Monday evening, Friday and Kella showed up at Wolfram and Hart. Susie was staying at their hotel. She didn't feel it was neccesary for her to attend the training session. Besides, her feet were tired from all the walking they had done at Disneyland that day.
"This is going to be good," Kella said.
"Yep," Friday agreed.
Angel
"Boss," Harmony's voice chirped over the line. "Friday and Kella are here."
"Ok, show them to the gym," Angel replied, standing up from his desk.
"This way please," Harmony said to the girls.
Friday
"Okay," Friday said cheerfully.
Friday and Kella followed Harmony down to the gym. When they got there, they looked around in awe at all the cool equipment.
Angel and Faith
Angel stepped into the gym behind them, walking swiftly to a door at the opposite end. He pressed a button and the door opened, revealing Faith, who was training with one of the martial arts instructors.
"Faith," Angel said.
Faith and the instructor bowed to each other, before she turned and saw everyone.
Friday
"Faith!" Friday exclaimed, then clamped her mouth shut so not to distract her.
Kella grinned at Friday's discomfort.
Angel and Faith
Angel smiled faintly.
"Take a seat," he told the girls.
With a flourish, the training in the other room began. It was quite a sight to be seen, what with one fully trained professional instructor, and one Slayer who had basically mastered every style of combat, thanks to Angel's taking her on a trip around the world to study with the best of the best.
Friday
Friday and Kella watched the combat in awe, both greatly impressed. They hadn't seen most of the moves before, so even watching was a learning experience. It was so intricate, that it even seemed like a dance. It was breathtaking to see.
Faith and Angel
After a few minutes, the pair bowed again, and Faith, picking up a towel, trotted over to the group. She wiped her neck and shoulders.
Angel stood and nodded to her. "Hey."
"In vampiric speak, that means 'Good job, you're awesome, I'm so proud of you, you're ridiculously good looking'," Faith said, grinning at the other Slayers.
Angel merely shook his head.
Friday
Friday grinned.
"That was so awesome," Kella said, eyes still filled with awe. "Are we going to be learning how to do that?"
Angel and Faith
"Well, we'll teach you as much as you can, it took Faith the better part of two years to master all of that," Angel told the girls.
"And an all expenses paid trip around the world, with my very own vampire sponsor," Faith said, nodding. "But you'll learn a lot here. I perfected my technique here."
Friday
"Excellent," Friday said, standing up and rubbing her hands together gleefully. "Shall we get started?"
Angel and Faith
Angel looked to Faith.
"You take Kella," Faith said, sitting down for a moment. "And Lee can take Friday."
She indicated to the instructor, sitting in the other room, being healed by one of Wolfram and Hart's healers.
"I've gotta get healed, then I need to grab some water."
"Ok," Angel said, nodding at Kella. "How far along in training are you? How proficient with weapons?"
Friday
"Okey-dokey," Friday acknowledged.
She decided to wait Lee's healing by doing some stretches.
"Well," Kella said. "I only started training when I entered the school last year. I have the basics of using swords, axes, crossbows. Weapon of choice is actually a dagger. Many girls scoff at this but look at how many I can hide on my person."
She pulled one out of each of her boots, one from between her shoulder blades, and a smaller one from between her breasts.
"My bra had a sheath attached," Kella grinned. "Much apprciated for bending over. Heh. I also have a stake here."
And she pulled a small stake from her hair.
"I'm pretty good throwing my daggers, but of course, once it's thrown it's a little hard to throw again until you pick it up," Kella went on. "On patrol I usually have a larger stake and a long sword."
Angel and Faith
Angel barely batted an eyelid as he nodded. "Ok, I want to start you on some basic warm ups first, some agility and flexibility training."
He gestured to the obstacle course.
Faith went over to the healer as soon as Lee was done and sat down.
Friday
"Cool," Kella said.
Deciding it would be better for warmups not to be armed, she left her daggers and her stake where they were and did a few quick warm ups before sauntering over to the obstacle course.
Friday passed the time by doing some additional pushups and a handstand. At the same time.
Angel
"Ok, I'm going to let you do it at your own pace, then the second time I'll time it, and then we'll compare it after a few more runs, later on."
Angel nodded at Kella.
Friday
"Okay," Kella said.
She clapped her hands together experimentally then started the course. Kella was relieved that he got to do her own pace the first time. The course looked to be particularily grueling, and she wanted the opportunity to 'get to know it' before taking it at speed.
Warmups well and truly done, Friday made her way over to the matt and sat down cross-legged while she waited for Lee, and watched Kella.
Angel
Angel watched Kella, nodding every so often. She was doing well for the first time on the course.
Lee walked over to Friday and indicated that she follow him.
Friday
Kella finished the course and looked back on it with admiration. That was certainly a workout!
Friday followed Lee to another matt (darn, she had picked the wrong one). She stood where he indicated and pressed her hands together in front of her chest.
"First we shall spar. I shall teach as we go."
Friday bowed and the sparring began.
Angel and Faith
Angel glanced over at Faith, who was coming back holding a bottle of water.
"Ok, I'll give you a breather, then I'll time it," Angel told Kella. "What's next for you?"
Faith shrugged. "Gymnastics, I think. Have to strap my wrist first though."
Friday
Kella nodded and took her breather walking around at a mild pace.
Lee knocked Friday flat on the floor, which took her by surprise. Mostly because she rarely got knocked down during spars.
"Arrogance is your biggest enemy," Lee advised her. "Stand. We shall begin again."
Angel and Faith
"Ok," Angel said to Kella. "When you're ready."
And with that, Faith took a running start, and vaulted herself onto the balance beam.
Friday
Kella nodded and walked to the start of the course. She took a deep breath, then launched into it.
After a few pretty good blows that Friday was rather pleased to have gotten in, having actually had some difficulty with this particular opponant, Lee admonished her:
"Do not stop to admire your handiwork. You leave yourself open."
Which he then demonstrated. And Friday was knocked down again.
Angel and Faith
Angel started the timer when Kella started the course, watching to see if there were any areas that were particularly problematic for her. The course covered a wide range of areas, such as agility, balance and endurance.
Faith balanced carefully on the balance beam on one hand, remaining perfectly still and straight. Her eyes had a slightly glazed over look as she concentrated.
Friday
Kella hit a wall, which threw her off balance for a moment. Man! She was doing so well. To her disgust, it cost her a few second to reorient herself and to actually try climbing the wall this time instead of running into it.
"Stop trying to be fancy," Lee said to Friday.
"I'm trying to be unpredictable," Friday replied, having remember Faith's instructions in the class that she had taught.
"Save such for a real battle. To practice unpredictablity in practice only serves to be pattern forming."
Angel, Serafina and Faith
Angel noted a few of Kella's weaknesses to himself, then glanced at the stopwatch. Not a bad time, although, there was room for improvement.
"Hey Faith!" Serafina made her prescence in the gym known as she headed over to Faith.
Faith flipped down from the balance beam. "Hey Kit, what's up?"
"Want to do some fencing?" the younger girl asked.
Faith nodded.
Friday
Kella finished the course and took a few minutes to wind down a bit after the effort going through the course at speed. She rubbed her shoulder, a little sore from hitting the wall, but it should pass soon.
Friday got knocked down again. Twice in one spar? Now this was a novel experience.
"Will and technique are more important than strength and agility," Lee informed her. "They help but to rely on them is folly."
Angel, Serafina and Faith
Angel walked over to Kella and held out an icepack for her shoulder.
"Not a bad time, you had a few stalls though," he said. "We've gotta work on your ability to look further, rather than focusing on what's in front of you."
Serafina and Faith had started fencing.
Friday
Kella nodded.
"Not to mention using my momentum to work for me, rather than against me," she added.
Friday took a moment to regain her breath and composure before continuing with Lee. She looked over at Faith and Serafina.
"Vampire... Oh! That must be Saku's sister. Nyx had one with Angel, didn't she?" Friday thought to herself. She tried to remember her name, but nothing came to her. She shugged it off and bowed once again to Lee.
Angel, Serafina and Faith
"When Faith first started, she was very much in the moment," Angel started. "She thought of nothing more than what she was doing that very second, and it almost cost her a few times. Luckily, that girl has more lives than a cat."
Serafina grinned to herself, half listening to her Dad talk. "Not more lives than me, Da!"
Angel shook his head, a smile on his usually serious face. "No, not more than you, Sunshine Cat."
Faith spun around, bringing her foil down against Sera's. "Awww."
Friday
Kella nodded.
Friday managed to knock Lee down, and was knocked down herself just as she was straightening up. Man, just as she thought she was getting the hang of this...
Angel
"And in ways, you need to be in the moment, but, you must always remember something else will be coming," Angel continued.
He leant against one of the obstacles in the course.
"It's hard to learn the balance, but once you get it, it's always with you."
Friday
Kella nodded again.
"I'll keep that in mind," she promised. "Shall I try again, now?"
"We stop now," Lee said. "Rest. We take up again in five. You need more discipline."
The critisem rankled, but Friday was sensible enough to realise that anyone who could knock her down three times in a sparring session probably knew what they were talking about.
Angel
"When you're ready. Then, you shall swap training with Friday."
Angel held up the stop watch again.
Friday
"Okay," Kella said.
She took a deep breath and entered the obstacle course again. Kella tried to keep in mind the things that she had messed up on last time.
The brief rest over, Friday stood. She and Lee bowed to each other and another round of sparring began.
Angel
Angel watched carefully, noting she had remembered where she'd gone wrong previously, and was correcting it. If she kept that up, her time on the course would decrease immensely.
Friday
Kella hissed, as once again, she ran into the wall. Gritting her teeth, she reoriented herself and climbed up the wall. She knew she had been doing much better until then.
"Better," said Lee.
Friday refused to let the compliment distract her, although it pleased her that she was apparently learning something other than how to get knocked down.
Angel
Angel took note of her failing the wall once again, and thought about techniques to help her overcome that particular obstacle.
It wasn't that she didn't know it was there, he thought, it was more she was too swept up in focusing on it. You had to notice it, but at the same time, you almost had to ignore it completely.
Friday
Kella got to the end of the obstacle course. She felt that she had done a lot better this time, although there were still a couple of places she knew she had messed up, aside from running into the wall again.
"Enough," said Lee.
Friday and Lee stopped their sparring and bowed to each other.
Angel, Faith and Serafina
"Sometimes," Angel began. "You have to be aware but unaware at the same time. You have to plan your next move, but you can't overthink. That, in particular when it comes to the wall, is where you are let down."
He showed her the new time, which was slightly better than the last run.
"You didn't hit the wall on the first go because you were not worried about racing the clock. When you worry, you overthink, and by overthinking, you can sometimes forget other important things. It is a habit we will try to get you to break. And if we do not finish in time, Faith will help you with it."
"I'll what now?" Faith ducked under Serafina's sword, sliding along the ground before flipping to her feet.
"Are you going to go back to Cleveland?" Angel questioned.
"Angel, can we discuss my travel plans later? Teeny bit busy now!"
Serafina snorted, twisting out of the way of Faith.
Angel turned back to Kella. "Enough of the course, rest up, then you start with Lee."
Friday
Kella nodded. It all made sense. Perhaps next time she should forget about trying to beat her time and just do the course?
She made her way over to Friday and Lee.
"Good luck," Friday said to her with a nod.
"Thanks," Kella replied. "You too, Day."
Friday gave her a thumbs up and walked over to Angel.
"This'll be fun," she said, looking over the course.
Faith, Serafina and Angel
"Ahhh!" Faith managed to slide out from under Serafina's sword. "You're a twisty little cat, aren't you?"
"Mmmhmm, I get that from my parents," Serafina replied proudly.
Angel glanced over at the pair for a moment and smiled faintly. It had taken a hell of a long time to get those two to this point of friendship.
"Ok, well, when you're ready, take the course at your own pace. Then we'll time," he said to Friday.
Friday
"Okey-dokey," Friday replied cheerfully.
With apparently careless ease, Friday entered the obstacle course. A part of her was tempted to do it quickly even though it wasn't being timed, but she also thought it would look silly if she did and she screwed up along the way, so she dismissed that idea. Instead she went to the other extreme: casual, but experimental.
Kella joined Lee on the matt. They bowed and the sparring began.
Angel
Angel sat himself down on a chair and watched Friday's first attempt through the course.
It probably wouldn't be as challenging for her, as she was looking ahead, but not too far ahead so as to get confused.
Friday
Friday hopped daintily from one tyre to the next. She hated tyre hopping. At the end of the tyre was a net to climb up, and she began by jumping up onto it, so as to cut down on how much of the net she actually had to climb.
Angel, Faith and Serafina
Angel watched and took mental notes.
Faith and Serafina finished sparring and went to get a drink.
Friday
At last Friday finished the course. She turned her head and looked back on the course with an apprasing look.
"Fun," she said cheerfully. "Could be more obstacles, but on a scale of one to ten, I give it an eight."
Like she had been in very many obstacle courses!
Angel, Faith and Serafina
Angel nodded and looked over as Faith and his daughter walked up.
"When you're ready, take it again and we'll time it. I'll give you a few minutes to catch your breath," Angel told her.
"How's she doing?" Faith asked quietly, settling down next to the vampire.
Angel shrugged. "I'll see more after it's been timed."
"She seems cocky," Serafina put in. "It's not a bad thing, but sometimes when that happens... you die. Like Mama."
Angel reached over to pull his daughter into a hug.
Friday
Friday nodded and as she walked around a bit to catch her breath, she glanced over at Kella and Lee. She gave a mild grunt as she noted Kella wasn't doing much better than she had.
Friday signalled to Angel that she was ready and leapt into the obstacle course.
Angel, Faith and Serafina
Angel started the timer and the trio watched Friday go around again.
"Hmmm," Faith breathed, stretching her arm and twisting her wrist slightly.
Friday
Friday felt one of her feet catch the inside of the tyre. She stumbled forward and ended up running through the rest of her tyres on her hands instead of her feet. Upon reaching the net, she tucked her feet through a couple of the loops. She pusheh herself off the ground and used her feet to help hoist herself up enough so she could grab the net with her hands. Her feet stayed locked into the net for only as long as it took for her to get herself upright again and she clambered up the net and propelled herself into the next obstacle.
Faith and Angel
"How about we be mean and say you forgot to set the timer?" Faith joked.
"Like when Gunn did that to you?" Angel asked.
Faith pouted. "Yes."
Friday
Friday passed the final obstacle and took a moment to catch her breath before wandering over to Angel, Faith and Serafina.
"That was cool. Except for the tyres. Tyres suck."
Angel, Faith and Serafina
"Well, you beat Kella by about two seconds," Angel said, looking down at the clock. "So, that's fairly good."
"Two seconds can sometimes seem like a lifetime in slaying, as crazy as that might sound," Faith put in. "So he's trying to tell you that you did a good job."
Serafina nodded and stretched her arms over her head. "Da, can we run the course?"
"Go ahead, while Friday takes a breather."
"Awesome!"
Serafina and Faith went to start at opposite ends of the obstacle course.
Friday
"Cool," Friday replied.
The she chuckled as she watched Faith and Serafina scramble to the obstacle course.
Faith and Serafina
"Ready?" Faith called out to the cat.
"Mmmhmm, let's do it," Serafina replied.
From opposite ends, both girls started running the course, expertly gliding their way through whatever obstacle they happened to be at. They reached the middle at the same time, high fived, then continued on their way again.
Friday
Friday grinned at the high five.
Meanwhile, Lee had called his sparring with Kella to an end.
"Very good," He told her.
"Very good?" Kella thought to herself. "I've been getting my butt kicked!"
"Now I teach you new move."
That was unexpected.
Faith, Serafina and Angel
The two girls finished the course and walked back over to Angel and Friday, reaching for their water at the same time.
"You guys are getting too good at co-ordination," Angel observed.
"We do it just to freak you out, Da," Serafina replied.
Friday
Friday chuckled.
"Okay," she said, clapping her hands together. "Let's see if I can beat my time."
She walked over to the course, and happened to glance over at Lee teaching Kella some new moves. Say what? He didn't do that with her!
Severely rankled, Friday plunged into the course with a vengance.
Angel and Faith
Angel restarted the clock and watched carefully.
"So, how much do you think you can teach them?" Faith asked.
"Enough for them to be slightly ahead when they go back," Angel answered.
Friday
Friday couldn't stop the smirk from appearing on her face as she nailed the tyres this time around, and knew when she had completed the course that she had beaten her time. Well, not having to haul herself up the net with her feet was bound to shave a couple of seconds off.
Angel and Faith
Angel stopped the clock and compared the times.
"She did better," Faith observed. "I think Kella needs more work on the course, and Friday needs more work getting her ass handed to her by Lee."
"He does teach humility," Angel pointed out. "And if I recall, you learned that lesson also."
Kella
"I'm never going to get the hang of this," Kella muttered to herself, as she picked herself off the floor again.
"Nonsense," Lee admonished her.
Kella looked bashful, not having intended her comment to be overheard.
"You cannot expect to learn in a night what has taken me years to master," Lee went on. "Even for me it is a long process. Learning should never come to an end. You do not 'show off' and you try to refine the techniques you know. This is good. I teach you new moves for you to refine. You will not refine them in a day. To declare that 'you will never get the hand of this' is only true if you fail to practice."
Kella nodded her head, accepting his rebuke.
Angel
"You did a lot better," Angel told Friday. "Obviously, you know your strengths, but do you know your weaknesses?"
Friday
"Well," Friday considered. "I like chocolate. A lot. Especially Malteasers. Except you don't have them here in the States. The closest thing is 'whoppers' and the chocolate on those is so foul it tastes like the cheap easter egg chocolate we get in Australia that's clearly made with substandard ingrediants. I also have a weakness for wanting to bully stupid little blonde ditzes. But I suppose you're talking more any phyical prowess, in battle that kind weakness? I have no idea. I suppose I can only throw my sai with accuracy up to ten metres away, give or take. Is my lack of range a weakness? My mind is vulnerable to telepaths, although I'm working on diciplining it so that it doesn't benefit them to get inside my head."
The memory of Lilly's death was never far away from her mind.
Serafina, Faith and Angel
"There's also a difference between arrogance and confidence," Serafina said, highlighting something similar that Lee had said earlier in their sparring.
Faith was studying her hand, noting a long scar across her palm. She wasn't quite sure when that had happened.
"Range, we can work on," Angel told Friday, shooting his daughter a look. "Also, in regards to the telepathy, have you considered a shield?"
Friday
"Sure," Friday replied. "But the only telepath I know personally is a vampire. Although, my friend Zac's sister is a telepath. But yeah. I personally have been ascribing to the 'think of fudge' method lately. Not that I've had much opportunity to use it. The idea is that your fighting becomes so instinctual that you can think of nothing but fudge - or whatever - all the way through and the telepath won't be able to find out what strategy you're going to use next."
She flicked a glance at Serafina. She wasn't at all arrogant!
Was she?
Faith, Serafina and Angel
"I always think of trees," Faith said absently, scratching at the scar.
Serafina gave her a weird look. "Trees? I think we'll delve into THAT craziness another time."
"Yeah..." Faith drifted off into her own thoughts.
Angel gave the other two girls a sidelong glance.
"If this um... fudge thought process doesn't work, you could always look into a shield. Although, in general, I'm not aware of there being a lot of telepathic vampires. But, of course, we don't have an official record of them. Not an up to date one, anyway."
Friday
Friday beamed.
"Her name is Dylan," she said gleefully. "There were four of us and we were doing quite well against the eleven of them until Dlyan decided to telepathically block the signals from our brain getting to our bodies so we couldn't move. Well, I couldn't anyway. Then he set everyone on... on Lilly."
Friday swallowed. She still felt guilty about that - despite all efforts of everyone else to the contrary.
"Anyway, that's when I turned Dylan into a girl, which was enough to distract him and let go of me. I was so disappointed when she escaped. She came around to taunt me once, and I gave as good as I got. I think she was trying to trick me into changing her back. More fool her," Friday said smugly. "She's a hybrid like me: dath/human. So yeah, double vampire strength. I hope that the hybrid stuff doesn't go too far. Seriously, if I have a double dose because I'm a two-species hybrid, how much stronger would a three-species hybrid be?"
Serafina, Faith and Angel
Serafina exhaled loudly and rolled her eyes, before jumping off the bench she was resting on.
"I'm gonna go get some gelato," she announced.
"Oooh," Faith hummed. "I might join you on that venture, Kit Kat."
The pair left.
Angel looked after them with a faint smile, then turned back to Friday.
"That is something to think about. Anyway, I think that's enough for tonight."
Friday
"Okay," Friday said. "See you later."
"We going?" Kella asked joining them.
"Yep."
"Okay. Well, thanks for inviting us. It's been great."
Friday nodded her agreement and the girls departed.