//------------------------------//
// Training 
// Story: The Technological Technicolor Technomare 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	Rainbow Dash weaved and dodged through the obstacle course that had been devised specifically to push her to her physical limits.  Her armor was still retracted in the armor belt, and her arc batteries were charging from the excess magic her body was generating.  With Thor's assertion that her body did indeed generate a variety of magic, though one he was unfamiliar with, Hulk's terminology for the energy had been discarded for technical matters, much to the Hulk's displeasure.

Currently, a variety of sensors were strapped across her entire body, feeding data back into the armor belt for storage and later analysis.  This was part of Thor's suggestion regarding her training.  Since the purpose of the training was to learn to control her combat instincts, he claimed that the first step must be discovering exactly what those instincts involved.  Thus, flying the obstacle course without her armor while sensors analyzed every muscular movement and shift of magical energy, while Tony analyzed the data streams to determine which were conscious actions and which were instinctive reactions.

As Rainbow reached the end of the course, Thor applauded.  "Well done, young warrior!" he proclaimed, picking up an Asgardian training maul.  This was a weapon that used special energy properties to inflict the full recoil of blows without causing the damage from the force of impact.  The training chamber was lined with similar energy fields, so that anyone who got sent flying from impacts would bounce off the walls without taking damage.  After his first time in it, Hulk had been banned, with repeated injunctions that - no matter how effective it worked as one - the training chamber was not a bounce castle.  Tony had also been forced to get Rainbow a green super ball, much to JARVIS' dismay when she used it in the labs.  "Now we begin the next phase!"  Swinging the mace over his shoulder, he lunged.

Rainbow grinned, loving this part of the training.  It had taken her a bit to get used to the idea of fighting her friends and family, and even more time to get used to the fact that it came with an instinctive joy.  However, with Captain America having introduced her to the concept of physical competitions and combat scores, and Thor's own obvious joy in these practice fights, she had come to terms with it and now reveled in it.

With subtle muscle twitches and a twist of her wings, Rainbow easily dodged Thor's swing, coming up under his guard.  Bracing herself with her forehooves on the mace, she delivered a double hind buck to his face.  The armor - including helmet - he wore was of the same sort as the mace, so while he staggered backward he took no actual damage.  "Well done, Rainbow!" Thor proclaimed.  "It is plain that you can now handle yourself against a single opponent."

"Aw yeah!" Rainbow said, pumping her hoof.  "Another win for The Dash!"

"So I believe it is time to progress to the next stage of your training!" Thor shouted excitedly.  "My good Captain!  Join us!"

Captain America, dressed in his colors and carrying his shield, stepped into the chamber.  "You've fought well against each of us, Rainbow," he said proudly.  "But that was singly."  He had been a little miffed that she had proved better at tracking his shield in flight when thrown than he was, especially the one time she had used a few blows and evasions to reposition him to take his own shield on his chin on the return flight, but it did make sense a natural flyer would be more aware of the air around her.  "Let's see how you do against both of us."

"Oh and Rainbow?" Tony called over the mics.  "I've fully analyzed all the data from your instinctive reactions in training.  It's time to see what those instincts do to your armor."

Rainbow hesitated.  "But...what if I hurt them?"

Thor laughed good naturedly.  "Worry not, young Rainbow!  The good Captain and I are both garbed in the training armor.  Scans show that the energy fields are able to react properly to your magical energy as well.  Even if they fail, Sif had brought the medicine of Asgard to treat any wounds we may experience."  Thor seemed unusually pleased at Sif's presence, something that had highly amused Rainbow and Tony.  The fact that Sif also mothered Rainbow outrageously was both pleasing and frustrating to Rainbow and Pepper.  Shaking off the excessive joy that recently suffused the Asgardian at speaking of his companion, Thor continued.  "And we both would be quite poor warriors if we could not deflect a misaimed blow from our student!"

At that reassurance from Thor and an encouraging nod from Steve, Rainbow smiled.  "Alright."  She slammed her hoof on the primary arc battery.  "It's time to Pony Up!"

In response to the command, the sensors withdrew into the armor belt, joining with the armor to reposition as it covered her.

Hearing Tony groan into the comms, Steve decided to ask something he'd been curious about.  "Rainbow, why do you say that each time you don your armor?"

Rainbow blinked.  "What do you mean?"

"Well, I know it's a reference to that cartoon Tony can't stand," he replied.  "While it made sense for you to say that at first just to drive him up the wall-"  He was cut off as Thor, Rainbow, and Hulk all audibly expressed amusement.  "What I mean is, why still?"

Rainbow floated in the air for a time, her spread armored wings and thrusters keeping her stable as she hovered.  "...because the world isn't like the cartoons."

Steve and Thor both blinked at that.  "I do not understand," Thor said finally.  "How is that significant?"

"The world isn't like the comics, or the cartoons," Rainbow said calmly.  "The good guys can't always play by the rules, everyone doesn't always come home in one piece, and sometimes the only difference between the true good guys and bad guys is that the good guys stills struggle to remember why they're fighting.  Sometimes you can't save everyone, no matter how hard you try."

Tony sighed softly, recognizing his own words from when he'd helped Rainbow get past what she'd done to Wrecker.  That had affected her deeply, and still did.  It hurt so much to know that he had been powerless to prevent her from losing that bit of her innocence.

Rainbow sighed.  "The world isn't like the cartoons...but it should be."

"Come again?" Thor asked in confusion.

"The world should be fair and just like that!" Rainbow said firmly.  "It should be possible to save everyone.  That's why I say it every time I don my armor.  It's a promise to myself that someday, I'll make the world fair and just like that.  Someday, it will be possible to save everyone, and I'll make it possible!"

Steve drew back in shock.  "Rainbow...no matter how strong or smart or skilled you become, that's changing the whole world at a fundamental level, and more than anyone can manage."

"I know," Rainbow replied.  "But that's true of any dream; no one can achieve them through only their own effort.  But if nobody tries, nothing will change.  That's the promise I make myself every time I don my armor with that phrase: a promise to never stop trying!"

Drawing Mjolnir, Thor clanged it noisily against his armor.  "A fine, wonderful dream, and a noble promise, young warrior!" he proclaimed loudly.  "Your armored wings are the banner behind which any like minded warrior can fly!  Gladly do I pledge the might of my hammer to your cause!"

Drawing himself up proudly, Captain America braced his shield before him on his arm and showed his respect for Rainbow's dream the best way he knew how.  He saluted her with pride.

Gravely, Rainbow returned the salute.





As the training match began in earnest, Tony's attention was only half on the information coming from the sensors on Rainbow.  The rest of his mind kept going over Rainbow's words.

...a promise to never stop trying...

"She's growing up," Pepper said, stepping up behind him to glance at the data herself.

"That she is," Tony replied.  "Where'd the little girl who used to ride around on Zuki's head go?"

"She's still there," Pepper reassured him.  "She's already planning her Halloween costume, and insists on all of us going Trick-or-Treating with her."

Tony couldn't help but laugh.  "That's good," he said.  "She shouldn't let herself grow up too fast."

"Speaking of growing," Pepper continued, "I've got the analysis back on Zuki's growth."

Tony spun in the chair, taking the results.  "So do we know why he's grown so much?"

After the fight with the Wrecking Crew, Zuki had been unsteady on his feet, and had eventually returned to the underground enclosure where they handled his feeding.  It was large enough to simulate an underground ocean to a creature Zuki's size.  Or at any rate it had been before he grew to be larger than a double-decker bus over a single week, consuming massive quantities of vat grown fish in the process.

"Apparently, Zuki had been retarding his own natural growth cycle, somehow," Pepper explained from the data.  "As best we can determine, it was because he felt he didn't need to be any bigger."

"But when he couldn't properly help Rainbow with the Wrecking Crew, he decided he needed to be bigger and stopped holding back?" Tony asked.  Except for the lack of armor and being either water or ground bound, Zuki now closely resembled one of the flying ships that had been part of the alien invasion Loki had precipitated years ago.

"That seems to be the case," Pepper replied.  "Thankfully, it also seems that as he's grown, he's become able to supplement his fish diet by absorbing various types of energy and radiation.  That's why he spends so much time floating on the surface of the bay in sunny weather.  He also seems to absorb and process various forms of atomic radiation cleanly."

"Schedule a tour of the country's remaining functional nuclear power plants," Tony suggested.  "He'll probably treat those as tanning salons."