Chapter 4—Welcome to SlugTerra University
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"I am the president of this great hall of learning, Tobias. I am glad to see so many people joining us here."
He divided us by age, sending each age group with a different guide.
"All of you who are fifteen years of age, please follow Maria," Tobias said, gesturing to a girl in the back of the room with a large '15' painted on a sign she was holding.
Every person who was 15 years old stood up and followed her out, a line of about thirty-to-fifty kids walking out.
"As you can see, we have a very modernized campus," Maria began as the last of us emerged from the building. We just began to walk to the building all the Mecha-related classes take place in when a few kids ran into me from behind, sending my slugs and I sprawling.
"Hey, watch where you're going," I demanded as I made sure Speedy and Yang were okay. When I stood up and had spun around to face the aggressors I was facing three kids my age. One of them was a few inches taller than me and much bigger. The other two were a set of twins smaller and paler than the first guy.
"You watch where you're going," the first guy, obviously the leader of the little trio, sneered. "You got in my way."
I was right about to take a swing at him when Luke dragged me along to keep up with the main group.
"You don't want to mess with those guys," Luke told me. "Did you see that one kid? He could knock you out with one hit, especially with that Rammstone of his."
"Well, he needs to not be so rude to other people, even if I have to teach him," I replied. Speedy growled from my shoulder to reinforce the point. Yang said nothing, tucked comfortably in the rolled-up cuff of my beanie
"You can't hurt him," Luke said. "He would take you down before you had a chance to draw your blaster."
I frowned but kept going with the group.
"Hey, what's your name?" the guy from earlier demanded, walking up beside me while we made our way to the building that Blaster-tech related classes are held.
"Jacob Taylor," I replied. "You?"
"Rob James," he said. "I'm glad I found you. Listen." He held out his shirt sleeve, which had a small tear in it. "Can you fix this up? I need a tailor, big time."
Before I had a chance to say or do anything in response he took off laughing, running into me on the way. I would've lost my balance if Luke hadn't been there.
"Thanks, man," I replied, glaring at Rob and his goons.
"Just try and enjoy the tour," Luke insisted.
I nodded and looked around as we entered the building, in front of which is a statue of Red Hook, the famous blaster-smith. The building, Red Hook Hall, is named after him. He passed away five years ago, though, but not before teaching some apprentices his craft so that they could pass on his knowledge. I've always been interested in blaster-smithing, so I split my class interests between blaster-smithing and Slugslinging. I even began to drool as the group passed by a few workshops, which had the latest equipment and technology.
After we finished in that building we moved onto the library, which is HUGE. It's a three-story building, two of them dedicated to books with the third for studying. It has books on every topic from albino slugs to Wild Spores Cavern and more. I could've spent days in there and not even finish a small fraction of the collection. I would've done it, too, but Luke made me keep going.
"What made you want to go here?" I asked Luke as we kept walking.
"Dad insisted," he told me, pointing to his father, who was a few yards ahead of us and talking with another parent. "He wants to make sure I get a good education and that I can get a good job later on in life. What about you?"
"Similar story," I replied. "My parents want me to get a good education, but I've always wanted to go here since I first heard of it."
We followed the group throughout the rest of campus, barely paying any attention to the buildings we passed through until we got to the building for Slugslinging classes. There was a large statue of Will Shane, Eli's dad, in front of it. We paid as much attention as we could to the training facilities, and even tried to get a peek at a couple practice duels, but Luke's dad managed to get us away.
"Looks like somebody wants to be a slugslinger," Rob said, running into me again. "With what slugs do you plan on slinging with, Taylor?" he growled at me.
"Is there anything wrong here?" a professor asked us, walking up to the five of us.
Rob sneered at me before taking a step back. "No, professor, nothing wrong," he said, walking away with his two followers close behind.
We continued through the building and finally finished the tour at the cafeteria, which required its own building.
"You should call your parents later to let them know you're all moved in," Kord recommended, walking up behind me as I walked to a line so that I could get my food.
"I will," I replied. "I wonder if Burpy got back all right."
"He's probably fine," he replied. "That little slug's one of the toughest ones I've ever seen."
"Yeah, you're right," I replied. We went through the line without a problem and managed to grab a table that was empty, claiming it for ourselves.
"Excuse me, excuse me." We heard a voice repeating that and eventually found the source, a kid around our age. He was wearing a set of regular glasses with Holo-Glasses hardware built into the frames and lens. He was making his way through the crowd of students to one of the last empty tables.
Before he could get there, though, Rob stuck his foot out subtly and tripped the kid right in front of our table. The kid's arms flailed out in front of him, launching his food into the air.
Kord stood up, making sure to catch all the food as I rose to catch the kid.
"Are you okay?" I asked him.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, standing up under his own power.
"Why don't you sit with us?" I asked him. "There's a spot right here," I offered, helping him into the seat.
"Watch where you're going, kid," Rob sneered at the kid. "You almost spilled your food."
I stood up again and scowled at Rob. "How about you keep your big feet out of the way?" I suggested, my hands clenching into fists.
"Oh, and you're gonna stop me?" he demanded, rising to his feet as well.
The cafeteria fell silent.
"If I have to, yeah," I replied. I actually though it was going to turn into a fight when Kord intervened.
"Is there a problem here?" Kord asked, stepping between us.
Rob looked from me to Kord and back before picking the less dangerous route for all of us. "No, no problems here, professor," he said with a frown.
"How about you?" Kord asked me.
"No problems, Professor Zane," I told him.
"Good," Kord sat down again and began eating. Rob and I followed suit.
"Thanks for helping me out," the kids that was tripped told me.
"No problem," I replied. "Name's Jacob Taylor, but you can call me Jake. What's your name?"
Marcus Smith," he said, shaking my outstretched hand. "You can just call me Mark, though," he added. Luke introduced himself as we began eating.
"What classes do you plan on taking?" Kord asked him.
"I plan to focus my studies on Slugology, but I want to take a few Slugslinging classes to help me develop my dueling skill."
"How good of a slinger are your?" I asked him.
"I'm not bad, but I'm not great, either," he said. "How about you guys?"
"Not bad, but my parents let me win whenever they let me practice with them," I replied.
"Same here," Luke agreed.
"I don't let you win?" Twist/John said. Okay, it's getting annoying typing in Twist/John, so whenever I say 'John' or 'Twist', I'm talking about Luke's dad. Okay? Okay.
"Yeah, sure you don't" Luke said sarcastically.
"Where are your slugs?" I asked Mark.
"Right here," he said, lifting two slug tubes from a holder at his waist. "My Dirt Urchin's name is Needles, and my Polero's name is Stringer. What about your slugs?"
We pulled out our slugs and introduced him, Luke including a Tormato slug that was napping when we first met. The slug's name is Typhoon.
"Nice to meet you guys," I said to Mark's slugs. They said 'hi' back before gathering around a plate of slug food that was already at the table, courtesy of the University.
"What's on the schedule for after lunch?" Kord asked me. I pressed a button on the side of my Holo-Glasses to activate them. The lens turned completely black as I slid them down in front of my eyes, but after a second they cleared up, revealing the home screen. I pressed a few buttons on a small remote that controls the computer and pulled up my schedule.
"In ten minutes, everyone our age has to go to a different building to take a test," I said, reading the display. It takes a few tries to figure out what information's on the lens and what's not, but once you get used to it using the Glasses is easy. "It's to determine what level we should be placed in for our age group. Each level is specific to a how developed your skills are."
"Is it the same room for everyone?" Mark asked.
"No, it's not," Kord explained. "The rooms you go in are based on what subjects you plan to focus on here. Since the three of you plan on taking Slugslinging courses, you will start off in a section that tests your slinging abilities with your own slugs and ones you barely know. It helps test how well you can adapt. At the end of the test, if you do well enough and are good to the slugs they lend you, they allow you to keep one as a friend."
"That. Is. AWESOME!" Luke and I said at the same time. "I didn't know they did that!"
"Your dad was insistent on it," Kord told me. "Wanted to make sure everyone could make a new friend here, even if it's only with a slug."
"Who's your dad?" Mark asked me. So much for a cover story.
"My real dad was killed when I was a year old," I told him. "Eli and Trixie Shane adopted me, so technically, Eli Shane's my father. My full name's Jacob Taylor Shane."
"What?" he said, almost spewing his food over the table. "Eli Shane's your dad?"
"Yeah, but I don't want everyone to know yet," I told him.
"Okay, I can keep it a secret," he said hurriedly, excited that he met a Shane.
"Well, it won't stay a secret for long," Kord commented. "Some of the tests are one-on-one, so they call you in by name. The moment they reach 'Shane, Jacob', everyone will know who you are."
"Good point," I mumbled. "Well, it was nice being a nobody while it lasted."
"Don't worry, the excitement will fade," Kord told me. "Eventually."
"Well, we should get going," Marcus said, checking the clock on his Glasses. "We have five minutes."
We all stood up and Mark and I waited while Luke hugged his father goodbye.
"Don't worry, we can visit each other," John said. "Next time I come, I'll bring your mother."
Luke grinned. "Deal," he said. The five of us walked out together, but once we were outside we split up. Kord went off to meet with other professors, Twist left to go home, and the three of us went to the building for the tests.
"Please, wait in here while we wait for the rest of you to arrive," an assistant told us when we arrived at the proper building. He ushered us into a room with the rest of the 15-year-olds, minus Rob and his crew.
We talked with the other people and met a bunch of new slugs before the last three people finally showed up.