Megan and Monet: Flying Lesson

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Monet had fetched a stack of flags out of the gym's store room and set them up in patterns across the room's floor. While she was convinced that flying lessons were best done outside, the combination of early dark and bad weather meant that she was forced to settle for working indoors.  With that done, she settled down to stretch out and wait for Megan.

Megan bounced into the gym, ready for the day's lesson in baggy black track pants and a purple tank top. Flying lessons were definitely her best class this semester, and she was doing some  training with Laurie for her dust powers, too, that seemed to be helping her concentrate on her flying powers as well.

"Hi!" she greeted Monet.

"Hey," Monet said and grinned evilly. "Today's going to be fun, sort
of. I figured we'd do slalom runs and work on turning. Also, dodging," and picked up a large sack of foam balls. A pile of beanbags lay on the ground nearby.

"Ahaha, are you going to launch those at me?" asked Megan, resting her hands on her hips defiantly but grinning happily. "Ok, I'm game."

Monet nodded."Yep and be glad we're not doing this in the Danger Room. My program there usually sends like, canon balls at me, instead of these or has flame throwers involved." The older girl pointed at the course, saying "I'll run it first and you can have a go after that,okay? Once you see how it goes. You have to go to the left of all the green flags and to the right of all the red ones and speed counts."

"Oh... I haven't been to the Danger Room yet." She had heard stories,
however, and her chance was coming soon.
"Okay, I'll try to do what you do."

"It's the best toy ever. You'll get a few runs in there with the New Mutants." Monet tied her hair back as she spoke. "We've got different
flying styles, so don't try to copy my movements. Just go for the patten through the flags, instead." With that, she took off, hurtling through the flags, taking some corners wide for extra speed and curling in tight on others. It sometimes seemed that all Monet had done as a trainee were versions of this run, over and over and over.

Panting slightly, she completed the circuit, panting slightly and landing lightly beside Megan again.

At the signal, Megan leaped lightly off the gym floor and launched into the air. Her double set of dragonfly-like wings clicked furiously as she flew through the course. She didn't make any turns too tight,though she tried, and that cost her some time, but she made it through all of the flags on the correct side. At the end, she hovered a bit in the air before settling to the floor and mopping her face lightly with
her purple arm band. "How did I do?"

"That was really good. You're sort of flailing around a bit on the corners, like you don't know what to do with your legs? Try to keep them together a bit more. You spread them out and you're less streamlined so you slow down." Monet picked up half the bean bags and began tossing them onto the floor around the course. "Can you get the others? I want you to grab all of these and throw them back to me as you go around, okay?"

"Yeah, my legs are pretty weak," Megan admitted, making a mental note
to keep them closer together on the next fly-through.
"Okay, I'll grab 'em and toss 'em," she said as she took off.
She took the first two turns neatly, then zoomed in on the first bag.
Her dive was a bit shallow, but she managed to barely snatch it with
the tips of her fingers.

Trying to keep her momentum up, she swept back up as she scooped up the bag and flung it towards Monet. The throw was with the tips of her fingers, so the aim was a bit off and she thought it hit the floor, but she kept going.

She hovered a little when she got to the next bag, as it was in an awkward spot in the
middle of a turn. She thew the bag to Monet, then took the slow turn and zipped through the rest of the course. It got a little easier after that, and her confidence increased each time she heard Monet grab one of the bags out of the air.
"That's awesome work. Want to run it again or play dodge ball?" Monet
asked, gathering the bean bags into a pile and giving Megan a chance
to catch her breath.

"Let's try dodge ball," Megan answered cheerfully. She pushed a few
strands of stray pink hair out of her face and took a few deep, calming breaths until her heart rate settled down a bit.

"Cool." Monet tossed almost all of the balls in the bag around the room and kept two for herself. "The rules of the game are that you try to hit me with these or the bean bags and I try to get you with the balls. How'll that go with your wings? Because otherwise, you can chase me around the room, throwing shit at me and I'll have to try to tag your feet."

"Okay but I want you to sing out right away, if it hurts, okay?" With
that, Monet took to the air, one ball in either hand and gently lobbed one at Megan as she reached the ceiling and spiraled off in a different direction.

Okay," said Megan brightly, dodging the ball as she zipped toward one of the bean bags lying on the floor. She scooped it up, then glanced about to get a gauge on Monet's position. The older girl was very quick and lithe. Megan wasn't sure how she would be able to hit her, but she flew closer and lobbed the bean bag. It flipped end over end through the air.

In the end, it was a stupid mistake that allowed Monet to be hit. She'd noted the bag and tried to dive past it, reaching for a ball on the floor but hadn't quite managed the turn, catching the bean bag with her face. It maneuver that would have landed even the invulnerable girl a black eye in the Danger Room. Here, it just caused her to made her laugh. "Good" she called, pulling up as she picked up a new ball.

"Sweet!" Megan hadn't expected it to hit, and she was worried when she saw it make contact with Monet's face until she laughed it off. "Uh
oh..." her victory time was short-lived, for the saw the girl
preparing to move. Megan zipped out of her hover and circled away from
Monet who tossed another ball at the pixie's legs.

That done, she stopped to look around for more ammunition. There was
nothing in reach but four or five balls had rolled into the corner of
the room furthest from Monet. She set off toward them, looping around
Megan in an easy curve.

Megan jerked up into the air, not expecting a low shot, narrowly
missing the ball. She saw Monet heading toward the remaining balls,
and quickly tried to decide if she could get there first. She circled
back and grabbed the ball that had just missed her, then flew after
Monet. The other girl would get there first, but maybe Megan could get
her while she was trapped in the corner.

Monet spotted it and, to give the girl a chance, looped the other way,
as though she was trying to fly unpredictably. Reaching the far point
of the loop, she curled her legs in and cannonballed through the air,
spinning as she went. The trick was to stop flying right as she
touched the wall and she almost made it, one side slamming into the
gym's wall. "I'm okay!" Monet called, as she paused for a moment to
orientate herself.

"Really? Okay," Megan responded, lobbing the ball after giving the other girl a second to recover.

Monet simply stopped flying and fell, dropping fifteen feet to land
almost on top of the cache of balls. She grabbed one and tossed it
back at Megan.

Megan had not been expecting the quick drop move. The ball hit her
right on her arm.
"Whoa!" She grabbed the ball before it fell to the ground, but she was
already hit. She circled back and away, trying to decide how to best
get to Monet and the cache of ammo without taking another hit.

"Change of rules, babe, because I've got an unfair advantage right now
between these and my X-Men training - I'll take this ball" and Monet
grabbed the nearest "and you've got the rest." She stood and began to
drift away, slowly, floating on her back and looking up at Megan.

Megan flew over to the pile of ammo while Monet drifted away,
wondering what the best approach would be. She grabbed one ball in each hand and began to circle back towards the other girl. When she felt she was close enough, she tossed one and then the other, a few seconds apart, hoping that the aim on at least one would be good.

Both hit Monet and she dropped to the floor, laughing. "That's good.
How are you going? Want to call it a day or keep going?"

"Yay, I won! Did I win?" Megan flopped down near Monet. "You're so fast. I'm beat."


"You won," Monet said. "You did a good job today, mate. I want you to try to work on speed on your off days outside of training? And, maybe running the flag drill if you can be bothered:" She shrugged briefly. "I never bothered learning to steer for years since, well, I was tougher than most things I'd hit. You can't do that, though."

"Thanks! Yeah, I could get into real trouble if I hit a bird or something. I used to be pretty scared of falling, too. Earlier you did a move where you ducked into a roll and dropped to the ground. Would that work for someone more fragile, like me, if I was falling?"


"I have absolutely no idea. How breakable are you?" Monet gave the unconcerned handwave of the largely invulnerable. "It might work if you're sure you can stop before you hit the ground. "Practice in the pool or something so you don't die."


"I'm not sure," Megan admitted. She had always tended to avoid physically taxing situations until she found out she was a pretty natural flier. "Ooo... do we have a pool on campus?"

 "Yeah, you dork. It's out through that door, there." Monet pointed at it climbed to her feet, offering Megan her hand.

"Ohhh," she said, hoisting herself up with Monet's help. Megan was known to be a bit of a space-case sometimes. Okay, a lot of the time. "It always sounded like echoes and distant water in there. I kind of assumed it was a special training room." Something James Bond would come across.

"Dude. Seriously. Dude." Monet shook her head and sighed at the
younger girl. "Let's get a drink, eh?"

"Okay!" said Megan brightly, following Monet out from the gym, glad to call an end to practice even though it'd been a good one.