Hey guys! Here is the ninth chapter of Tales of Asteria: Grand Voyage! Asbel and the gang train at Lake Greenwood in East Rohan to prepare themselves for the Elite Guard. Hope you liked it.
Ch. 9 – Lake Training
Asbel, Cheria, Yuri, Repede, Luke, Mieu, Tear, Sophie, Jade, Rita and Liu are currently in East Rohan, having reached it for the last week. They decided to stop at Lake Greenwood; a perfect place to lay low for a while.
Right now, they are getting ready to train hard.
Rita was being a little nervous.
"Please tell me this is gonna be hard-core?" Rita asked.
"Don't look at me. It was Asbel and Jade's idea." Yuri replied.
Rita pouted.
"It's a good way to hone our skills to battle Van if we have to face him again." Cheria explained.
"And the Elite Guard." Tear said.
"I've heard you guys defeated two of the Elite Guard, and barely escaped Van with your lives." Liu commented.
"Yeah… just barely." Yuri said.
Luke and Sophie were stretching their bodies.
"How much longer are those two gonna be done?" Luke asked.
Luke was looking at the cave Asbel and Jade are in making plans for training.
"Who knows?" Mieu replied.
"I just hope they're alright." Sophie thought.
Repede yawned.
Asbel and Jade appeared out of the cave; Jade was holding onto two pieces of paper rolled up.
Jade began to open the first paper up for everyone to look at.
Asbel & Jade's Training List – Part One
50 Push-Ups (Boys) & 25 Sit-Ups (Girls)
25 Curl-Ups
One Mile Jog Around The Lake
Bench Press – 80 lbs.; 12 Times (Boys Only! Girls can take a break.)
2 Minute Parkour
The others became dumbfounded by the first paper list.
"Is this some kind of a joke?!" Cheria, Luke, Mieu, Tear and Rita thought in unison.
"We're screwed." Yuri and Liu thought in unison.
"It doesn't look bad." Sophie thought.
"We're starting 50 Push-Ups for the boys and 25 Sit-Ups for the girls starting now." Jade explained.
"ALREADY?! " Cheria, Yuri, Luke, Mieu, Tear, Rita & Liu exclaimed in unison.
XXX
Starting now, the whole gang did their respective regiment: boys doing 50 push-ups and girls doing 25 sit-ups. Repede and Mieu were given their own exercise of dragging three heavy logs for a whole minute.
The boys weren't having any problems with the push-ups as all of them are currently not wearing their shirts and leaving their top parts exposed.
The girls were taking their pace in sit-ups, taking a ten second cooldown to catch their breath.
XXX
A minute later, the gang started doing 25 curl-ups at a slow pace so they don't stress themselves out.
Cheria and Tear felt a little distracted from seeing Asbel and Luke half-naked and working a sweat; both rapidly blushed and tried their best to focus more.
But the image of what the two girls saw are now stuck in their heads.
"Why did I have to love that moron?!" Cheria (to Asbel) and Tear (to Luke) thought in unsion.
XXX
After the curl-ups, the whole gang (joined with Repede and Mieu) began their mile jog around the whole lake.
The boys and Sophie weren't having no problem pacing themselves so Cheria, Tear and Rita, who are lagging behind, to keep up for fairness.
"Having trouble, ladies?" Yuri asked.
"Who asked you!?" Rita exclaimed.
"Save your breath, Rita." Liu said.
XXX
About fifteen minutes later, the gang finished their mile run and began to catch their break.
"What *pant* a *pant* pain!" Luke hollered.
Luke was painting like crazy.
"I'm all sweaty!" Cheria and Tear hollered in unison.
"We have change of clothes for everyone once we're done with the last two on the list." Jade explained.
"Come on!" Cheria, Tear and Rita hollered in unison.
"You can do it!" Sophie hollered.
Sophie hopes to encourage to girls to keep going.
"How that kid has energy is beyond me." Luke explained.
"Quit whining and let's get ready for the bench press." Asbel explained.
Luke growled.
Repede and Mieu snickered at Luke's whining.
XXX
The boys are now doing their respective bench presses by 80 lbs, while Liu went above by an additional 20.
(A/N: Liu is the physically strongest of the team.)
Yuri and Luke were the first to be done.
Tear handed Luke a bottle of water as the dark blonde blushed bright red.
"Here." Tear said.
"Thanks, Tear!" Luke hollered.
Luke began to drink his bottle.
Cheria and Rita giggled.
XXX
The last but difficult challenge after the bench press was two minutes of Parkour in the forest with lots of trees and several tall rocks, but loads of space. The only one not doing parkour was Mieu, since he can fly, and decided to watch.
Asbel, Yuri, Repede, Luke and Sophie took it high to the trees with ease.
"See if you can be me, shorty!" Yuri hollered.
"You're on, pretty boy!" Asbel hollered.
"Always a competition." Luke thought, having a sweat drop on his forehead.
"I have to keep up with them!" Sophie thought.
Jade, Cheria, Tear and Rita took a more subtle approach and took the rocks by running-then-jumping and repeating the same steps.
"All too easy." Jade thought.
"I can't lag behind the others! I have to prepare myself!" Cheria thought.
"Have to time my steps in a coordinated fashion." Tear said.
"I so got this!" Rita hollered.
For Liu, mobility wasn't his strong suit, but he handled pretty with several logs and flat rocks around.
"I may be big, but I can still move around." Liu thought.
Liu jumped onto one log, then the next. He then used his axe to balance himself to the flat rock with little trouble.
"I'm getting the hang of this." Liu said.
Asbel and Jade both smiled at everyone's progress.
"Time for the next regiment." Asbel thought.
"And this one will get a little more rough." Jade thought.
XXX
Two minutes have passed and everyone finished their parkour.
They decided to change in order for their regular clothes to be washed and dried out.
The girls are currently changing as the boys (already changed) waited outside.
Asbel is shirtless, while wearing brown baggy pants and black high calf boots.
Yuri, also shirtless, only has white bandages around his wrists, black baggy pants held by a string around the waist, and another pair of his signature boots.
Luke, shirtless too, is only wearing fingerless tan gloves, baggy light-colored shorts, and black sandals.
Jade is dressed in a long-sleeved dark blue shirt and black pants, with brown sandals and his glasses all cleaned up.
Liu's dressed in a form-fitting black tank top, loose white pants, and straw sandals.
Repede and Mieu are cleaned nicely and drying off.
"When are the girls gonna be done?" Asbel asked.
"Now who's impatient?" Yuri, Luke and Liu thought in unison.
"Be patient, prince." Jade said.
Asbel pouted.
"We're done!" Cheria hollered.
"About t-" Asbel said.
Asbel suddenly froze, as did Luke; Yuri, Repede, Mieu and Liu snickered while Jade smirked.
Why Asbel and Luke froze became clear first seeing Cheria and Tear appearing from the lake.
Cheria had her hair down completely, dressed in a dark tank-top and thigh-length shorts, and straw sandals.
Tear has her hair tied in a low ponytail, dressed in a white strapless blouse with several strings tied tight in the back, a black skirt that extends to the lower part of her thighs, white bandages on her forearms, and calf-high gladiator sandals.
To Asbel and Luke, no women could be as beautiful as Cheria and Tear.
Cheria and Tear noticed Asbel and Luke's appearances and blushed bright red.
Asbel and Luke did the same.
Appearing behind the two older women were Rita and Sophie.
Rita, dressed in a short-sleeved dark green shirt, scarlet boy shorts with a blue sash wrapped around, her signature goggles, and wearing no footwear, smirked.
Sophie, dressed in a fashion similar to Rita's except she has her hair down completely, a violet version of her shirt with small tears on the bottom edges, turquoise shorts that extend to her knees with a white sash tied in a bow, and ankle-high black boots, smiled.
"They're in love~!" Yuri, Mieu, Rita and Liu hollered in unison.
"Aw, young love." Jade commented, adjusting his glasses.
"You four love each other." Sophie said.
Repede snickered.
Asbel, Cheria, Luke and Tear became extremely embarrassed.
"SHUT UP!" Asbel, Cheria, Luke and Tear shouted in unison.
XXX
Forty minutes later…
Asbel, joined by Cheria, Sophie, Rita, Mieu and Liu on one side, faced off against Yuri, Tear, Luke, Repede and Jade on the other.
According to Asbel and Jade, the second paper is a 6 minute mock battle to hone their skills for combat.
The sky became a bit dark as the Sun started going down.
They put up torches for some sight.
"You guys ready?" Asbel asked.
Everyone on Asbel's side nodded.
"Yuri! You ready!?" Asbel asked.
Yuri and his group nodded.
Asbel took a deep breath as he took a stance.
"Ready… GO!" Asbel hollered.
Asbel, Cheria, Sophie, Rita, Mieu and Liu clashed with Yuri, Luke, Tear, Repede and Jade to their heart's content.
Blade against blade, fist against fist, Arte against Arte, everyone were not holding back.
- Bestial Roar! – Asbel shouted.
- Lone Wolf Charge! – Yuri shouted.
Asbel and Yuri clashed attacks.
Cheria was using her Pixie Circle to heal Rita and Mieu's injuries; Tear used First Aid to heal Luke's.
Tear and Luke blushed upon how close they are.
Sophie tangoed with Repede with neither giving in.
Liu blocked a Turbulence attack from Jade.
Neither side was giving up.
"Not bad, eh?" Yuri asked.
"The fun's getting started!" Asbel hollered.
Asbel drew his sword and charged.
Yuri followed suit.
Asbel and Yuri clashed as equals.
"Look at those two!" Mieu hollered.
"Let's do our best too!" Cheria hollered.
Rita nodded.
- Blessed Blades! – Cheria shouted.
- Stalagmite! – Rita shouted.
Cheria and Rita combined their attacks that are heading towards Luke and Tear.
"Ready?" Luke asked.
Tear nodded.
- Frigid Blast! – Luke shouted.
- Frozen Hammer! – Tear shouted.
Luke and Tear countered Cheria and Rita's combined light-and-earth attack with an ice combo.
Strong wind generated from the impact.
Repede attacked Sophie with Phantom Fang.
Sophie dodged gracefully.
- Demolition Drive! – Sophie shouted.
Sophie delivered a strong diving kick at Repede.
Repede was hit.
- Mighty Rush! – Liu shouted.
Liu charged with force.
But Jade was counting on that.
- Soveregin Gale! – Jade shouted.
Slamming his lance on the ground, Jade released a powerful cyclone at Liu.
Liu clashed against the attack.
Asbel and Yuri did one more sword clash.
XXX
After six minutes of the mock battle, everyone began set up camp and went to bed as it was now dark.
The only one up was Luke, watching the night sky as he sat near the waterfall several centimeters away from the campsite.
"The stars sure are beautiful." Tear said.
Luke turned to his right, seeing Tear standing a few feet away from him.
Luke blushed rapidly upon seeing Tear still dressed in her changed outfit.
Tear noticed Luke's blush and turned to the left.
"Don't stare, dummy." Tear muttered.
"Sorry." Luke said.
Tear sighed.
"Wanna come sit with me?" Luke asked.
Tear became surprised.
"Y-You sure?" Tear asked.
Luke nodded.
Tear began to sit next to Luke, however she didn't think first as she was a bit close to Luke's space.
Luke and Tear's faces became red.
"S-Sorry!" Luke and Tear hollered in unison.
Luke and Tear looked at the night sky, seeing the bright stars shining.
"I always love these stars." Luke commented.
"Me too." Tear commented.
Luke and Tear watched the stars with curiosity.
Tear's right hand unconsciously went to Luke's left hand and lightly gripped it.
Being oblivious, Luke was too focused on the stars.
But Tear noticed and panicked in her mind.
"Oh my god! I'm holding his hand! Why!?" Tear thought.
Tear's face became red again as she began to struggle with her inner urges.
"What should I do?" Tear thought.
"Should I tell him or not?" Tear thought.
Tear needed to take this chance.
"Hey… Luke." Tear said.
Luke turned to see Tear, whose face is still red.
"There's something I wanted to tell you for a long time." Tear explained.
"What's that?" Luke asked.
"You see, ever since you and Asbel-san saved me that day, I always admired you two and wanted to keep up." Tear explained.
"But through the course of the journey, I feel something more special with YOU." Tear continued.
Tear began to wrap her arms around Luke's neck.
Luke's heart suddenly beat faster than normal, as he began to blush with one eye widened.
"Luke, even if you won't understand, all I wanted to say that I-" Tear said.
Before she could finish, she was met with rough and coarse lips on her soft and warm ones.
Tear's eyes widened with shock… as Luke kissed her.
"Holy crap! He's kissing me!" Tear thought.
Luke released his lips on Tear, giving a toothy smile.
"You took the words of out my mouth." Luke said.
Tear blushed, but smiled gracefully.
"Luke…" Tear said.
Luke and Tear gave a more passionate kiss, expressing their love under the starry sky.
XXX
Inside the tent for the boys, Asbel turned to the left side.
Asbel began to feel a dark pulse inside him.
"How much longer can you resist me, boy?" A dark voice asked inside Asbel's mind.
Asbel's left eye opened, being purple in a bright flash.
Preview Skit:
Luke: That was some killer exercise!
Tear: Yeah…
Luke: So, I guess that means we're official?
Tear: Depends on how you describe it.
Luke: I know Asbel, Yuri, Mieu and Rita are gonna tease me to death.
Tear: Cheria-san and Colonel are gonna question me to death.
Luke: They'll know soon the enough tomorrow first chance we get.
Tear: Hope you're ready for the teasing.
Luke: Haha.
Luke: Next time: Chapter 10 – Dark Heart.
Luke: Let's enjoy the scene for another hour, okay?
Tear: Okay…
Did you enjoy it?