M-Cube: Today's 1st of July already! I'll probably update once more before school starts again at the end of the month.
*CookieDecor22: I totally agree! I have oral and written tests for Chinese at school, and the teachers weigh the oral test heavier. Dan won't use actual fire power until a while. I won't use the physics terms as much. Shun didn't push anyone far and will apologize later.
*Maiden Warrior: It's okay! The whole gang will be together at the very end because I have them split up into groups for now. Shun and Dan aren't that close, but Shun definitely still should apologize. Alice will have her scary moments soon.
*Cherry-Tree: The "passing a test" and "badly suggested plan" aren't related, but Dan only wishes to be helpful. Three important classes dont'mean three different tasks. Billy does know the least.
*InnocentDiamond: You forgot battle gear already?! I like saying "traitor graduate" too! Dan's an act-alone for now. Marucho has his reason to take his time. You'll love the first sentence of this chapter then.
*Sugar Spice Rush: Dan just wants to be helpful. I don't know much about quantum mechanics either, so all that with be backstage stuff. Botany's cool, but won't be as important until later.
Dan: I can't believe it's already the second half of the year already.
Runo: Tell me about it.
Marucho: Everyone! Go back to work!
Everyone: *sweat drops*
M-Cube: Yeah...life has no breaks.
[9] Still Just Getting Started
"Unidentified trespassing machine in the canyons." said Alice before she fell onto the door leading to the food hall. "No worries. I can help myself up."
Shun sighed and assisted Alice onto a chair inside. "You're not feeling well, I don't have my weapon, and the others out there aren't as experienced as we are. I hope the LTG staff are as resourceful as we are. Hey guys!" Some of the land training grounds staff ran over after hearing Shun's call. "I don't know what's happening out there, but please help Dan, Julie, and Billy to the best of your ability."
"We're going there right now!"
Alice pulled on Shun's sleeve and asked, "Where is your weapon?"
"Marucho took it back to fix, but he hasn't updated me at all. I can always use the minor attacks I learned from my former Sorcery classes, but they're not my specialty."
"Can you just stay here with me then?"
He nodded and took out his sesame ointment. "Sure."
By the time the LTG staff went outside with laser guns, the drills on the foreign vehicle stopped spinning as the engine relaxed. The hood popped open, and two people walked out. "Gus, I told you not to drive this machine into a canyon!"
"It wasn't my fault that this thing ended up losing control and diving off course, Mason!"
Dan, Julie, and Billy watched the unintended argument go on forever until Mason noticed the LTG staff and the three students staring at him and Gus. "Look at this. Regardless if we drove into a canyon, this place is a part of school grounds."
"And that means only one thing to me." Gus took out a large remote control and turned the nobs, making the minor drills on the machine vehicle pop off and arrange themselves in formation. "Drill Booster!"
The drills pierced into everywhere in every direction underground like ants and gophers. Julie stood the closest by the edge of the canyon and saw rocks chip off beneath her feet, making her lose her step. "Help!"
"Gotcha!" Billy grabbed Julie's hand with one hand and caught her by the waist with the other. "You okay?"
"Thank goodness you were here." Julie regained her breath and saw cracks on the ground below Dan. "Watch your step, Dan!"
"Thanks for the tip." Dan heard and jumped back as one of the drills came back to surface. He faced the unwelcome guests and demanded, "I know who you guys work for! What do you want?"
"If you know who we work for already, then what's the point of asking?" Mason jumped off the vehicle and landed a few meters away from the students. "Really? It's just the three of you and some lousy figures of authority?"
"All units should destroy that drilling machine right now!" Shun yelled over the radio.
The LTG staff aimed their laser guns at the machine, but Mason put his palm on the ground and chanted, "Land Tomb!"
The earth softened slowly into mush as everyone but Mason and Gus lost their balance and the staff lost balance and misfired. At the same time, the minor drills continued digging, and Julie shook her head as she got up. "You're only making this worse for yourselves."
"Just doing what I need to contribute to the greater cause."
"Some greater cause this is. Billy, Dan, you guys deal with Gus and his drills."
"Got it." Dan answered, finding a way down to the bottom of the canyon.
"Julie, I can't. I'll stay up here with you." Billy insisted.
"Really?" Why did I even ask that during a critical time like this?
"You can't take this guy down alone. Dan's dealing with Gus, but Mason's clearly the one with more lethal power."
Julie nodded. "You're right. Let's take Mason down first and then help-"
An extremely loud thud echoed from the woods. "Everyone, what was that?" Shun asked.
"We're not sure, but there's smoke rising." a staff member answered. "Doesn't look like a fire, but maybe something exploded. What do you want us to do?"
"I want at least five of you LTG staff members to investigate that. Everyone else should stay and assist the students unless the dispatched team needs extra assistance."
Dan reached the bottom of the canyon on the weaker side and aimed his revolver at Gus. "Don't you even think about it."
"Really?" Gus quickly pressed a button and replied, "Behind you."
"What? Hey!" Dan ducked as one of the drills make a dolphin dive in front of Dan form behind him. The other minor drills came and made dolphin dives around him. "This is your idea of attacking me? Your drills suck!"
"Then show me. Other than that, you can't shoot me or escape when my drills are jumping in and out of the ground without hitting them."
"I have my own ways around that." Dan loaded his semi-auto and aimed. "Track and Trace!"
"What?!"
Dan fired five red bullets at a time and let them do their work. He ducked down and accidentally his hit smart-watch. "Not my new watch!"
"Dan, what are you calling me for?" scoffed an angry Runo on the other side.
"Runo? I didn't mean to—oh no!" Dan rolled over to avoid an incoming drill, and Runo saw most of the process. "I hit your speed dial frequency by accident. No worries."
"No worries? Dan, what are you doing? I saw a flying drill in the air and some of your tracer bullets. Are you in a fight?"
"Don't mind me. Just go back to teaching that optics class."
"Dan, wait-" Dan cut the conversation and stood up to brush himself off.
An explosion shook underground as Gus scoffed and punched the remote. "You'll pay for that broken drill." He tossed the remote into the passenger seat and closed the glass hood with him inside. "I'll be right back."
"Leaving already?" After Dan pounded his fist against the rock, his smart-watch beeped. "What?"
"Dan, are you all right?" Runo asked. "You look pretty shaken up."
"This guy jumped into his vehicle and ran way after I broke one of his stupid inventions. Should you be at optics class right now?"
"That class just ended. For a moment, you really scared me. I'll come by after one more class period. Who else is there?"
"Shun and Alice are inside, and Julie and Billy are above the canyon."
"That's still better than nothing. Shun still doesn't have a weapon, sadly. Take care."
"I will. Thanks."
After walking and falling countless times, Julie became fed up and placed her palm on the ground, creating and illuminating a large orange and green circle. "Tangleweed!" Leaves and thin roots sprouted from the circle and crawled everywhere, holding the earth tight together and pulling Mason down by his feet. "You break things apart, but I put them back together."
"Nice going, but not for long." The earth rumbled, and the drill machine surfaced behind Mason. "Gus, take me out of here!"
His partner came out and cut the thick weeds with a machete. "Mason, we're leaving. That shooter punk destroyed one of my drills, and I need to fix it."
"No wonder your vehicle looks distorted." Mason pulled the weeds off and hopped inside. "See you all later!" he taunted.
"Does this always happen?" Billy questioned.
Julie shrugged, and Dan replied, "They're not putting any effort into this. Most of our staff went to investigate the rising smoke. Should we also see what's over there?"
"Not yet," Shun ordered, walking over to the trio. "They told me via radio that they still don't know where the smoke is coming from. These woods are thicker than we thought. Anyway, Marucho called and gave me basic directions. Billy, this is where I'll need your geophysics, quantum mechanics, and seismology expertise."
"I'll do my best."
MxMxM
"Are you kidding me? They're everywhere?" The armored man who instigated all this stood up from his seat and punched the wall. "They're more prepared than I thought."
"Told you." Gus and Mason replied together.
"First, they counter us out in the waters. Now, they're countering us again on land." Mylene recalled. "I knew we should've attacked all three places at one."
"We can split up, but do you even know where the aerial training grounds are?" Jesse reminded.
"Jesse's correct." the man agreed. "Either the aerial training grounds are still destroyed since last time, or very well hidden. Lena, how are they doing at the water training grounds?"
"Three people are still there. I think the blond with glasses already set up a stronger barrier because all submarines and airships that approach there always have signal interference."
"I know him. His name is Marucho. The other two with him are Ace and Mira. Get some rest and prepare to attack another day."
"Yes, sir." they all saluted.
He watched the five subordinates leave his room and sighed. I lost my badge, and they probably know a bit about who's behind this. By the time you guys find out, it'll all be too late.
MxMxM
Billy tightened the last screw and blew the dust off. "All done. This seismometer has now been modified to detect unnatural vibrations in the earth. By unnatural, I mean something like this afternoon's drill machine, not really footsteps or tectonic plate movement. I can't enhance this any further given the limited resources I have."
"We can wait until Marucho come here. Thank you so much, Billy. You can go rest now." Billy gave Shun a high-five and went to the room he stayed in. Shun examined the seismometer further and brushed more dust off. "This is what one would need geophysics, quantum mechanics, and seismology for. Alice, what are you doing here?"
"Hi Shun. I prepared some warm tea. Here's your cup."
"Thanks." He grabbed a warm cup from Alice's left hand and drank. "I want to drink coffee, but then I can't sleep. I can't believe this rogue graduate's people are back on our first day at the land training grounds."
"After that disastrous battle out in the waters, we have to be prepared for anything." Alice touched the newly-installed gauge on the modified seismometer. "Does this work yet?"
"That was I was talking about earlier. Billy and I spent the rest of time after dinner modifying this, but it's still not complete. We need Marucho's specific directions. Some things are too complicated to be explained over the phone or even on camera. Where are Julie and Dan?"
"Talking to themselves in the food hall. They had a pretty heated battle outside today. I don't think Gus retreated simply because Dan destroyed one of the drills. Today was a test. If they know to come here, then they must be watching us from somewhere."
"If they really are, then they must be watching Marucho and the others, too. Marucho said that he finally stabilized the magnetic field so that it wouldn't jump from functional to dysfunctional every other second."
"No wonder he said he's taking his time." Alice drank her tea and noticed Shun's distressed face. "Is it really that tough being without your weapon?"
"Alice, I was the Valedictorian of Weaponry. What am I supposed to do without my weapon, especially at a time like this?"
"Use your sorcery powers."
"You've seen me use acoustics once or twice. I feel just as much discomfort afterwards, like how you feel after each psychic reading."
"But my headaches gradually go away the more I use that power. Maybe you'll feel less pain after more practice. By the way, did you apologize to Dan yet?"
"Not yet..."
"Shun..."
"I know. I shouldn't have been irrational. The LTG staff came back and told me that they didn't find anything at all. People say that when there's fire, there's smoke. We found nothing, and that bothers me."
"Just apologize to Dan some time before we leave. How big was the smoke? What color was it?"
"They just said that there's a trail of smoke rising to the sky, but didn't mention color. What are you thinking?"
"It's possible that whatever created the smoke was a small or cleverly concealed item. Also, not everything gives off gray smoke when burned."
"The former is worth considering, but I've never heard about the latter. I know certain elements emit different colors when performing a flame test, but smoke is pretty much the same. Not only do we have flat land, elevated land, and canyon land to cover, but we also have to cover the forest terrain."
"How about if I explore the woods for the next few days? You can probably predict when Mason and Gus will come back, using this seismometer."
"I can't let you go out there alone, though."
"The LTG staff will accompany me."
"Still not a good idea. I don't want to make the same mistake-" Shun stopped and shook his head. "Never mind."
"Shun, what mistake are you talking about?"
"Alice, don't-"
"Shun, I'm asking you. What mistake did you make?"
Shun shook his head and avoided eye contact. "Nothing big. It's in the past-"
"If it's not big, then you wouldn't break your bow like that when Jesse said those words to you."
"You wouldn't know that."
"I just want to help you put a matter to rest so that you'll be relieved and focused."
She's right. I haven't been at ease for these past few days ever since breaking my bow. "Fine. Promise you won't tell anyone?"
"I swear."
He pulled his chair closer to Alice and explained quietly. "Back when I was in SDI, I attended a school-organized survival retreat with a few schoolmates. We were doing an activity that forbid the use of any weapons. It was going smoothly until this crazy man found and chased us. None of us knew any sorcery at the time, so I told everyone to just get our weapons to injure and distract that guy for now."
"Why did he chase you guys in the first place?"
"I think we stumbled upon him poaching some endangered species. One of my friends grabbed his stun probe gun and shot, but missed. That crazy man then shot my friend with his hunting rifle. Luckily, the bullet only grazed my friend's arm. Even though we students didn't get in trouble, I still feel guilty because I was group leader, yet I couldn't protect them. I should've put myself before them instead of putting them in front of me. That was beyond scary." Shun put his head down and breathed heavily.
"Shun, it's okay. No one was badly hurt or in deep trouble. It's over, and you learned your lesson."
"What am I supposed to do now? I'm scared of committing that same mistake. I was this close to doing so back at the coast guard station. I almost let you all down."
"But Shun, instead of reminding yourself to not let us down every day, remind yourself that our goal here is to find out which graduate from that 'emergency year' is the one behind this. Remind yourself of why you came back in the first place. Remind yourself that protecting us is an instinct, not an expectation."
"Alice..."
"That's how I remind myself to score better on tests. Doing well in school is an instinct. I can't easily say no to it."
"Maybe that's why I've felt like this for a while. I probably only acquired the title of Valedictorian of Weaponry because people expected me to get it. After all, I had excellent grades. Maybe it's time that I start doing things for myself. Starting now."
"And the first thing you can do is to not blame yourself for that retreat accident. Next thing to do is apologize to Dan."
"If you insist. I do feel a lot better now. Thanks."
"Told you so." Alice grabbed his hand and placed the metal container of sesame ointment in his hands. "I want to handle my headaches on my own instead of relying on this all the time."
"I understand. Can I tell you something?"
"What?"
"You're the most reasonable girl I've ever met."
Alice tilted her head in confusion. "Is that a compliment? What about Runo or Mira?"
"Runo gets mad easily, Mira ignores problems when they get too messy, and Julie's too hyperactive. You haven't met other female graduates yet."
"So, you're saying...?"
"You keep your emotions out of the way, stick with messy predicaments to the end, remain calm in any kind of situation, and work extremely well with others."
Don't get too excited. He's only praising you for having relieving him of an issue he could never get over. "That's pretty all that there is about me. Thanks for the compliments. I'll get going now."
"Good night." You really are too gentle. You shouldn't have gotten involved at all.
#Attacks:
Drill Booster (Gus): [Rex Vulcan] activates the minor drills on the drill machine vehicle to dig tunnels underground
Land Tomb (Mason): [Stronk] softens the ground for enemies to misstep and lose balance
Tangleweed (Julie): produces weeds that grow in the dirt to secure the earth or hold down the enemy
#Classes:
Geophysics: physics of the Earth, its environment in space, shape, gravitational/magnetic fields, internal structure, and composition
Quantum mechanics: physics which deals with physical phenomena at nanoscopic scale (rather complicated)
Seismology: scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth
XOXOXO
M-Cube: Actually, someone requested by PM that I put Mason and Gus together in a battle setting, and this is what I came up with. This IS the land we're talking about!
Everyone: *distracted by the argument*
Shun: I don't see the point of watching that. We're wasting time.
Dan: When have we NOT wasted time? And you owe me an apology!
M-Cube: This is all Alice's fault.
Alice: Why?! Please review so that Shun will apologize and that Mimi will forgive me!
Shun: I already said I'd apologize.
M-Cube: And I'll reconsider it.
