Ven and the New Trainer, pt. 1
Two weeks after the youth incident…
Ven, in the labs of castle's basement, tried his hand at making a simple potion. He wanted to show Aqua that he could make one by himself and win a bet against Terra. If he won, Terra would give him 500 munny. But if he lost, then he would be giving Terra that munny.
As the contents of his potion bubbled away in a pot, he looked at the recipe book that had various potions and ethers one could make. The current potion was a regular healing one. Following the recipe, he put in medicinal herbs, some holy water and…
"Whoa!" Ven said, tripping over his own feet after grabbing the salt canister.
The salt fell onto the floor and Ven rapidly tried to scoop it back into the container. The potion in the pot boiled over, hitting the flames and setting the table on fire. Panicking, Ven tossed the salt into it to no effect and screamed.
"Uh, uh, uh…Blizzard!" he yelled as that was the only thing he could think of doing.
Ice fired from his Keyblade, hitting the pot and the flames. The boy groaned in disappointment as his concoction to make a potion failed. Now, he would have to start his project over, despite it being due tomorrow.
"Oh, hey Ven!"
Aqua entered the lab and saw the mess that was supposed to be a potion. She gave a pitieous smile and asked, "So, you were trying your hand at making potions?"
"Yeah, but it failed…Aw…" Ven whined.
"Eh, it's okay. I'll show you how to make one. But first, Master wants us in the throne room. Said something about a new assessment he has for us," Aqua told him.
Throne room…
The trio of Terra, Aqua and Ventus stared at a rather burly man speaking with Master Eraqus. He wore only an arm band, a pair of capris that looked similar to Terra's hakama pants and a red bandana around his forehead. He was also shirtless, exposing a large tattoo and his muscles. Aqua stared, making Terra frown up.
"Wow. Um…C-Can he put a shirt on…?" Aqua stammered.
"He's not all that, Aqua…" Terra murmured.
The man was accompanied by two boys that looked to be Ven's age. They wore yellow and black blitzball uniforms and one held a blitzball in his arms. Ven wondered who the man was and Master Eraqus and he approached. With a nod, their master said, "Terra, Aqua, Ventus, this here is Jecht of Zanarkand, a Keyblade wielder. He has brought his sons, Tidus and Shuyin, for training."
"Uh, what training?" Terra asked.
"Well, we don't have any other Keybearers back in Spira," Tidus said.
"Not any that we know of. We mostly have summoners and mages," Shuyin interjected.
Jecht nodded, saying, "I need help in teaching these babies on what real Keyblade wielding is!"
"Hey, we're not babies!" Tidus yelled.
"But you cry all the time…" Shuyin told him.
"Do not!" Tidus shouted.
"Do too!" Shuyin bellowed.
The twins started fighting and Jecht said, "See what I'm dealing with? Anyway. I came here 'cause I need ya to help me teach 'em to fight. Especially since we've got a whole bunch of monsters appearin' all of a sudden, attackin' our summoners."
"Yes, in the world of Spira, summoners are the people's lifelines. They fight the darkness just like we do, but they have a severe lack of Keybearers. Summoners function instead and any Keybearers become their guardians," Master Eraqus explained.
"Yup. And we're assigned to a family of summoners, Lord Braska and his twins, Lenne and Yuna," Shuyin added, nodding and apparently winning the fight.
"So, shouldn't you three be there protecting them?" Terra asked.
Aqua and Ven eyed him and he still seemed to be jealous at Aqua's reaction to the burly man. As if she was only supposed to reserve said reactions to him, but what did Ven know? They were best friends and sometimes best friends become much more. So, did they feel that way towards each other?
"I will go in their stead, to see what is causing the darkness to increase. You three will train with them and give them the proper accommodations. I should be back in a week. If you do not here from me, contact Master Yen Sid," Master Eraqus told them.
The trio bade their master farewell and he left for Spira.
The next day…
Ven woke up to the sight of someone performing a dive kick, screaming, "GOOD…MORNING, VENTUS! YAA-AAH!"
The boy hopped out of bed and saw Jecht crash into the bed. He destroyed it, breaking the frame in half and the boy screamed, "What are you nuts, trying to drop kick someone while they're sleeping?!"
"Well, you're awake now, right? SO! TIME FOR TRAINING!" Jecht yelled.
Ven looked to the window and groaned, seeing that the sun hadn't come up yet. Fall was approaching and the Land of Departure already started showing signs of the times. He glared at Jecht and the man proudly waltzed out of the room.
"Man, this is gonna suck…" he whined.
Outside, and in a hoodie and sweatpants of black and white, Ven joined Terra, Aqua, and the twins. They all wore the same attire in their favorite colors and waited for Jecht to join them. He appeared, grinned, and said, "Ahem! Since Master Eraqus is out and we need training, I'm gonna be your instructor!"
"Oh no…" Shuyin groaned.
Tidus was the same, asking, "Why Dad? Why?"
"Because you two need to learn and I need training partners! So, we're gonna start off with running laps," Jecht said.
Terra laughed, saying, "Oh, that's gonna be easy."
"From here all the way to that…mountain over there," Jecht said.
He pointed to a mountain that was about several miles away. Apparently, Jecht wanted them to run there and back…before the sun set. Terra accepted the challenge, looking smug. Aqua looked worried and Ven thought it'd be okay. The twins sighed loudly, muttering, "We'll get lost. Well, there goes my afternoon of gaming…"
"Okay. On your marks, get set…GO!" Jecht yelled.
He fired off a Fire spell into the air and the five ran off. Unbeknownst to them, Jecht gave off a malicious grin, muttering, "Let the 109th 'Prank Wars' begin. Seriously, this is gonna be fun."
Okay, evil trainer much? Is Jecht working for Xehanort? Or is he just his own brand of chaos and confusion? And will Ven and the others find out? Is Eraqus in on this? All this and more will be answered, so stay tune!
Oh, and thanks to Earthly Entity and Tori Blackwood for their reviews during the hiatus. I finally got inspiration back, so we'll see more chapters of this fic before the end of the year.
-miano53