The Dojo only had a few people in it today, with the classes becoming more and more varied, aspirants were starting to prioritize different classes. Alex himself had gone to the rescue field just the previous day. It was harrowing but rewarding in its own way. It was too bad they couldn’t have live subjects to rescue but he understood the logic. Those creepy forge-tech dummy mannequin-things still gave a good response based on the situation. He’d done alright, not great, but it was a good enough score that he didn’t get chewed out like a few who had managed to break one of them during their return trip through the ‘disaster zone’.

Fine motor control was his weakness and he was very much aware of it. His body was ridiculously flexible and strong, but that came with its own problems. Precision was hard and that was why he was here. With Miss Chernovna gone for the week, Black Lotus had shifted from conditioning drills to hand-to-hand combat while the guy from Forge, Axel, handled the drills in her place.

Alex sat on the ground and looked up at the pair that was currently dueling in the center of the room, John had never missed a hand-to-hand lesson. He was obsessed with getting ‘as good or better’ than Miss Chernovna when it came to knife fighting. Alex had never seen the guy that motivated in all the years he’d known him. He didn’t notice himself zone out a little as he thought back about his grim-faced friend going through the motions every day but an elbow to the side brought him back.

He glanced to the right and Lillian raised her eyebrows at him, “You good?” She asked.

“Me? Yeah, why?” He asked only for her to give an urgent glance towards the center of the room.

He slowly turned his head and saw Black Lotus staring right at him. “Are you going to join me, Mister Ellis?”

Ah crap, zoned out, he reached up and scratched his head, hopping to his feet and brushing himself off before walking past a returning John, “Good work out there.”

“Not enough,” John muttered but nodded gratefully anyway.

“Crazy guy,” Alex chuckled and came to a stop in front of Black Lotus who stared at him hard.

“I understand you want to work on fine motor control with your ability active,” She asked, brandishing her training weapon to her side as if ready to deliver a killing blow. “I’ll give you a moment to prepare.”

Alex cleared his throat a little, there was still that level of awkwardness that came from pulling his ability out in front of people. It wasn’t pretty like Snow’s, it wasn’t ‘cool’ like Greg’s, it was thankfully not as bad as Val’s but still, it was rough to look at in his opinion. Then again, his first day of awakening hadn’t been fabulous and the hunger that came with it wasn’t something he was proud of. Yet, thanks to a few words from Miss Chernovna it had all changed for him, perspective wise. They’d been almost silly, but it had hit him deeply.

“Heroes make sacrifices, Mister Ellis, and if all you’ve gotta do is have an aching belly and some itchy scales, then what’s that over saving lives?”

He tensed and clenched his fists. It's just hunger, not a big deal. He thought as his fangs began to grow in his jaw, his teeth changing shape in his head as the itch of the scales forming on his skin spread across his arms and along his neck and chest, covering vital spots and limbs. He felt his eyes grow denser and his field of view increase as his pupils turned to slits. He let out a slow, controlled breath and braced himself. Then the hunger hit, an ache that spread through his guts, a need to consume, a need to devour, a need to-

It’s just hunger, an achy belly, no big deal. He reminded himself and exhaled again, flexing his fingers before looking up at Black Lotus and nodding. “Alright,” He said with a shaky voice. It was the first time he’d done this in front of so many people. Only the Nashville crew knew about his real look.

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“I’ve never seen him change before, that’s badass,” One voice said behind him.

“Are those scales? How hard are they?” Another chimed in.

“Peak Epic, damn,” A third added and he felt the nerves about his appearance evaporate. He’d forgotten that he was around other hero aspirants now, not civilians scared of their own goddamn shadow. Not around classmates who screamed and ran away. Not around that disgusted cop that thought he was a monster on that first day. He took another breath and exhaled, raising his fists in a boxing posture as he fixed Black Lotus with a stare. “Ready.”

She looked at him for several moments before her lip twitched upward with a small smile and she nodded with approval, “Yes, you are.”

She whipped her training sword up at him in a sharp angle and he darted forward and to the right, the blow clacking off the scales of his shoulder. His feet hit the ground and the weight caused the flexible floor to bend down beneath him but he kept moving, darting low to try to snap out with quick viper-like punches that Black Lotus blocked with a shift of her arm. He visualized a snake striking at just the right moment, coiled, prepared, and fast. His skin tingled beneath his scales and he twisted his body, his malleable bones moving with him as another strike came within inches of his throat.

He whipped back like a rubber band, snapping forward as soon as she finished the strike. She hadn’t even taken so much as a step since the beginning of the fight, not even entering a battle posture. He snapped his arm out again as her blade finished its arc, his arm extending to strike her in the shoulder. She narrowed her eyes and took a single step back, the blow going past her. She whipped her weapon up to strike him in the arm but the training blade just bounced off scales. He felt the impact, but it spread across the scales like a buffer. He grinned at her and snapped his arm back, trying to catch the edge on a scale. She pulled her weapon away and entered a proper stance.

“You’re improving,” She said.

He grinned, “I’m just getting started!” He barked and dove in, fists up. He whipped out a kick and it extended towards her. She brought her weapon up to deflect the kick only for his leg to start to bend the wrong way around her torso. She raised an eyebrow and dropped low, sliding out of his attempt to coil her. He clicked his tongue and pulled his leg back, he wasn’t going to waste energy letting the attack finish if it wasn’t going to succeed. He brought it back up and raised his knee, standing on one foot and watched her as she shifted to the right.

“Patient, like a serpent,” Black Lotus commented.

“Miss Chernovna says to embrace what your power means, vibe with it, if I’m gonna be a snake, might as well act like one while I’m fighting,” He said with a grin.

Black Lotus’ eyebrows rose as her lip twitched, “She’s working on that with you already,” She said thoughtfully, “Only a month in. I suppose I should take this more seriously, then.” And drew her weapon up to the side of her head, her eyes fixed on him. “Don’t blink, aspirant.”

She moved so freaking fast, he barely managed to get out of the way when she was suddenly behind him. He turned and raised his arms again, blocking a far more forceful blow that fortunately didn’t get through his scales. He dropped low and swept his leg out, stretching it to deal with her footing. She just hopped over it and snapped out a kick towards his head. He growled and threw his head forward, scales up, and took the kick. He reached up and tried to grab at her ankle only for her to spin and launch off of him like a springboard.

She landed and darted forward again, her attacks coming in faster, blow after blow rained down on him as he pivoted and blocked as fast as he could. In the end, though, he found himself on his ass with the point of a sword at his nose.

“Excellent start, Mister Ellis,” She said and reached out to help him up. He grabbed her hand and she tugged him up without any effort.

Shit she’s strong. I weigh almost five hundred pounds like this. He thought, dazed, and let out a breath as he settled on his feet. The scales began to retract and the muscle on his arms shrank. He exhaled completely and the hunger that he’d barely noticed during the fight grumbled at him. He was going to eat his weight in grub when he got back to the common area. He looked up at her and grinned, “So what’s next?”

She nodded at him and smiled, “Let’s talk.”