No Pain, No Gain

"Alright," you say, sitting on the bed. You grab some 'french fries' in your hand. "But after eating, I'm going to train. I won't be beaten again." You put the fries in your mouth and chew. "These are good. Maybe 'French' does mean 'good,' or something."

　

You, Blackfire and Flashfire sit and watch television as you eat. A news report is on all the channels.

"Today, Rhythmis' most valuable object, the Golden Album, was stolen from the capital building. The Golden Album was a collection of all the greatest songs written by the greatest Rhythmis musicians and conductors, and is worth at least Þ1,000,000 ($5 million)."

"Transgression," you grumble. "He and TS1 must have stolen it, that's why he had to leave during our first encounter."

You finish eating, then walk up the stairs to the garage. Moving and walking will help loosen the burnt parts of your skin better than an elevator.

The garage is closed up, and lit from corner to corner. Rabsy and his mechanics are busy polishing and organizing their tools and machines.

"Already ready to train, are you?" Rabsy asks. "I suppose Blue Bomber will either self-destruct for good or will get defused by Transgression."

"Can it, big-ears," you say. "I'm going to level him next time."

Blackfire smiles at the return of your confidence, but still seems worried.

You stretch your stomach, but only hold out against the pain for a minute. Blackfire notices your wince.

"Saffire," she cautions, "maybe you should stick to excersing your arms and legs."

"No," you say, "I need to learn to tolerate the pain. Somehow, Transgression has learned to ignore it, and that has made him near unstoppable. Learning to endure and ignore pain is how I'm going to get even with him."

You try stretching your stomach again, but it hurts just as bad as the first time.

"My stomach is still too raw," you say as you get into push-up position.

You go down and up once, and the patch burns. You swallow the pain, and force yourself to do another push-up. More burning. A third push-up. Searing pain right between your pectorals.

"So how's that tolerance training going?" Rabsy asks.

"Shut up...!" you manage to say through gritted teeth.