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Post by Tali Levin on May 21, 2008 1:56:27 GMT -5
Tali's posture was perfect as she walked into the pool area, but she wanted nothing more than to shove her hands into her pockets and slouch like a normal teenager. She sighed as she eyed the pool. She loved to swim, but she doubted that this would be any leisurely dip in th pool. In fact, Natalie had said the pool was the most difficult part, so there wasn't actually anything to look forward to.
She stood at attention, facing the wall and not even eying the other trainees as they filed in. Maybe if they made a good enough second impression, Lokai would go a little easier on them. Somehow, though, she doubted it.
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Post by Jake Thomas on May 21, 2008 3:10:07 GMT -5
Jake followed Tali into the pool area, he eyed the back of her head as she faced the wall, he also faced the wall and glanced at the others coming in behind him. He enjoyed swimming as well as anyone, but he wasn't sure about the training that was about to ensue. Images of being tossed into the deep pool over and over again filled his mind. Although he was a good enough swimmer he was not even close to being as good as Natalie or Tali he supposed and even the great Natalie had said horrid things about training at the pool so how was he supposed to survive here, he wondered. He shuddered slightly, he silently wished that because it was the first day maybe Lokai wouldn't be as hard on them. He wondered if the other students were having the same thoughts as he was. He glanced to his right at Tali again, she seemed to be pretty athletic, despite the fact that she could barely get over the hurdles. Maybe they really could help each other and get through this mess called Basic Training. He looked around the room, his eyes widening as they landed on the diving boards, he wasn't one hundred percent sure, but he thought it was about ten meters high. He nudged Natalie who was standing on his left side now and whispered, "Why are we here in our clothes? Shouldn't we be in bathing suits or something?" he asked, thinking how much harder it would be to swim with his clothes on.
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Post by Natalie Kent on May 21, 2008 17:26:41 GMT -5
Natalie's shoulders dropped as she trudged along behind Jake, this was definitely the hardest part of basic training for her. It wasn't as if she couldn't swim, she was just afraid of the deep water. With all the other training that went on there was always an immediate way out. Even if it included punishment laps or standing outside for the whole night. She could stand those kind of punishments, but it was different here at the pool. To her it was a life and death matter, because in most cases the trainer wouldn't dive into the pool and save you unless you had gone under and been under for a full five minutes. She rolled her eyes, perhaps it wasn't a full five minutes, but that was how it felt to her. It wasn't as if she thought that Lokai would let her drown and die, she knew that so far no one had, but it just scared her that maybe she would be the one that actually did. Plus she didn't know how well the others could swim and with all the teamwork that they had showed this morning she wasn't sure if they even would help her if she was drowning.
She glanced over at Jake when she felt him nudging her arm, "Do you think that in an emergency we'll actually have time to go change into our bathing suits and then dive into raging waters and save whoever is drowning or go fetch whatever item it is we need to get? If we're already in our bathing suits, that's fine, it'll just be all the easier for us, because we learned to do the hardest thing in the hardest way possible." She said, facing her eyes back towards the wall, "Now, shut up unless you want Mr. D on our cases again." She rolled her eyes, not that he wouldn't be on them anyways.
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Post by Lokai Dangerfield on May 21, 2008 18:47:49 GMT -5
"Good to see you all made it!" Lokai stepped in the room behind his students. Tali, how do you feel about being helpless? I sure hope you are good at relaxing, because it's the only way to stay afloat when your hands are tied behind your back and a gag is in your mouth." He paused a moment to see the expressions on the faces before him as he said this.
"Natalie, you have one job and one job only, get Tali to safety before she drowns. I don't really care who was chosen to be your leader, but you are looked up to on this team, as is right. Don't let Tali down.
"The rest of you will get down and start doing push-ups until Tali is safely on shore. Are there any questions?"
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Post by Tali Levin on May 21, 2008 18:55:06 GMT -5
Tali felt her stomach clench. She had been expecting Lokai to have them swim for hours or some such thing, not try to drown them--well, technically, drown her. Surely he was joking, right? She risked a glance over at him and determined he was, to her disbelief, actually serious. Turning back to the wall, she swallowed and cautiously raised her fist. "S-sir, I have a question." She was too shaken up to think about waiting for permission to speak, and merely went on. "What will happen if Natalie doesn't get me out in time?" He wouldn't let her drown, would he? She assured herself that he'd be out of a job if he did, but the thought did little to ease her worried mind.
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Post by Lokai Dangerfield on May 22, 2008 0:17:09 GMT -5
"Ms. Tali Levin, are you telling me that you have so little faith in your teammate as that?" Lokai looked at Natalie, as he continued, "You must learn to trust one another and work as a tea."
Lokai broadened his gaze, "Tali is an example of what will happen to this team if you don't care about each other and trust one another."
His gaze returned to Tali, "You stay in the water until and unless you are saved." He handed a blindfold to her and a rope to Jake. "Now, you have one minute to get in the water. After that every extra second is another second you are in the water before Natalie is allowed to save you."
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Post by Jake Thomas on May 22, 2008 0:25:11 GMT -5
Jake glared at Lokai as he took the rope from him, "I don't think this is fair, sir. You're picking on just one trainee and putting her life into danger. I don't think it's about trusting in Natalie or not, it's about safety issues and bullying her." he said, glancing over at the others, hoping that they would back him up. He was pretty sure that they weren't happy about this situation either, well Tali wasn't for sure, he knew that. He didn't know if he should wait to be yelled at by the trainer or go ahead and tie up Tali's hands, because he didn't think that Lokai was going to backdown and let them off the hook so easily. So, not knowing what to do, he just stood there with the rope dangling from his hand.
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Post by Tali Levin on May 22, 2008 0:47:36 GMT -5
"Shut up, Jake," Tali hissed. She normally would just stay silent, but she could feel the seconds draining away, and knew they mattered more than anything else just then. "Just tie me up," she swallowed, "and put the gag on. Okay? And hurry up." Her breath was coming in ragged gasps, and her heart was beating in her chest. Please, God, she prayed silently, in case God was listening. Her father had been an Orthodox Jew, but Tali didn't know what she believed, especially not since her father's death. Please don't let me die. I mean, if I have to die, can it be faster than drowning?
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Post by Jake Thomas on May 22, 2008 1:04:13 GMT -5
Natalie's words echoed inside Jake's head, "We're learning it the hard way. This could actually happen to us." he thought, nodding at Tali, "Okay." he said, grabbing her hands and tying them behind her back. After that he tied her feet together, he tied the knot securely, knowing that if it came untied Lokai would just make them do it again and again. As much as he pitied Tali, he was glad it wasn't him and he prayed that Lokai wouldn't make everyone do it in turn. He then had Tali open her mouth and tied the gag around the back of her head. "Good luck." he whispered into her ear and carried her to the edge of the pool.
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Post by Tali Levin on May 22, 2008 1:17:41 GMT -5
The feeling of being tied up and gagged raised Tali's stress level about one-hundred percent. Relax, she told herself silently. He said to relax, so relax. You can do this. It's okay. Even as she thought this, her body was stiff and she was anything but relaxed. She took a deep breath before she hit the water, which was cold. Relax. She squeezed her eyes shut as if that might help her hold her breath longer, and prayed for Natalie to hurry.
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Post by Lokai Dangerfield on May 25, 2008 17:30:21 GMT -5
Lokai stood and watched as the scene unfolded in front of his eyes, his own stress levels rising as well. He began to silently count, careful to not let the others see his worry. one... two... three... four He hoped that he had not made a mistake in trusting Natalie. All would be well though... All would be well or this team was doomed to failure.
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Post by Kyle Ochi on May 25, 2008 20:07:32 GMT -5
Kyle jogged into the pool room just as Lokai began to give orders. He half wished he was the one who had to be in the pool, as he hated a lot of the training they had to do. But, with the slight chance of drowning and Natalie having to be the rescuer he was content to do push ups.
As he hit his 10th pushup, Kyle couldn't help but as Lokai something. "What if Tali starts to freak when Natalie is trying to rescue her, sir??" Kyle had once seen a movie (or maybe it was a T.V. show. He couldn't remember) where a person tried to rescue someone who was drowning. They ended up getting pulled under by the thrashing. It was about that time his parents caught him hiidng under the table and sent him back to bed.
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Post by Natalie Kent on May 25, 2008 21:45:47 GMT -5
Natalie glanced over at the others before kicking off her shoes and diving into the pool, she swam towards the center of the pool, coming up alongside Tali, "Stay calm." she muttered, spitting water out of her mouth as she treaded water, trying to figure out how to tow the girl to the edge of the pool without drowning them both. She grabbed Tali in her arms and started kicking as hard as she could, but the girl in her arms was heavier than she had expected and they didn't move forwards much at all. She let go of Tali as the weight of the water pulled her under. She quickly surfaced and grabbed the girl again, she thought about taking the gag off, but decided that it would take too much time and effort. She let go of Tali, swimming around so that they were back to back, she looped her arm through Tali's and started paddling with one arm and kicking her legs furiously. This time, much to her amazement, she moved forwards, she continued with this, her arm getting number and number by the second. The pool seemed miles longer than she remembered, glancing back at Tali she realized that the girl had passed out. She had 5 more minutes to get her out of the pool and bring her back to concienceness.
After what seemed like hours she finally reached the edge of the pool, "Jake, Enoch, grab her." she sputtered, pushing Tali up towards them. She tried to lift herself out of the pool, but found that both of her arms were dead. As soon as this realization hit her, she panicked and started flailing around. "Help." she tried to shout, her mouth filling with water.
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Post by Enoch Leoncia on May 25, 2008 21:56:58 GMT -5
Enoch would have rolled his eyes at the stupidity of the other trainees had he not been too busy helping to save them. Once he and Jake had grabbed Tali and pulled her onto the ground beside the pool, he snapped at Jake to help Natalie while he bent over Tali and removed the gag, then started performing the Heimlich maneuver. He chanted in his head to Tali, as if it would help. Breathe, breathe, breathe. He waited until Tali was breathing again before diving into the water and grabbing Natalie around the waist. He swam to the edge and hoisted her up over the edge so Jake could pull her while he pushed and climbed, soaking wet, out of the pool.
||Short, and I kinda powerplayed a little, sorry.||
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Post by Tali Levin on May 25, 2008 22:02:24 GMT -5
Tali had passed out right about the time Natalie grabbed her, and regained consciousness on the desk beside the pool. The first thing she realized was she was coughing up pool water and her lungs felt like they were about to burst. She tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness washed over her and she fell back again.
She was vaguely aware of Enoch leaning over her and she just stared at him, confused. He was wet, but hadn't Natalie been the one to save her? She closed her eyes--her head hurt--and coughed again, then groaned loudly. Briefly, she wondered if Lokai would have let her drown if it had come down to it. And, oddly enough, part of her wished she had.
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