There had been a time when Locke was still new to his powers when he was set up for a Danger Room session with Cold Steel. The two of them both made golems with their respective elements. Back then Locke had major issues with any session in the Danger Room. Mostly it was that his earth sense tended to speak up and told him that the earth he felt was not really there. The Danger Room could create very convincing visuals, and even smells that would trick your mind, but Locke's earth sense saw past that. At the time he also could not tolerate the idea of having his head covered up. Time had helped him to grow in his powers, and he even had managed to work past some of the stagnant emotional issues that he had not dealt with after his father's death. These days Locke still needed to have a light at night to ward off the encroaching darkness. He probably always would, but having the earth cover up his head did not hold the same paralyzing fear over him. Not since he had to bury himself to avoid getting electricuted fighting that strange monster beast with Saph.

Now he was very good with his powers. Locke was one of the younger members of the X-Men, and his very first mission had been shortly after he had passed his exam with Mirror supervising him from the booth. It was time for a new session with CS, now that Locke had gained more mastery over his mutation. Last time he had managed to surprise the leader by pulling CS's body partially into the ground. Earthwalker liked that little trick, and it came in handy for getting the upper hand in a battle when he looked to be outnumbered. Of course CS knew of this trick and was not going to fall for it again. But there were other tactics that Locke had picked up on, and he wanted to see how they would fair against the older man.

"It's been awhile," Locke said to CS. Ever since Locke had hacked his hair off he had kept it short. He leaned his head one way and then the other, a loud crack echoing in the empty Danger Room. His winter exams were coming up and when Locke spent too many nights studying he tended to get stiff in his neck. College was going well, at least with the classes that had to do with his major. Locke was determined to do well, with how much crap he had gone through getting into college and putting up with these frat boys. "Your joints haven't gone bad with age have they?"

Sam smirked having a partial buzz from early day drinking, it had been a while since Sam had seen Locke however he had heard of some of his exploits since they last sparred in the danger room. Locke then hadn’t had a ton of control over his abilities however he still showed promise. If Sam hadn’t been thrown into the adapt to survive mentality that was with T.A.T.M.A.H. Sam was confident Locke would have had more control over his abilities than Sam. However Sam had to learn fast or die it was pretty simple.

”It has Rocky.” Sam pulled one arm then jerked his neck to the side allowing a loud crack to be heard. Sam continued to loosen up as the danger room already started to change to a North Canadian Forest filled with snow, rocks trees and other various wildlife. A river or a stream could be heard in the distance as he cracked his own neck the other way. ”Maybe.” Sam said with a shrug, ”We should find out huh? Hopefully this shouldn’t take too long, I don’t want to kill my buzz.” Sam waved his hand forward and a hand erupted from a snow pile followed by the rest of the ice golem as he pulled himself out.

"I hate that sound," Locke said when Sam cracked his neck. Something about the sound just sent a sharp spike of electricity straight into Locke's spine. Maybe it was because it was too similar to the sound that his leg made after the car crash, or maybe it was that he had told Chris countless times not to crack his knuckles. It was like Same's neck was a plastic water bottle that someone was crushing. There was a study recently that suggested that cracking knuckles, so maybe joints in general, benefited from being cracked. It allowed water to move more freely through the joints there and releasing some of the tension that was there. Still, Locke was trying to keep a positive attitude, so he did not complain further about it, nor did he make a comment when Sam started up the program.

Unless it was someplace like an iceberg or Antarctica there would always be something that Locke could work with in a place that also served Sam's needs. His problem with this snowy setting though wasn't how it froze the ground for at last a couple of inches, thus making the dirt harder to work with. One of the first materials that Locke had mastered working with was concrete. It was in abundance in the city and made mostly out of two materials that Locke could work with, and it was much harder than slightly frozen ground. It wasn't even a matter of how the dirt felt tired underneath the snow and was not all that eager to move. Locke was a stubborn sort, and his will was stronger than the lazy earth.

Locke just didn't like the cold.

His uniform was warmer than looks would suggest. GLoves would have kept his hands warmer, but there wasn't much call for them with his mutation. His boots on the other hand did little to keep the chill away. He had thin soles on his boots to better his connection to the ground and it did not keep the cold out. Still Locke's jaw was firmly jet and he became focused. He was no longer the slightly awkward young man, but the competent Earthwalker who fought off a volcano to keep his companions safe. He made no movement with his body but suddenly he was shot straight up in the air, standing on a massive hand.

The hand moved him forwards, like he was surfing on top of a wave, headed directly towards Cold Steel. Normally when Earthwalker was using his powers he was on the defense. His powers lined up very nicely with his natural tendency to protect others. On occasion though he was more aggressive. This first strike was not to over power his sparring partner, but to get more of the earth up where he'd be able to use it quicker. There was something to be said about the unexpected speed that Earthwalker could get out of some of his materials. He'd been working especially hard with sand lately.

An eyebrow was raised when the snow or rather his snow (seeing as it was all his in this setting) made way for some dirt to support Locke. The Earthmancer rose from the ground on a hand and started to move towards Sam quickly. Turning in a small circle and crouching Sam formed some dense ice spikes to act as a barricade to slow Locke down. They looked sharp because they were but if the kid had improved this much with his abilities then he’d be able to counter it with ease.

The crouch turned into a jump that was propelled backwards away from Locke and the mudslide Sam could have done more to counter it but Sam wanted to see how Locke had grew as an elemental there was a time when all he could do was feel with the earth. It had been some time and while Sam hadn’t seen Locke in a while he had heard about some of his feats not all but some, enough to remind Sam that the kid was still an asset to the team and school.

”I can already see an improvement.” Sam said while he was falling to a nearby hill covered in snow. He landed as the snow came up to greet him and he rolled until he was on his feet again. ”I forgot how good your eyesight is. Bad right?” Sam asked as he kicked some snow, which erupted into some fog. Sam turned and kicked up some more snow adding to the fog.

Taking a few steps back on the snow and willing more fog to form Sam smirked as he disappeared behind a tree into the dense fog. ”I doubt you can level a large area but I’m curious to see how far you came along.” Sam said with a cocky tone.