(Small time skip ahead… I can't figure out how to properly integrate this without a time skip. Sorry if it gets a bit confusing.) I woke up the next morning on the couch. I then realized what had happened last night. I was working on my next program for the public to make this game better, but fell asleep in the process. I got up, stretched and then looked at the time. It was only 7:15 and I had last checked at 2:50 last night, meaning I crashed sometime after that and only got about 4 hours of sleep, again. Since I didn't want to wake Michael before he even started his training with me, I decided to let him sleep while I went to town to get some supplies that we would need if we were to stay back for a while longer. As I came back I noticed the note that was left on my door when I was gone. Not surprisingly, it was from the Aincrad Liberation Army, and even less surprising, it read that Michael and I had a week to get ourselves prepared to go back to the frontlines, and that after that the entire army will come to force us to go back. Honestly, I thought that they were being too abusive of their power and that they would only listen to their own reasoning. But after reading the notice again, I realized that they had given me and Michael more than enough time to get ready. They have given us a week to prepare, which will be more than enough time to start Michael's training, and then they will send escorts to bring us there. And Michael's training will have to be done in higher level dungeons to teach him how the AI moves and to evaluate his damage.
Pushing that thought out of my mind for the moment, I opened the door and entered my apartment. I then went to check on Michael. As I walked to his door I was sure to mask my footsteps and didn't make a sound. I slowly turned the handle and entered his room. As I expected, he was fast asleep, on his stomach, and showed no signs of waking up soon. I then went back to the living room to continue working on that program. Some time after I had gotten back to work I heard a knock at the door. I got up to see who it was, and to my surprise it was Shannon back from the frontlines. I immediately opened the door for her and invited her in. She was almost covered in injuries this time, and she had very low health. If I didn't know any better it looked like she was just in a fight before she appeared at my door.
She stumbled into my apartment and then collapsed right in front of the couch. I rushed to catch her before she hit her head on the floor and I instantly knew that she didn't come to just say "Hi" this time. It just happened to be that right after she collapsed Michael got up and walked into the living room. As soon as he walked in he knew that he would be needed and rushed to help me. As soon as we got her on the couch he asked me what happened, and what I wanted him to do. I told him everything that happened before he woke up this morning, and also told him to just keep an eye on her. If she wakes up then we will be able to question her about what happened. But in the meantime, I was going to see if I could get some extra supplies for when we have to leave.
When I returned Shannon was getting up, and Michael seemed extremely scared for some reason. Turns out Michael had somehow managed to piss off Shannon in the half hour that I was gone. Since I slightly owed it to Michael, I stepped in to stop her before she could do anything to him. After I sorted out the problem between Michael and Shannon I redirected the conversation to what happened before she came here earlier, and why she came to begin with. It turns out that she was being targeted by Laughing Coffin for being one of the best players in the game. Before she started telling us what happened before she got here, Michael made us all some tea, and coffee. As soon as he came back, I told her to describe everything that happened after the party. She told us "I decided to take a break from the front lines for a bit, and I left to settle down a bit. Since I knew that Michael was still going to be here for a while, I thought that I would come down to visit, and maybe oversee his training while I was on break. Of course that doesn't exactly go according to plan, because Laughing Coffin tried to ambush me in the nearest dungeon. I fought them off until I got to the nearest town, but they managed to find a way around the safe zones, and continued the assault from there. I continued to fight them off, killing a few of them, until I managed to get away from the remaining members of the ambush and I then came here for help. I can't ask you to fight Laughing Coffin, but I don't feel safe with just being out in the open with them coming after me."
I then responded with "Of course you can stay with us. Although we only have a week to stay before we have to make our way to the front lines again. I'll be sure to protect you while we stay, but after if you don't want to stay with us while we move forward, I can't promise any safety."
"I think I'll stay, it will be better than trying to fight Laughing Coffin the entire time I'm on break. Besides it would be nice to spend some more time with Michael."
Just then Michael chimed in "Aw, thanks. I look forward to spending more time with you too."
When we finished talking, I pulled Michael aside to start his personal training with me. Since this was just a beginning session, I was going to make him just practice some parries and some basic methods of disarming. But since Shannon was also here, she was also interested in assisting in Michael's training so I had him instead try to break her guard while dueling her. At first Shannon thought that it was too easy of an assignment, but then she realized what I had planned.
To start Michael's training we went outside and Shannon got herself ready for the duel. In the meantime, I helped Michael get prepared with a small pep talk. Granted, I'm not that great at giving pep talks, so I kept it short and went straight to the point. And my point was to make sure that he knew that he should go all out, even though this is just a training session. I also gave him a little motivation to go all out, by threatening to spank him if he doesn't, but I also told him that if he does go all out and he is completely fine after this training session he could give me a piece of his mind (if you catch my drift…). Although I let him know that it wasn't going to be easy. Mostly because he has to break Shannon's guard, and given that she has easily taken several hits from some of the game's toughest bosses, that was going to be a challenge in it of itself. Once I was done giving Michael his pep talk, I left the arena and told them to start their duel. (I'm going to be getting a job soon, which will slow the production of this even further… I will try to continue this as much as possible.) At the start of the duel Michael rushed Shannon with a flurry of slashes from his katana, and then switched to his scythe to make her keep her distance. Although he got faster, and had attacked her quicker than expected, Shannon still blocked every single attack, with more than enough stamina left to attack back, but she then was cut off with her attempt to return the damage when Michael aimed a swing of his scythe at her head. She dodged the attack and then returned the favor by drawing her bow, nocking an arrow, and firing in the blink of an eye. Michael didn't dodge the shot, but instead took the shot while sprinting towards Shannon in an attempt to attack her and to keep her on the defensive. To my surprise, Shannon just let him get closer to her. Then, as Michael was swinging his scythe, Shannon switched to her daggers and parried his attack with one dagger and attacked with her other. As soon as she withdrew her dagger from his abdomen, Michael jumped backwards and prepared for an attack. Shannon closed the gap, and forced Michael to go on the defensive. After a few hits Michael turned the tides over to his side and attacked ferociously for a while, almost breaking Shannon's guard. But as soon as he got the upperhand, she regained it. This pattern continued for a while, until the match timer reached 0. Because Michael had more health in the end, by sheer luck, he was deemed the winner of the duel, but he hadn't managed to completely break Shannon's guard. When he came up to me afterwards, his face was darkened, the same way it would when he was faced with defeat in other games, and he started to apologize the moment he was close enough for me to hear. I immediately interrupted him, saying "Look, you did amazing for that fight. Yes, you didn't exactly complete the assignment I gave you, but you did great, so relax. I'll let you know what I have decided to do."
After hearing that Michael started to calm down a bit, but he was still worried. He asked what he should do in the meantime, to which I told him "Do what you want. Just don't get yourself in any trouble."
With that knowledge, Michael walked inside to the gym to work out some more before he receives word of what I have decided. I took my time thinking about what to do with Michael. On one hand, he didn't complete his assignment of breaking Shannon's guard, but on the other hand, he did an amazing job at handling the fight, especially since he was facing such a strong opponent right after recovering from his injuries. After a couple hours of deliberation I finally decided to give Michael the point on this one. When I went to go tell him the news he seemed to be on edge, and he was definitely resigned to the thought that he was going to get spanked. At the sight of his relief when he heard that I decided to give him the point, I was glad that I didn't hold the wording of the assignment against him. I also told him that he can choose when to start with his reward. Unsurprisingly, he chose to start right now. He then led me to the bedroom, and told me to drop my pants. I immediately complied with his request, and awaited further instruction. Michael then requested that I give him my paddle for him to use, to which I had no objections. I have him my paddle and let him guide me over his knee. He raised his arm and brought it down hard on my ass, making me yelp from the surprise. He continued at a steady, but fast pace, not giving me any time to process the smacks. This continued for what felt like ages, until Michael then said "I hope that you are comfortable, because I don't plan on stopping for a while."
I groaned when I heard this, but I didn't try to talk back, or complain to Michael. I guess I didn't because I knew that I had this coming, even without my deal with Michael for his first lesson. I just layed over his lap, squirming from the growing pain in my ass. Staying true to his word, Michael continued to spank me, with each spank getting gradually harder than the last. The assault was unending, and continued for what felt like ages, and then Michael started targeting my sit spots. By that time I was already crying, and I was only keeping myself together to let him enjoy this for the time being. He only continued for 2 more minutes, but he made it the most painful 2 minutes of my life. When he was finished I was laying over his lap, limp and sobbing from the pain. He placed the paddle down on the bed and started to rub small circles into my back, while speaking softly into my ear; reassuring me that it was over.
After I calmed down he laid me in the bed, and pulled the covers over me. He then got up and left the room, and I was left alone in the dark. Michael then went to the living room, and got a cup of coffee while he worked on some drawings. I honestly don't know how he managed to keep up his drawing so much during the period that it took for me to create a program that allowed him to create them anywhere, but he managed to do it, and the quality of them was always increasing. While Michael was working on a new drawing Shannon walked into the living room and sat down next to him. She then started to do some drawing of her own, only these drawings were of anime characters, and had a more cartoonish look than Michael's. After a couple of drawings were finished she finally said "So, I heard something earlier, but I don't want to exactly say anything if it will embarrass you at all. I don't know what it was that Jordan said to you before our duel, but I think I have a good idea of what the consequences of failures in his lessons are."
Michael then replied with "So, what are you getting at?"
"Were you spanked for not being able to break my guard in today's lesson?"
"No. Jordan was rather forgiving of me this time. Although I think that there was something that was bothering him, because he let me give him 'a piece of my mind.' If you know what I mean by that."
"I see. So it was Jordan who was being spanked… I didn't think that he could take pain that well, but I guess it's not that surprising, considering that he's a solo player most of the time."
"Yes, he's a solo player, and he has to be able to take a lot of pain, but this time was a bit different. He didn't exactly fight me, nor did he seem to show any real discomfort with it. Instead he seemed to show some contentment when it was over."
"I don't know, maybe he is stressed over this whole thing. I mean it's incredibly hard to bear the knowledge that your best friend has been injured, and even harder knowing that you were the one who injured them. He might just be holding onto that fact."
"Maybe, but he seemed to also have something else on his mind, something much heavier. I don't know what exactly it is, but I know that he seemed to be relieved from it after the spanking. I just don't want him to get hurt from being distracted from whatever it is that is upsetting him."
"Don't worry, he will be fine. If there's something bothering him, he can easily just push it out of his mind and stay focused on his task at hand. If there's anyone that I'm worried about it's you."
"Why are you worried about me?"
"Because you almost died, and then you lost so much time for training that you are going to have a tough time with the new floors. I'm worried because I love you."
"I love you too."
At that point they both had stopped working on their respective drawings and were just talking together. Michael then leaned in closer to Shannon and kissed her.I guess it was at this moment that they were able to officially be called a couple.