I got a review for this story. Short, brief but it still counts and from Canada. (Dances about wildly, cheering, then sits down). Sorry. Please keep reviewing. I don't mind if it's positive or negative, I would like to know what you think.
I would also like to apologise in advance if anyone is offended by either the mild swearing or the views mentioned. THESE ARE NOT ENTIRELY MY VIEWS. They are a collection of views I have gathered (as a historian) and placed here. I have no wish to offend anyone, but there will be more of this so I apologise here and now.
Now that's settled, I will continue.

"Rise and shine."

I groaned. I have always hated getting up in the mornings, no question of it. I opened my eyes slowly and saw Daniel standing over me.

"Come on, get up. We've got stuff to do and little time to do it in".

I struggled half-heartily out of bed. Davink seemed to be just as eager to go.

"What about breakfast?" I moaned.

"Breakfast? Breakfast is for losers and wimps, Malcolm. Now let's go". Davink made his way to the door ahead of us.

Daniel smiled. "Sonic left early and he left us a spare key". He took the key out of his pocket to show me as he spoke.

Davink opened the door and I trudged reluctantly out of the apartment, followed closely by Daniel like some avenging angel.

As we walked down the street, I noticed how quiet it was. I knew it wouldn't last long, if my knowledge of towns and cities told me anything. I also began to wake up a bit due to the chilly morning air. Davink and Daniel walked beside me and we started talking. It wasn't long though, before Davink and I started 'discussing' other countries. Daniel stayed out of it the whole way through.

"Seriously, Malcolm, I have never trusted the Americans. They're always late to every war and they think they're so damn invincible".

"Davink," I began, "you can't judge all the Americans that way. Some of my friends are Americans and there is nothing wrong with them".

"Nothing wrong? Every thing's wrong as far as I'm concerned. They're more patriotic than anyone else and it makes me sick".

"If they want to be patriotic or religious, let them. It's fine by me. Just don't expect me to join in".

"Really?" Davink wasn't very convinced.

There was a long silence after that. How do you reply from something like that? I broke the silence this time.

"What about...Canada?" It was the first country that came into my head.

Davink thought for a moment, then...

"Canada's alright".

I raised my eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah. I mean they were part of the British Empire and they are very nice people. The view's wonderful as well. It's a pity they have to speak French rather than or as well as English".

"Davink..."

"No Malcolm, don't argue. The French, they look down their perfumed, snobby noses at us Brits and they eat frog, snails and even horse-meat".

"I know, but..."

"Let me finish. We English have been at war with them for nearly 900 years and at peace for nearly 90. They also speak too fast for you to understand. What difference does it make? What bloody difference does it make?".

"Davink," I said "Can't you just let it go? Prejudice never solves anything."

"Where did that come from?" Davink shouted, "Prejudice solves anything and everything. How the hell do you think empires were created like the British Empire? The enemies we had like the French and Spanish you think we played fair with them, persuaded them to drop their weapons? No! We regarded them as ignorant and uncivilized, then gave them a walloping. We still do and quite rightly so on my humble opinion".

Again there was a long silence. This time I thought it safer to keep quiet rather than have a full-blown argument.

"Well, we're here". Daniel said eventually, "all ready for the training".

I looked round. We had arrived in a flat, open plain, half a mile from the city. Obviously we had come here for something, but I hadn't expected this.

"Training?"

"Of course". Daniel answered, "We have a little tradition that when we are summoned, we begin the training the day after. Didn't we tell you?"

I shook my head. "No".

"Ah well, now you do". Daniel shrugged and put his hands in his pockets.

"But what is the training for?" I asked.

"For you". Davink stepped forward now. "If you want to survive to see your family again, you need to know how to fight like we do".

Something about the way Davink mentioned family made me realise how homesick I was. I wasn't very fond of living in England and neither were my family. I, or rather we, always dreamed of the day we could leave and go somewhere like Australia, New Zealand. Spain and Italy were nice in summer. But now...

Now I longed to go home. To see my family and friends and to forget about robots and strange objects and other planets. I wasn't some daredevil or an adventurous explorer. I was just an ordinary person who wanted to go home.

Until then...

"Okay,". I sighed "Let do this".

Davink slapped me on the back. "Knew you would, Malcolm. It's in your blood. Now let's get started. The first thing we'll look at is unarmed combat".

He rolled up his sleeves and held one arm up, tensing his muscles so that they bulged like some circus strongman.

"Lesson one: your equipment".

For the next few hours, I was literally pushed beyond anything I had experienced thus far in my life. The training offered by these two gave me the impression that army boot camp look like a school outing. Sword fighting, Offence and Defence, Archery, every subject you could think of. There was even target practice and a harsh fitness course. I tried my very best, but no human could learn all this in a few hours and use it later on. And there was the small matter of my asthma getting in the way.

"Not bad, for a first try," Daniel said at the end, "but you'll get better at it. Trust me".

After a quick break for lunch, the training continued until the warm sun began to sink into the west, turning the clouds into a vivid pink and casting long shadows on the ground. I slumped down on the ground, exhausted, gasping for breath from the training and not having my inhaler. Daniel and Davink both helped me back up.

"You are trying hard, Malcolm," said Davink kindly "You just...need a bit more practice".

I nodded, too tired to speak. School sports had nothing on this, not even close. My body ached for the strain of the fitness and my eyes kept closing so I didn't remember the journey back. I do recall being helped into Sonic's apartment and placed in my bed. It didn't take long for me fall asleep. Unlike last night, it was a swift, dreamless sleep instead of the deep haunted sleep.