Title: Practice
Fandom: Power Rangers ZEO
Characters: Maggie, Adam, Rocky
Universe: Secrets2
Prompt: 014 - Green
Word Count: 872
Date finished: 05/03/2006
Rating: G
Summary: Maggie is struggling with her own form of martial arts, and someone offers to help her.
Author's Notes: This came about because of my research for the series Maggie is going to star in; she's learning Aikido. The thing that caught my imagination? Maggie says to Adam, "Do you know how to fall?" The rest is just... fun.
Disclaimer: I don't know who owns the Rangers at this point: I'd guess Disney. At any rate, it isn't me. Maggie, if she appears, is MINE. Please don't take her.

Maggie stood in the center of the mats in the Youth Center on Saturday afternoon, focusing so hard on what she was doing, she was barely aware that someone was watching her. She'd dressed in her hakama and gi to help her get in the right frame of mind, but it didn't seem to be working. She ran through the kata she was working on again, and again, but still, something always seemed wrong.

Finally, she stopped and focused on each movement as a separate thing, breaking it down to each placement of hands and feet. She moved slowly through, finishing each movement before moving to the next, and near the end, figured out what was messing her up.

But even as she worked on that, she couldn't get it right. Something was wrong, her hands were in the wrong place, but she wasn't sure how to make it right. She finally sighed, blowing her bangs off her forehead - or trying, since they were plastered to her forehead with sweat - and knelt down to try to figure out what she was doing wrong.

"Hey," a voice said gently, and she looked up.

She'd seen Adam Park from a distance; she couldn't miss him. They were in the same math class. And she'd known he was cute - which was why she even knew his name. But up close… There was a kindness in his eyes, and he was much more than merely cute.

"Hi," she said, suddenly realizing she hadn't responded to him.

"You look like you could use some help," he said.

"Yes," she said, getting to her feet again. "The throw isn't working right - well, it's more than that," she corrected nervously, "but it all boils down to the throw. I think it's because my hands are wrong."

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked.

She regarded him seriously. "Can you fall?"

His eyebrows went up, and a small smile curved his lips. "Fall?"

"Safely," she added abruptly, and flushed. "I mean, it's Aikido, and I really don't want to hurt you."

He looked interested. "Really? Aikido?" She nodded. He considered. "I should be okay," he said.

"Tap the mat if it starts to hurt," she said, almost formally, and blushed. "Sorry. I hear that all the time, it's automatic to say it."

"I understand," he said. "Best have a signal to stop. Where should I stand?"

She explained to him what she needed him to do, and he positioned himself across from her. "Go slowly," she said, her brow furrowed in concentration. He reached, she countered, and then muttered "Stop." He froze.

Maggie looked critically at her hand placement, marveling in the back of her mind that she could even concentrate on this instead of the boy across from her. "Raise your left hand higher?" he asked, and she tried it, smiling as the position grew more familiar and less strained.

"Yes, thank you. From the beginning?" she asked, and he nodded. They started again, and this time her hands went right into the correct places, the movement flowing, and her smile grew. "Faster this time?" she asked.

"How fast?"

She considered. "As fast as you would move if you were actually trying to do this," she said.

He nodded and lunged. She reacted so quickly she could barely see what she was doing - which was what her Uncle had said would happen - and she had Adam pinned to the mat, his right arm straight up behind him, elbow locked, and she leaned in slowly. He slapped the mat and she immediately let him go, stepping back to give him room.

As he got to his feet, she was almost afraid of looking him in the face. He wasn't a student of Aikido; she didn't know how he'd take being beaten so easily, and by a girl.

"Wow," he said, and she looked at him. He rubbed his shoulder a little, grinning at her. "That's some defense. That was really good. Was that how it was supposed to work?"

"Yeah, it is." She flushed a little. "Thanks for your help," she said. "I really appreciated it."

"Not a problem." He hesitated. "Are you done practicing?"

"Mostly," she said.

"I'd like to learn a little more, if you don't mind. I'll even buy you a smoothie as enticement."

She chuckled. "Okay. Let me run through this kata again, and I'll join you."

"What do you want?"

"Raspberry, please, if he's got it."

"I'll be right over there." He indicated a table near the front of the room, then left the mats.

This time, the kata went smoothly, and Maggie grabbed her stuff and walked across the floor to where Adam sat. Rocky sat with him, and he smiled at her. "That was amazing," he said as she sat down across from them. "I don't think I've seen Adam go down that fast in a few years."

"You'd go down just as fast," Adam told him.

"If not faster," Rocky agreed. Maggie grinned at him.

"What did you want to know?" she asked Adam, and he grinned.

"I don't know much about Aikido," he said. "Start at the beginning?"

Maggie grinned. "Tell me to stop when you get bored."

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