After zipping up the skin-tight suit over my body, I deftly left with Jayden towards the training center. We conversed for a few minutes on the classes he used to take and some of the sports I played. While he studied the possible values of the angular momentum vector in the non-inertial body frame for a free asymmetric top, I was squeezing another guy into submission by Half-Nelson. Both equally impressive in my opinion.

"Do I need to sign up to train with you guys or..." I said letting the question hang.

"From all the sessions I've been to it's been a walk-in type of training where you can show up and participate. Although it isn't preferable for you since he already has us on training schedules and sparring partners." He answered quickly as if he the information was on the tip of his tongue ready to be spit out at any given moment.

Shoot that was one of the best things when having a coach, the personalized instructions tailored to my specific needs to grow. We talked for a bit more until we reached the training center. Already the grunts of effort, the thumping of flesh upon flesh, and the stank of body odor reminded me of the hours upon hours I spent within these very conditions. But now things were different, physically and metaphysically, this was my time to shine.

Jayden's walking speed was moderate, each step purposeful yet reluctant, due to his sluggish pace when we were a mere ten feet away, I easily overtook him. Practically skipping with giddiness I threw open the door to reveal Heaven on Earth. You know, minus all the pit and blood stains.

In front of me was a clearance that led to the center of the facility. Behind that, large platforms each at least twice the size of a standard MMA ring lined the wall. To my left were the standardly sized platforms each methodically placed only a few yards apart to allow for walking. To my right were a wide variety of training tools, from jump ropes to punching bags. All in all the facility was the size of small warehouses that companies use to store various wares and such, definitely larger than the one back at school.

Various people were sparring throughout the training center though no one was even near the larger ones in the back for whatever reason. On one platform to my left, a pair of men sparring caught my eye. Both were familiar though one was seared into my mind, his body structure, face, and the voltage that was besieged upon me. A lean body, but speedy, his body a blur as he evaded each blow. Ducking and throwing his own against the larger more powerful opponent. Due to my experience in fighting though I could see a wound was slowing down. Sorry, not sorry.

His opponent was a few inches taller than but at least twice as large, and not of fat but of pure, unadulterated muscle. A man I recognized as the one who helped me up a couple weeks ago when Ashley and her tentacles threw out my back. But something else was bugging me, I knew I saw him somewhere else.

A tap on the shoulder rose me from my stupor "Chase you've been standing there for like two minutes" Jayden said.

"Look at those guys" I nodded toward the defiant duo not letting the energy drop.

He glanced at them in mild interest before responding "Both Supers, the one on the left is using an altered form of Aikido to try to deal with his much heavier and stronger opponent who is holding back due to being a Strongman."

Staring at him in shock I asked: "How'd you know that."

"Well the one on the left's agility is much higher than even the peak athletes of our generation can manage, the opposite man's girth and stature are already impressive but if you look closely his every step is deliberate, careful like if he took the wrong step he could break the concrete. Also, he is holding back his punches," He commented.

"See how his fist and elbow are loose when he makes impact?"

"Yeah..." I said in awe of his unworldly observational skills.

Maybe Jayden was who Conan Doyle modeled after when writing Sherlock Holmes.

"Let us head over to Ashley and the others before more we catch more attention" Jayden commented.

Damn, what a guy. But he was right, standing at the door watching was drawing a few odd looks our way. I'll talk to them later. I followed Jayden past the central area where people milled about either watching spars, talking amongst themselves, or talking about the spars that were being conducted. As we approached the group I noticed that the training equipment was also split into two areas. Towards the back end equipment was all significantly darker than those near the front. The metal holding up punching bags, the cloth that wrapped the presuming sand in the bag, even the jump ropes themselves were made of a darker material, a material that seemed more firm.

"Hey guys," I announced to the group of people when I arrived.

The whole gang was here, Ashley was pounding away at the punching bag, I could see some blatant errors in her form and execution but hey who am I to correct. I'll just casually mention it later on without seeming too much of a personal trainer. I hated those type of people at the gym and I don't want to become one. Ashley, had both tentacles out striking in tandem with each strike, either slicing through the air to hit the bag as a whip or wrapping around the bag to allow for a follow up with a kick or elbow on the opposite side.

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Surprisingly Julian was also here, albeit he was just stretching but I noticed a noticeable difference about him. He lost some weight around the midsection and through the suit, I could see some tight muscles throughout his body. Either he went through some P90X these past few days or it has something to do with him being a Super. He also kept wiggling his back like he had an itch or something.

"Hi" Julian said with an amiable nod as he stood up.

But there was a girl I didn't notice yet, a full head and a half shorter than me was a girl that I recognized from a few days ago as the rainbow girl. With freckles and a button for a nose, she was cute, but not cute enough to distract me from my training. But it would be rude not to introduce myself.

I walked up to her leaving Jayden behind to talk with Julian "I didn't get to introduce my self earlier I'm Chase" I said with a little smile that I believed would make any girl in the vicinity swoon.

"I'm Ana! Ashley told me about you earlier!" She squeaked out with an excited smile as a rainbow of color pulsed through a lock of her dirty blonde hair.

Raising my eyebrow at Ashley who just joined the conversation. With hair messily tied in a ponytail and with a sheen of sweat that glazed her body like a donut. Pretty sexy if you ask me, a girl who wasn't afraid to get dirty was hotter than a princess who didn't. But I would take the princess if I had the chance anyway. She flushed at Ana's words for some reason, as if mentioning me in the passing was something to be embarrassed about.

"Hey, First time seeing you here, I'd thought I'd see you here every day since your in the gym twenty-four seven," She said curiously.

"Well, I haven't heard of this place till Jayden mentioned it to me. You guys must've had a meeting about this place beforehand, anyways I'm here now better to make up the time I lost huh?" I answered.

She nodded along with Ana before Jayden spoke up "If you're going to use the punching bags I would advise to use the ones near the front as these are much too heavy to do anything on them if you're not a Super that can properly use them." The rest of the girls and Julian nodded in agreement.

Huh, I guess that explains the different coloring. Wait, then why is Julian over here? Eh whatever but who are they to think I'm too weak? I'm going to use whatever equipment I want, enhanced body or not I'll make it work.

Walking away from the conversation I went through my early stretches and warm up that included static stretches of all the major muscle areas, the groin, back, shoulders, chest, abs, glutes, quads, and arms. Following up I did some quick bodyweight pushups, two sets of fifty and squats the same set and repetitions. After feeling thoroughly warmed up I moved to the corner of the gym away from most of the people to a dark punching bag.

After warming up I noticed a large group that I didn't notice before crowded around Equinox on a platform. Equinox was from where I could see showing how to do a simple combo and talking through the movement. From what I could see most of the other kids were watching him. Am I the only one who didn't get the memo?

My body was ready, itching really to get back into the swing of things. Getting into the proper stance I started things off with a quick combo, left jab, right hook, duck, repeat. Everything was off though, first off, each punch didn't even make the bag move a gosh darn nanometer. I also couldn't feel the sting of the rough skin of the bad make contact. Nothing, just the feeling of pressure. It was odd, something that I'm going to have to work with If I want the sensation of dullness not to impair my training but to aid it. If I couldn't feel the pain I could work even harder, even longer than I could even dream of.

After a few more punches leading to no result of the movement, I moved on to the regular bags all the while burning with shame. The shame of not being strong enough to work with the enhanced bags and of being proven wrong by my friends. But there is no point of ego training, or training with weights or equipment that I wasn't good or strong enough to use. Even I understood that training stupid will only result in stupid gains. And not the good ones either.

After getting set up again I started the combo again. Left jab, right hook, duck repeat. With the punching bag moving due to the force I became more confident in my punches. Each strike hitting quicker and faster, my body moved like a machine, each movement precise. Adding a leg thrust in I kept on going, enjoying the sweat that began to pour off my body.

I switched things up, I imagined an opponent in front of me. As if in a match with quick footwork I moved in circles around the bag, striking and dodging as if I was in a fight. The now familiar pull of my power tempted me as I struck the bag, each punch, elbow, and kick making the bag move further and further back as strength was increased methodically. Letting my power surge through me as it pleases I kept at it, finally with every nuance of strength I could muster my foot flew through the air and made contact with the meat of the bag.

Surprisingly the punching back flew off its now broken hinges and landed a few feet away with a thump. Holy shit, I always considered my self as strong compared to my classmates but nothing compared to this. As I stared at the bag in wonder I pondered how, I mean this isn't normal right? Looking around to find only a few curious glances being thrown my way before minding their own business. Maybe it was.

The cogs in my brain began to chug, the best thing I knew about was myself. Maybe due to me not feeling the fallback of pain from my strikes led me to hit harder than usual? If so hell yeah. Feeling like a badass I began to inspect my body looking for clues to my new found vigor. What I found was crazy, at least to me it was. My knuckles were a dark grey, twirling my fingers around I found it moved with them like a second skin. I brushed my fingers against my knuckles, it was grainy like my skin but rough like the carbon.

Feeling the rest of my body I found that I had similar changes to my elbows, knees, and presumingly my foot. All places that I use to strike, sauntering over to grab the punching back I hoisted it up and materialized some carbon on the chain that carried it. I don't want to be fined for something like this. I should really contemplate on what just really happened or ask Jayden, or Mr.Richards if or rather when I found him again.

I felt it before I heard it. A rumbling in the ground like an earthquake, shaking the very foundation of the building, a testament to whatever was happening due to it being underground. The booming of explosions began to crash all around me, the sound repeatedly pounding on the facility like death knocking on my door. More vibrations rocked the ground causing me to almost lose my footing.

Screams rang out, coupled with the blaring alarm it was madness.

Madness I tell you.