CHAPTER TWO:
"The Ceremony"
Matthew
"AUGHAHAAA!"
I screamed as I flew through the air due to my terrible idea. They say the glory of flight is something to be amazed, but clearly they have never been hit like a baseball at a giant monster. I tried opening my eyes but the wind forced them shut again, so I decided to keep them closed. After a moment of darkness my body had finally hit the target. I bounced off of its head like a kickball at recess. Once I finally stopped I was resting on the back of this ostrich-esque monster. I shook my head to keep myself from blacking out, he may be a giant nerd, but boy can he hit a human with a bat. Now that I was back to my senses, I clenched Hi-ken and, with a hard strike, punched it in the fucking head!
With a massive dust cloud erupting as the monster hit the ground hard, I hit the ground almost as hard. I gotta say not much fun. The trio of people I'd like to call my friends rushed the now downed monster before it could get back up. I realized that it wasn't a trio but instead duo when saw that fucker climbing a tree. Jill and Jasmine fired blasts at its legs, freezing them so we could get a finishing blow in.
Meanwhile, Asa lept out of the now-climbed tree, screaming that damn song he "sings" landing on the creep and bashing in its skull with his Klubba. I scrambled to get atop the Creep before it disappeared. Once I got there, I struck the most heroic pose I could and fell as it turned to dust.
Asa
Feeling the mood of my allies, I pulled out my guitar case and laid it on the ground. I popped the latches and I looked up at Matthew. I laughed maniacally as his face dropped in an expression of shit your pants fear. Strumming a few times and turning to a confused audience, I took a breath. I grinned and began to play some stupid catchy pop song that I had heard on the radio. The catchiest, earwormiest fucking song imaginable. A collective groan spread through the group as I laughed. To my amazement, Matthew rose to the occasion and started the most awful dance I have seen in my life. Immediately, I stopped, horrified. I quickly put away my guitar to the snickering of Jill and Jasmine. Thinking clearly for a moment, I had an epiphany.
"Say, were you guys listening when we were told about all this shit? I tooootally listened and… immediately forgot what they asked us to do." I said, running my hands through my hair absentmindedly.
"Wait, you didn't listen either? Oh goddammit." Matthew provided chorus to my concern. This issued a chuckle from Jill, and a quizzical expression from Jasmine.
"You really didn't listen?" I nodded vigorously. It had been too much for my limited attention span to even begin to comprehend. Sighing, Jasmine began to regurgitate all the information given to us.
"Well you were supposed to have known that you were getting launched out into the forest. The first person you encounter is your partner, and then the two of you need to find an artifact of some sort from the ruins somewhere, to find out who your other partners are!"
"...Really?" I mused aloud, in the most deadpan tone I could muster.
"In my defence I had this kid," Matthew pointed at me. "Distracting me with his screeching."
"It's rhythmic vocal exercising!" I defended my expertise.
"It's closer to ear cancer!" He huffed loudly, I groaned. Three years with this guy? Oh sweet merciful lord. I don't know if I can bear it any longer. Oh wait, yes I can. I kinda have to.
Matthew and I argued some more, but before we finished Jasmine and Jill went off into the forest again. Seeing this we chased after them and eventually caught up. As we ran through the forest we could hear the sounds of others fighting the Grimm. I debated whether I should grab Matthew and assist the others or continue to follow the girls. After only a moment of thought I decided to continue following the others because Matthew and I were still lost as fuck. After about an hour I got bored of this dead silence.
"Are we there yet!" I said half-jokingly.
This comment brought everyone to a screeching halt as they stared at me in bewilderment.
"How old are you?" Matthew said with obvious disgust in his voice.
I promptly ignored his question and pulled out my guitar. I played my usual song and sang like an angel, or at least I thought I did. Seeing Matthew's look of pain and disgust made me laugh, so I strummed harder and sang even louder. This music drew some unwanted attention by some nearby Grimm. Apparently Matthew isn't the only one that hates my music.
Four beowolves leapt out of the bushes, bloodthirsty. Jasmine shot one of them the second it leapt out of the bushes and Jill shot her pursuer right after. Matthew's beowolf got close, but was ended with a quick punch to the head. When mine came at me I decided to make a show out of it. I gripped Klubba as hard as I could and wound up like a coil. I swung and the crack of my bat hitting the beowolf resonated throughout the forest.
"Home run!" I screamed with a smile on my face. Even my begrudged partner Matthew cracked a smile.
On that note, we more or less happily continued through the forest and finally made it to the ruins. It was a circular stone platform in the middle of the clearing with a series of pillars around it. We walked up to the platform and we saw at least 18 stands, each with a utensil on them.
"I think we're supposed to take one," Matthew said unsurely.
"We should take a spoon!" I said holding up one in my right hand.
"No!" Matthew yelled back. "We should take a fork!"
Knowing that this would cause another argument Jasmine stepped in and said, "Just grab a spork!"
I looked at Matthew and he looked at me. We both shrugged and looked around for a spork. After looking through all of the stands we finally found a spork, two of them in fact.
"We got one for you too!" I yelled to Jasmine and Jill.
"Thanks!" Jill said. "Hey Jasmine, where is the extraction point?"
"It's by the cliffs," she responded.
Spork in hand, we ran towards the extraction point. Matthew ran ahead of everyone for no apparent reason and we sprinted to keep up. Me being the slowest of the group, I kinda fell behind.
"Slow down!" I breathed hastily, catching my breath.
My trio of friends slowed down to a stop and we caught our breath. I looked at the spork I held in my right hand and wondered if they left any food back there for us. I looked at Matthew and somehow I knew he was thinking the same thing.
"Do you think there's any food at the ruins?" we said in unison. Maybe this won't be so bad, after all, I thought to myself
Jasmine and Jill stared at us blankly, paused for a bit and laughed. Their laughter was infectious and soon Matthew and I were on our literal asses laughing too. After a couple of minutes we stood, calmed down and continued our journey to the extraction point. The trip took roughly twenty minutes, and that was primarily because we stopped to laugh whenever we thought back to our stupid question. In the distance, we could hear the sounds of a ship coming in for pickup. Once it landed, we hopped aboard and were flown to the school.
Matthew
The ship landed in front of the school, jarring and yet somehow still safely. We were instructed to head to the auditorium for our ceremony by some nearby older students who seemed to be helping out. The four of us stayed together and took a little break before the it.
"Still can't believe you let me hit you." Asa said with a smile on his face.
"Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but don't think you'll get to do that again." I retorted.
"It did seem to work." Jasmine chimed in.
"Anyways," I said changing the topic. "Who do you think will be the team leader for our group?"
"Me!" Asa exclaimed pointing at his chest and taking a classical Captain Kirk-esque heroic pose.
"Sit back down!" Jill commented, trying not to laugh.
"It doesn't matter who's team leader." Jasmine humbly added.
"You guys I think we should head inside now. We've wasted enough time." I said.
We walked in a somewhat muted line into the auditorium. The lights were low and we were lined up behind several different teams. The crowd consisted of second, third and fourth years, plus some of the staff. Professor Masamune stepped up to the microphone and began to announce the names of students of our year. We patiently waited for our names to be called, and after what felt like an eon, we heard them.
"Matthew Manahan, Asa Coleman, Jill Misner, and Jasmine Teel. The four of you retrieved the sporks. You will now work together as team MAJT led by, Matthew Manahan."
My face lit up when I heard the news. I was going to be commanding my own team! I thought in pure bliss. That marked the start of our new life at this academy.