon racks of variety. I nodded and turned back to Leslie, speaking with purpose as I felt the need to continue on over there. "How about we get started, then? I don't know about you, but after Leslie came over here this ring has started to turn my stomach."
Leslie smiled and waved a hand out in an After You gesture. I wasn't completely up to snuff in the manners of this new Era yet, as everything seemed backwards, so I took the lead and made my way over to the porter pad to head on down. I stepped on and turned around, and Leslie slipped in next to me to join me as we vanished from the ring.
People were trickling in now, but the grand room was still relatively empty. We had no problem making our way to the new platform. On the way, Leslie was explaining something, but I hadn't been paying much attention till now. Zoning in, I caught some of what she'd been talking about. " - sometimes they switch the numbers up, or add new rings, but every platform has its own designation. The one we're going to is called Dummy Platform 43. It's used for sparring too, but usually people just go up there to whack on wood. We're almost there, Pierce."
We approached the pad, and met up on top of the ring. My eyes immediately zeroing in on a fit young man who looked to be in his late teens. He was hammering away at a training dummy with vigor and looked to be sweating something fierce. His shirt was soaked, but he was barely breathing through the movements of his practice blade. Leslie struck first and spoke, greeting the lone student as we approached. "Good Morning, Sven."
Upon hearing her voice, the young man Sven turned. He must've been hyped in the moment because when he stopped his rotations his breathing became labored. He smiled through the sweat and exhaustion and walked toward us. "Good Morning! Who's this, Les?" He said, turning to me inquisitively.
Leslie quickly introduced us so we could move onto training. "This is James Pierce, Sven. He's a little new to our Academy." I thought to myself, haven't I already been here about a month? I didn't mention this to Leslie, though, and let her keep talking instead.
She smiled back at Sven, and he seemed a little lost for a moment as she did. His attention had been drawn back to her after she introduced us. He spoke. Sighing, and then nodding to Leslie as he pointed behind himself to the unused dummies. "Well, nobody's here yet. Find a dummy."
Leslie led us over to one of the practice dummies as Sven went back to his training. I spoke up as we stopped, trying to keep my voice low. "Do you two know each other?"
She nodded, pointing to me. Her finger pressing into my chest lightly. "I want you to conjure a practice blade, James." I looked at my hands as her touch left me and thought about it. It was a big object, one I didn't know if I was ready for. But as I visualized the wooden sword in my grasp, I began to feel it taking shape until I opened my eyes to find it in my hand. It had an almost perfect weight for me. I looked up at Leslie, wondering if It turned out alright and ended up voicing my concerns. "Good?"
She nodded and took hold of it by the blade and slipped it out of my grasp to examine it. "I'm still so amazed at what you can do, James. Your power is so versatile, though you might've made the blade a little too sharp." She handed it back to me and smiled as I took the hilt in my grip again, then pointed towards the dummy. "Shall we begin?"