Rebecca was up at dawn, but what was usually a chore just getting her butt out of bed felt downright easy. Maybe it was the new influx of balance and happiness in her life, or maybe it was the promising spring breeze filtering through her window screen, but Rebecca was on her feet and changed in no time.

Her clothing was not much of an issue-- just a pair of soccer shorts, an old t-shirt and trainers. The importance was in her accessories: she had her wide bangles strapped tightly on her wrists, with anklets of a similar style bound to her ankles. Those four focus points had proven in the past to provide lackluster balance for pressure, so she had invested in a new belt that was far too industrial to be her style, but might prove its worth in practicality.

Rebecca ventured onto the mansion grounds, where the weather was more of what she expected from her window: warm and breezy. Ideally, the mansion would have a gym with metal weights for her, but that had yet to turn up in her exploits, so she made due with what she found.

In this case, there was a shed on campus that no one seemed to use, but was conveniently filled with scrap metal of various sizes, shapes and weights.

Rebecca pushed open the door since it was never locked, focusing on the room of treasures that was flooding her field-sight. She lifted several medium sized pieces of square metal and brought them out into the open.

Since making an unspoken commitment to becoming an X-Man, Rebecca had been training as diligently as she could manage. The results were optimistic: she was able to control more weight for longer durations, which was to be expected considering how much of a novice she was on her arrival to the states. She had even reached her target: being able to carry enough weight that she should be able to sustain her own weight. Flight-- or rather, levitation, was almost within reach.

Unfortunately, it was now a practicality issue. She could lift herself up by the bangles, but that meant her full weight being supported by two fleshy wrists. The attempts were grand failures and she had bruising and cuts to show for it. Even by spreading out her weight over four points, her control was off. She was hoping something around her midsection, (namely her belt) would stabilize her.

For now though, she would focus on her normal exercises. Three plates of metal circled around Rebecca, and she closed her eyes, focusing solely on their place along the magnetic field. She constricted that area, her groaning of exertion being matched by the groaning of metal slowly giving way and bending, before crumpling. It took considerable effort, but eventually, the pieces of metal were crumpled into... well, "balls" in the same way paper is crumpled into uneven, jagged balls.

Rebecca opened her eyes and noticed the nearest three trees, not putting much thought into what or who might be near them, and propelling the three chunks of metal at the three targets.

The wolf girl would walk out onto the Mansion grounds wearing a simple pair of sweats, her normal garb for her early morning workouts. She decided not to put on her leg weights today because she had been training plenty with them as of late and she didn't think she needed them today.

The fresh morning sun bathed the redheads face with a familiar glow of light, warming her bones for the day ahead. She would start out stretching, her long, muscular arms and legs needing a good stretch before workouts in order to avoid strain, loosening herself up for the rigorous routine ahead. She took at least 10 minutes to do so, rolling her head around, stretching herself just enough, but not too much so she would be comfortable while working out.

Her first bit of her workout would be cardio and that involved running, so off she went, jogging lightly across the wooded campus of Xavier’s school without any real thought in her head. She could have ran down in Central park but there had been a string of attacks there recently which convinced her otherwise, it wasn’t that she was afraid to go, she just didn’t want to interfere too much in the Police’s investigation. While this wasn’t like her at all, being a Vigilante and all, she knew they were on the right track this time and knew there was no reason for her to interfere, the guy who did it left pretty clear footprints and it wouldn’t take that long to find and convict him, Emerald could already tell they were planning a sting operation on the guy that did it so it wasn’t her job to go find them, at least this time anyways.

While jogging lightly across Campus, Emerald couldn’t help but catch an unfamiliar scent, making the fur on the back of her tail prickle a little. Whoever they were, their scent was coming from her little Sisters shed, something that Emerald could have sworn she had told Ruby to lock before she left for her parents’ house. The she-wolf watched as a young redhead dragged something out of the shed, setting up something or another, the wolf girl really didn’t pay attention to the rest of it, she walked up semi near the tree, but not close enough that she was standing on top of it, but far enough away so she had some distance between it.

“Oi, what are you doing rummaging through my sisters-HOLY SHI!T” Emerald exclaimed, diving out of the way of the stray metal freaking death trap, nearly getting hit by it. She landed on her feet gracefully as usual, but was still obviously shocked by nearly getting hit “What the hell was that?!” Emerald snarled, glaring up at the metal manipulator with burning anger in her eyes. The wolf girl never took too kindly to being nearly pegged by something.

>> “Oi, what are you doing rummaging through my sisters-HOLY SHI!T! What the hell was that?!”

Rebecca's eyes were closed tightly until she caught the sound of shouting obscenities through the splintering of trees colliding with metal. Her eyes opened just in time to see a strong-looking woman a little older than Rebecca herself. She was diving through the air, landing effortlessly back on her feet. She was clearly a mutant; after all, a tail was often a dead giveaway.

"Ah'm sorry! Are ye okay? Did Ah hit ye?" Rebecca spoke hastily, panicking at the idea that she carelessly struck someone. The woman did not seem to show any evidence of being hit, so hopefully she dodged it completely. Rebecca thought to move closer and check to be sure the wolf-woman was okay, but was frozen by the eyes glaring at her. It was probably smarter to keep her distance.

Her mind finally began processing what was said before the chaos ensued, and much to her dismay, the shed was apparently not as abandoned as she had assumed. If the woman had finished her thought, she would have most likely told Rebecca the shed belonged to her sister. Already clearly in trouble without trespassing being added to her crimes, she tried to explain. "Um, th' shed seemed like no ain was using it, so Ah jist come here sometimes to train." And almost decpitate unsuspecting passerbies. "Ah'm sorry, Ah didnae know."

After recovering from that nearly being hit by flying metal experience, Emerald brushed herself off and would glance up at the young redhead who fired them at her general direction in the first place. The girl looked a little worried and if Emerald didn't know any better, she looked as if she had just been practicing using her interesting, if not dangerous abilities.

"Nah you didn't hit me, though you should really work on your aim," Emerald explained, glancing at the girl thoughtfully.

She had been in that position once, not really knowing how to control her abilities and though her abilities have to do with shifting more so than anything else, she had been in this situation before. Out of anyone, Emerald Lupin definitely knew how it felt to not have full control over her abilities. While she had full control over her wolf and human form, her third form was still an untamed animal and acted as such, she had really no control over that form with the exception of when her arms would shift, otherwise she was SOL.

As for The metal manipulators apology for rummaging through her sisters things, Emerald understood why she did it, the shed did look abandoned without her little sister's constant work going on. That and all of Ruby's robots had been moved so it didn't really look like a work shed it looked more like a junk shed.

"It's alright, ya didn't know. My little sister took most of the robots out when she went home to train with mom so you didn't break anything," Emerald took this moment to pause, drumming her finger on the tip of her chin. "So are you trying to train without anyone helping ya? Have you ever done extensive training before, it's not as easy as it looks. I'm surprised you haven't gotten one of the teachers to help you."

While Emerald was trying to sound helpful,she knew herself well enough to know she sounded a little abrasive about it. But, she was legitimately curious, because she didn't see many people training alone out here beside her.

>> "Nah you didn't hit me, though you should really work on your aim."

Rebecca was not moving from her spot, even when the other woman spoke. It appeared that the tension of the moment was finally leaving, with her unintended target brushing herself off. The comment did not sit perfectly with Rebecca. Mah aim was fine... Ah hit th' target, ye were jist in th' way. She refrained from saying anything because the comment would have sounded rude, which was not like Rebecca. Instead she muttered, "Sorry." After all, she could have seriously harmed the girl, she thought with a pang of guilt.

>> "It's alright, ya didn't know. My little sister took most of the robots out when she went home to train with mom so you didn't break anything... I'm surprised you haven't gotten one of the teachers to help you."

Robots? The Mansion was always throwing new surprises at her, even if they no longer resided there. The idea that a former student spent her time constructing machines and robots did validate why they would have a shed full of metal in the first place.

As for Rebecca training on her own, "Um, Ah've sorta been a little self-conscioos trainin'... tryin' tae teach myself new things sae, well, Ah can git good enough." There was a self-defense teacher after all, Mr. Johnson. She had no problems with training in front of him or anyone else really, but her failed attempts at floating were... well, more personal. She would show others when she figured it out.

Rebecca finally eased her posture and took a step toward the girl, trying to be polite, offering a handshake. "Ah'm Rebecca."

While Emerald Lupin wasn't known for being apologetic, (well except maybe to a few people), she did feel a little bad about this. This girl was clearly trying to train herself in order to get better at her powers and what was the first thing she did? Insulted her. While Emerald wasn't all that in touch with peoples feelings, she knew certain body language when she saw it. It was never intentional by the persons fault but to someone with an animal like mind like Em, she knew all too well what that meant.

It meant she screwed up and if there was one thing Ruby nagged her about before she came back here, was to apology if she screwed up.

"Hey, don't feel bad, I was sorta interrupting ya anyways," Emerald started, biting her lip a little with that sharpened tooth of hers. "So you're training out here all alone? That's something I can relate to, I'm out here usually around this time every day training myself mutant powers are a pain to control. If ya need any help though...I could help, I've been able to control my own powers for a while now, I can now open a door without ripping it off the hinges,"

While Emerald had never been that bad with her powers, her slight joke and chuckle at the end was just to ease the tension a little. Even if her jokes were sort of awful. She did want to help though, while she couldn't control her mind that well when she was in her wolven forms, she could sure as hell control her body in her normal wolf form (most the time) and that wasn't that easy. It took a lot of concentration and strength on her part and that was something she would be more than willing to teach others.

"Emerald, Emerald Lupin, It's nice to meet ya Rebecca." Emerald told the other redhead, giving her hand a hardy, werewolf handshake, not shaking it that hard before releasing it.

Mostly.

She never said she had perfect control.

>> "Hey, don't feel bad, I was sorta interrupting ya anyways. So you're training out here all alone? That's something I can relate to, I'm out here usually around this time every day training myself mutant powers are a pain to control...."

Rebecca could feel her muscles loosening up, finally relaxing as Emerald's voice was no longer tense. With the initial moment in the past, she even seemed nice, reminding Rebecca that she should be ashamed for jumping so quickly to judgment.

As for Emerald's mutation, it obviously had to her tail and fierce features, not to mention the great strength she spoke of and the agility she displayed; if Rebecca were to guess, Emerald seemed like she was cut out of a werewolf movie. "Really? Ye mist be sae strong!" The girl had quite an athletic build. (Did she find that attractive? She was still getting used to the whole "liking girls" thing and was barely sure if she was attracted to "girls" or just Agnes.)

The handshake was strong, and Rebecca was not sure if it was intentional or this was just the strength-level Emerald operated on. "It's nice tae meet ye!"

Rebecca was fine with the new company, but she was not sure that she wanted to practice hovering while Emerald was around. She would probably just continue with conventional training. "Yeah, Ah've only been a mutant fer a few months, sae Ah want to get better wi' my magnetism. Ah need tae get stronger." She had to become an X-Man eventually, and training seemed like the most logical path.

The she-wolf's muscles her not as tense as they had been before, now knowing that Rebecca wasn't going to try to annihilate her with a piece of metal. The knowledge that someone wasn't going to try to kill her just this once was a reassuring one to say the least. It's not that that sort of thing happened all the time. Just lately, Emerald had this habit of making people angry and them trying their best to wound her in some way shape or form.

It of course never ended well for them but she gave them an A for effort.

"I would like to think so, I'm stronger on the full moon, but I try my best to isolate myself for that lovely part of my mutation," Emerald explained, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "The rest of my strength is from the whole working out every day and training thing, I try to keep as fit as I can so I can be ready for anything."

It was true, Emerald usually trained in order to be hyper vigilant to everything around her. She was still caught off guard at times, which was usually the most embarrassing thing for her. It felt as if she was caught with her pants down when she was caught off guard, it was always so unexpected and nerve racking when it happened. Speaking of the unexpected,Rebecca mentioned getting stronger which was something the wolf girl completely understood.

"If ya want to get stronger ya gotta get stronger in multiple aspects of yourself besides just your powers," Emerald informed, her voice sounding very sagely. The werewolf looked at the metal manipulator for a moment and decided to take a random shot in the dark. "Is there someone you want to protect? Because most mutants I see out here aren't up nearly this early trying as hard as you seem to be, when they train their powers. "

>> "I would like to think so, I'm stronger on the full moon, but I try my best to isolate myself for that lovely part of my mutation. The rest of my strength is from the whole working out every day and training thing..."

So Rebecca was right in assuming the woman was some sort of werewolf being, rampaging in the light of the full moon. What was more impressive was that most of her strength and agility was earned not from her mutation, but from her rigorous training.

Rebecca had been so focused on improving her magnetic abilities that she was shirking physical training. She was on a local football team, so she was getting regular exercise in, but it was clear that Emerald was the evidence in favor of intense physical training.

>> "If ya want to get stronger ya gotta get stronger in multiple aspects of yourself besides just your powers. Is there someone you want to protect?"

Something to protect... "Ah do. Ah want tae be able tae protect mutants from th' people who are jist scared and ignorant. Ah..." She wondered if it was right to share her true intentions with Emerald, a woman she just met. "Ah want tae be strong enough tae be an X-Man, sae no ain suffers like the person Ah care aboot most." She refrained from sharing who the person was or what she went through, because it was Agnes's private business, and it was hard enough for her to share her past with Rebecca.

It looked like this girl that nearly kicked her tail with a piece of metal was more interesting that Emerald expected and by interesting, that meant awesome. If there was one thing Emerald could get behind it was training to improve yourself not just for yourself but for others.

If there was one thing that a lot of people didn't know about the wolf girl, it was she always tried to train herself not just for herself but for others as well. Unfortunately though, she was viewed as the renegade X-man, someone who didn't play by the rules and was sometimes demonized by the other students because of it.

"An X-man huh?" Emerald asked, with a curious tilt of her head, looking a little bit like the questioning gaze of a young dog. She would glance Rebecca up and down, noticing certain things about her, parts that could maybe improved with a bit of training from the right person.

This was when the she-wolf took in Rebecca's scent and caught...something quite interesting, a small grin appearing on her face. "You better get training all parts of ya first. You gotta be fit in mind, body and abilities...if ya wanna protect Agnes' that is. And before ya ask, her scents all over ya."

Emerald would grin coyly at Rebecca, tail giving that mischievous wag that she was so famous for, she knew it would probably embarrass the girl, but she didn't mean anything by it. She was just stating the simple fact that she had found out Rebecca's protected one fairly quickly.

"Need help training? I may not be the ideal X-man to train you in that dumb as hell morality they try to drill into the new recruits heads but I can sure as hell make you prepared for anything." Emerald offered, shrugging her shoulders a little.

There was something about the way Emerald analyzed her that felt like she was being peered into, and read thoroughly. Apparently, there was truth to that, because Emerald's nose left her stone-cold busted. Rebecca showered the evening before once she was done watching a movie with her beloved. "Quite th' nose there... yeah, my girlfriend is th' one Ah wannae protect. She's had a rough life." Rebecca was blunt, because it was more readily available knowledge that Agnes was a runaway at one point.

Emerald seemed like the complete package: strong, in control, and remarkably well trained. She was not sure what Emerald meant about the morality of the team, but her offer was too good to pass up. "If yoo're willing tae train me, yoo're ideal. Ah think ye coulds make me stronger."

Rebecca lifted the large metal balls from the trashed trees magnetically, returning them in front of the door to the shed. "Tae be honest, Ah dornt know hoo tae go aboot becoming an X..."

Emerald nodded at Rebecca when she mentioned that Agnes had a hard life. Most mutants did, whether it was there parents or otherwise no one came to the mansion without being hurt in some way by humans and mutants alike.

"Most of us here have had something bad happen in our past that effects how we act in the future. Just depends on what you do afterwords."Emerald replied

These words had quite a strong meaning to them especially coming from Ms Emerald Lupin. Not a lot of people knew a lot about Emerald's past but what they did know is that it changed her in a big way. Out of anyone at the mansion, Emerald knew that forgetting about the past wasn't always that easy, it was just a fact of life.

However, even with her past coming back to haunt her on ocassion, Emerald was one damn good teacher. Ruby had even mentioned it to her that she should help teach younger mutants how to survive in battle because it was something she was good at. Of course, the w-wolf girl didn't believe her because that most mutants didn't like approaching the more obvious mutant with a bad temper, but it seemed that her luck was changing a little.

"You show your stuff in a few training sessions in front of one of those new field leaders and then they let you become a trainee," Emerald explained helpfully, stretching out her limbs a little, wanting to get back to her work out soon. "I'm willing to train ya, the real question is though, are you gonna want to stick with it once we start? Because according to my baby sis, I'm a bit of a hard a*s, but I'll teach you everything you need to know."

>> "Most of us here have had something bad happen in our past that effects how we act in the future. Just depends on what you do afterwords."

It was clear to Rebecca that Emerald's life contained several moments in her past that allowed her to think the way she did. She would not pry or ask, but Rebecca had respect for Emerald, knowing it was clearly a long tough road she endured to get to where she was.

>> "You show your stuff in a few training sessions in front of one of those new field leaders and then they let you become a trainee."

It was a relief to finally have a better idea of what she actually had to do to become an X-Man. It was lucky, really, that she encountered Emerald, because Rebecca's plan so far included getting stronger and hopefully stumbling across the method of initiation.

>> "I'm willing to train ya, the real question is though, are you gonna want to stick with it once we start? Because according to my baby sis, I'm a bit of a hard a*s, but I'll teach you everything you need to know."

She was so excited for the glimmer of a chance that a tough training session would not slow her down. "If it means yoo'll train me, ye can be as mich of a hard a*s as ye want." The curse word sounded odd coming off her tongue, but she was determined.

After some time passed...

Rebecca was struggling to catch her breath, doing her best to keep up with Emerald. Her body was on fire; she should have spent much more of her time working out her body alongside her powers. She thought soccer kept her in shape, but if Emerald was the barometer, Rebecca was a long ways off.

She considered asking Emerald how much longer they would go until they took a break, but she did not want to show weakness. For better or worse, she would endure the workout in silence, or she would die. Something had to give soon, right?

Emerald had warned her that she would be a hard A*s but the younger girl seemed to think she would be able to handle it so who was she to argue. The work out started simple enough, about a mile jog, not nearly at the speed that Emerald usually did it, but she figured if the girl wanted to start out slow and a mile job was the slowest Emerald could think of and considering she would jog almost 6 miles or sprint three every day, she figured that was starting it off easier.

Next was weight lifting, Emerald gave Rebecca two 5 pound dumbbells that she could lift with either her arms or her abilities, whichever was better for her. The wolf girl in the meantime used her leg weights along with her 20 pound dumbbells to do various lifting exercises, curl ups and the like, anything to build up and keep up muscle strength was done and none of it was easy for a first timer. The she-wolf recalled vividly her first training session with her mother, her first “master” of fighting and it was a bit of a strain. The first session was always the hardest but it almost always got better.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Rebecca was getting tired though, the younger girl looked a little exhausted in comparison to Emerald who truly hadn’t gotten started yet. Then again, Emerald had been doing this for a lot longer than Rebecca so she figured she would try to be easy on her. They had been practicing one thing for the past 30 minutes and that one thing was one of the hardest things to learn.

“Land a hit on your master”

It was something that took Emerald a while to figure out how to do, because landing a hit on the person that was teaching you how to hit was one of the hardest things in the world to do, especially if they are someone you care about and don’t want to hurt. She had taught Rebecca a series of punches and kicks, beginners stuff but still effect in battle. Nothing big yet like roundhouse kicks or unhinged punches or anything like that though.

“Try to hit me one more time and then we be done for the day okay? You never know I may not knock you flat on your back again,” Emerald encouraged, trying her best to be supportive. The point of the exercise was to study your opponent when they blocked and try to figure a way to knock them back or hit them before they got a chance to knock you over. It required studying your opponent and quick thinking on your feet because you can’t always research your opponent before you fight them. The wolf girl stood in defensive position, her feet rooted firmly to the ground fists up one right in fron of the other, she gave Rebecca the signal and waited for the charge that she had taught her, or maybe the girl would finally learn the second part of the exercise.

Surprise your opponent.

The different activities of the workout on their own were manageable, but doing them in sequence was wearing Rebecca down. The more she trained with Emerald, the easier these exercises would be, but that did not help her today.

>> “Try to hit me one more time and then we be done for the day okay? You never know I may not knock you flat on your back again.”

Land a hit? Emerald was so much less tired, not to mention stronger and quicker than her student. Still, the promise of an end to the training was tantalizing. Rebecca would have to focus if she were to have a shot, considering all of her attack maneuvers were just taught to her by Emerald.

"Alright, Ah'll gie ye mah best..." She gave a polite bow, switching into the fighting stance she was taught.

The technique she was instructed on, she believed it was called "Sea Beast Style," involved graceful, dance-like motions that Rebecca was still awkward in employing. She tried a few punches, but Emerald predictably avoided the attacks without much effort. She followed it with a kick, which was deflected.

The practice continued in this predictable fashion, and Rebecca was awkward, but she understood the basics, so her attacks were effective. The problem was, no matter how well she could punch or kick, Emerald was on another level. How was Rebecca expected to get a hand on Emerald with moves Emerald taught her?

This was when she realized there was one set of talents she had that Emerald did not teach her. She did not let up on her sweeping strikes, but her mind picked up the nearest magnetic signal, which was from a three foot pipe a few yards behind Emerald. She lifted the object, pulling it toward Emerald horizontally, hoping it would trip up her target's legs. She attacked with a sweeping kick, hoping the metal would catch Emerald off guard enough to win her contact. If not, Rebecca had to get ready to avoid her own metal and elaborate on her strategy. Thankfully, they were near a shed full of metal.