How about another chapter? I'm doing pretty well, and I think that, with a few tweaks, I have the rest of the Silver Saints arc planned out. This is, of course, in my head, I tried outlining and it didn't work very well.
I think this is a slower chapter, I'm touching on some things that were briefly mentioned in past chapters. You'll see.
Disclaimer: I do not own Saint Seiya or any of the included characters. They all belong to Masami Kurumada.
"Say, Brother, why are we going out into the woods like this?"
"I'm confused too. There are plenty of perfectly good training grounds inside Sanctuary."
"Aiolia, Talus, what did I tell you before we left?"
Talus frowned, his round face scrunching up in thought. "You told us this was special training."
Aiolos smiled encouragingly at the young Gold trainee. "Exactly. We can't do this training inside Sanctuary, not with so many other Cosmos around. It would be too confusing."
"Oh."
"Yeah, 'oh'. You kids are unbelievable."
"I don't want to hear anything from you, Kanon!" Aiolia scowled.
"I think you absolutely need to hear from me." Kanon said, grinning as he fell into step with the other three boys. "Right, Aiolos?"
Aiolos blinked. Kanon's features were blurring, as were the forms of Talus and Aiolia next to him.
"I..." He started to say.
"Aiolos?"
"Aiolos, wake up!"
Aiolos snapped awake with an unpleasant jolt, and found himself staring up at Talus from where he was slumped over the arm of the couch.
"Did I fall asleep?" He mumbled, straightening up as he blinked to clear his vision.
"You did." Talus said, amusement dancing in his eyes briefly before his gaze turned serious again. "Ikki and the others are back."
Aiolos just about shot to attention, then turned to see the five young Bronzes gathered around the other couch. He blinked.
Seiya and Hyoga looked mostly unharmed, other than a few scratches. Shiryu was still in his armor, making it hard to tell if he was injured or not.
Ikki was the one who really caught Aiolos's attention. The Phoenix Saint was sitting on the couch, head leaned back. Esmeralda crouched in front of him, her hands hovering over his chest, glowing with a soft grey light.
Aiolos stood up, moving to get a better view of Ikki's chest, and promptly winced. The oldest of the Bronze Saints had a truly spectacular bruise in the middle of his chest. The bruise was a dark, painful looking purple in the center, but the edges were starting to fade to the yellow of a half-healed bruise.
"What happened?" Aiolos demanded, glancing around at the other Bronzes. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence before Seiya spoke.
"We ran into a pair of Silver Saints on the same cliff where I fought Misty. We beat them, but Ikki got hit." He told the Sagittarius Saint.
Aiolos eyed the Phoenix Saint, who glanced up at him briefly before looking away with a noncommittal grunt.
"How bad is it?" He asked, turning to Esmeralda.
The blonde girl sighed, and leaned back. "It's just a bruise and some broken ribs. I've healed his ribs, but the bruise I'll have to deal with later. I can't heal too much at one time."
"It's fine." Ikki grumbled. "I heal quickly."
Without warning, Esmeralda's hand shot out and smacked Ikki in the chest, right in the middle of the bruise.
Ikki lurched forward, gasping in pain at the sudden impact on the still-purple bruise. "Esmeralda!" He wheezed.
"With that attitude, you can heal on your own. I give it three days until you can move without any pain."
Seiya snickered, only to wince when Ikki moved to glare at him.
A thought occurred to Aiolos.
"Well then, three days it is." He said cheerily.
"What about three days?" Hyoga asked, looking rightfully suspicious.
"Three days until you start training again." Aiolos told him, making sure to keep the smile on his face.
"Training? We're still doing that?" Seiya whined.
"Of course." Talus spoke up. "These attacks aren't any reason to skimp on training. What did you have in mind, Aiolos?"
"Do you remember the day I took you into the forest? The day Kanon came with us?"
Talus's expression twisted into something almost sad. "I do."
"I want you to teach these five how to do that."
"What are we learning?" Shiryu inquired curiously.
"Maneuvering in enclosed spaces." Talus answered, grimacing.
Aiolos chuckled at the expression on the black-haired Saint's face. "Don't worry. You're in charge this time. I'll stay here to protect Athena."
"Maybe we shouldn't all go at once?" Esmeralda suggested. "There should be more of us here to protect Saori."
Talus hummed thoughtfully. "We won't go far." He finally said. "There's a big copse of trees less than a mile from here that we can use."
When everyone stared at him, he sighed. "And I'll ask Shun to come watch the villa, so that he can warn us if anything happens."
"Wait. Shun doesn't have to train with us?" Ikki asked.
"No. Shun's already done this training. He'll be fine."
"Okay."
"Good. Now you go sleep. You shouldn't push yourself with that bruise." Esmeralda piped up, giving Ikki a gentle shove.
Ikki scowled, but complied, disappearing down the hall towards the room he and Hyoga were sharing.
"I guess that gives the rest of us a few days off." Seiya said, grinning, and went to head for his and Shiryu's room.
"Oh no you don't." Aiolos said. "There's always room for improvement. You four are coming with me for training."
Everyone laughed as Seiya groaned in protest.
The next day found Aiolos and Talus in the basement of the villa, looking around for some equipment.
"I'm sure Kido kept some hunting equipment here. He was a big fan of the martial combat styles." Aiolos muttered.
"If you're talking guns, I'll just use my own attacks." Talus huffed.
Aiolos scoffed. "I mean a bow and arrows. Even at low power, your attacks are too strong for this kind of training."
"And yours weren't?" Talus retorted as he dug through a bin.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Aiolos asked, turning to look at his former student.
"You fired Ethereal Shots at us!" Talus squawked.
"I never aimed to kill you!" Aiolos said indignantly.
"That doesn't mean that it didn't hurt to get hit." Talus grumbled.
Aiolos sighed, but didn't bother responding. Then, "Aha!" He said triumphantly as he pulled a bow and a quiver of arrows out of a cabinet.
"Find something?" Talus asked.
"Sure did." Aiolos told him, waving the bow and arrows at him.
Talus sighed. "Let's go make sure that those arrows are in good shape."
"Right." Aiolos said, and lead the way upstairs to the villa's main level.
Okay. Another less action-y chapter. We're actually most of the way through the Silver Saints arc, I think. Just a few chapters to go.
(As I realize that I've planned everything out but one thing. Shit.)
See you soon!
