Chapter 17: A New Lesson: Part 3

We exited the windmill and went around back, I caught a glimpse of a couple of kids dragging wooden sticks through a large patch of dry dirt. The twins say this was going to be their 'farm' in the making. They don't have seeds yet but they claim they're going to use water bottles to replenish the soil. Why do they even need their own garden? Don't they have their lunches?

Sheesh, what did I get myself into? God, is this going to be like meeting Poseidon the first time? I hope not. I already have one guy with a loose canon, I don't need another hypothetical one.

We passed the training ground, now that I have a better look at it's just a bunch of other guys swinging their weapon of choice, scrap and random objects they see lying around. I thought I was going to fight but instead I was taken further behind another small hill and saw… something interesting.

"What… is-"

"Obstacle course. Standard for all new members." Abby explained. Their obstacle course was a mix-up of random trash and scrap they must have found when this place was still a golf course. A row of tires to step in, A metal archway with two ropes on either side to climb onto… is the miniature haunted mansion attraction? Man… I wonder what kind of place this was like back in the day. I bet I certainly would have loved to play here.

"So… this is like a boot camp sort of thing?" I asked. "It looks… homemade."

"Yeah, I know how it looks but it's not like we could ask the teachers for supplies cause you know?"

Silence.

"Because they wouldn't approve of this stuff at all."

"Yeah, we get the picture, Toby." Abby turns to me. "Like you said it's like boot camp. Just get through the course as fast as you can. I'll tell you how to go through it as I move on. Toby will count the time." She says, glancing to her brother who eagerly pulls out a plastic wristwatch. "Start with the tires, step into them without touching the outside. You mess up again, you'll start over."

"Um… shouldn't I get some protection in case I get hurt or something," I asked. Abby went behind a rock. She pulled out a makeshift hat and vest made from bubble wrap. I looked at her with disbelief.

"This is the best we got. Deal with it."

Damn. Well at least they made some effort into making these 'clothes' less ridiculous. I wore them and Abby tapped me on the shoulder. With a glance, Toby started the timer.

"GO!" She shouted.

Here goes nothing. The tires were easy, it was a simple practice of basic hand-to-eye coordination. (well really foot-to-eye but you get the point). Next was the metal arch. "Climb the rope to get on top and climb back down the other side."

There were no knots on the rope, this was gonna be difficult. I never had any faith in my arm strength, something I cursed myself for not developing during my earlier years. The arch doesn't look that high, maybe I'm overthinking it?

Nope! I didn't even get that far when the strain in my arms was too much to bear and I fell hard on my back… multiple times. Abby was not amused, the rubbing of her forehead was evident. "Alright, you know just skip it. Go to the next part."

I groaned. The back of my shirt was dirty now, I'm going to have to come up with a cover story for that later for Rose. Eh whatever, I doubt I would have to climb many things when all around us are grassy hills.

I found myself up across a small gap with a wooden plank for me to walk across. I took a step forward before ducking when a white fluffy thing went past my head. "Hey! What was that for?!"

She had a full bucket of bean bags and was tossing one up and down in her hand. "It's part of the course. Get across as fast as you can while I pelt you with these. You fall off, you restart."

Does she take enjoyment out of this? Does she usually do this with new recruits? Before I had a chance to ponder it, another bag slapped against my chest. Okay girl! I get the message, just chill out will ya?! Turns out the plank was more than a walk in a park for me. I traversed it faster than Abby can throw, I think she was more disappointed she couldn't get any more shots in.

The next two weren't even obstacles. They had me run in a large circle for multiple laps while I had to do exercises such as jumping jacks and stretches for the other. Definitely the quickest out of these courses so far. At least I can count on my speed.

The most interesting one by far was the house. I don't see any ropes or any other indication for me to climb over it. Abby must have guessed my confusion so she clarified. "Go inside the front door, we structured it like a maze. Keep going until you find the exit."

"It looks a bit cramped." I said.

"Don't be a wuss. Plenty of kids went through this house without any problems. We wouldn't do this if it wasn't safe."

"Fine. Fine. What exit am I looking for exactly?"

"A red door, you can't miss it." Toby answered. "Wish you luck man, hope you get out safe!"

I thought you said this was already safe? It looks sturdy enough, let's see how bad it is. I waved them both a quick goodbye and entered the door.

The interior was cramped as I expected, it wasn't shocking coming from a miniature house but I can still move out and about freely. It looked like a bunch of the pipes and walls were torn out, only makeshift walls of wood were installed to act as the 'maze'. It was somewhat difficult to see but overbearing sunlight from the outside did help me.

Still it was cold and the air was stale. I climbed up to the top portion then went to the lower levels. If there was an exit it'll probably be on the same level as the front door. It wasn't all bad though, apparently the kids had some fun decorating the place. And by 'decorating' I mean there was chalk and crayon drawing all over the walls, floors and ceiling.

I saw many pictures of animals, stick figures, food, cloudy skies… Some of the kids decided to be a bit edgy and write curse words like the F-Word and the S-Word as well. I saw a lot of images consisting of two round circles with a thin vertical oval shape in between. There were a bunch of broken up lines all over the circles and a single thicker line at the top of the oval… is it supposed to mean something? I don't get it.

I found the exit, a door painted red. Looks like my hunch was right. I was going to open it when another one of the drawings caught my eye. It was stereotypical prisoner (as in the classic black and white jumpsuit) behind bars. Whoever made this really tried their best to make it. It was certainly one of the more… tasteful art around here but sad… no... I would say… dread. Why am I shaking right now? Did it get cold all of a sudden?

The guards peered at me, I felt like they would have spit at me if I stared at them further. They tossed my food into the cell and left. The standard oatmeal, water and stale bread. I hate the fact that I have to abide by their disgusting rules, but I hate starving more. Before I needed it the tray was picked clean. My fellow prisoners are silent as well, some are moaning due to the beating they acquired earlier, I only pray their skin heals fast.

Most didn't dare rile up the guards; their cattle prods were more than a wake-up call. But the worst part is they're always watching, always ready to bring the hatchet down. I wonder if they'll start making up excuses to tear us down again. I hope their beer and cards are enough to suffice. The door rattled open and I struggled to breathe. He's here. I sank back into the cage as the door swung open-

I was thrown back against the door and tumbled over the steps. I panted heavily as I hurried against the grass. What was that?! It was another memory for sure but… when did I get in a cage? Was that a human guard? That… wait, that can't be right.

Was that the Coalition? I don't recognize their uniforms. I have a faint idea of how my adventures went but a science lab was not one of them… is that… why-

"Woah! Dude, you're alright?" I heard Toby say. Before I could move the twins helped me up to my feet, they graciously allowed me to dust the webs off my shirt as the timer was stopped.

Abby took the watch from Toby and examined the watch with belligerent amusement. "Hm… that's interesting."

"Oh it is?" I panted. "Does that mean I passed?"

"Nah, you weren't even close to the world record." Abby stated, tossing the watch back to Toby. "Those ropes really set you back a lot."

"Yeah… I noticed." I glanced at my biceps in embarrassment. I was decent at climbing stuff at school, can't believe my muscles shriveled up back then. If I only did more push ups back at White Fang.

"Still, you went pretty fast on most of the courses. I think your strengths work best at running fast. That's a good skill in our line of work."

"Really? How so?" I asked.

"This game isn't about dancing with swords and shields. Sometimes we need people to get in to get stuff from the other side. If you work on those legs of yours I can see you going far."

"Both metaphorically and literally!" Toby smiled before showing an expression of concern. "Hey Cal, are you alright man? You looked pale there for a second."

I turned my head back to the small mansion and grimaced. "Um… it's nothing really. I saw a spider and two in there and I bolted."

"You're scared of spiders?" Abby cocked an eyebrow.

"Well they were pretty big spiders; there were plenty of cobwebs."

"Again? Ugh!" Groaned Abby, I had a feeling she wanted to spit at that ugly structure. "This is why I didn't want this to be part of the course. Now we're gonna have to clean it up all over again-"

"Hey Abby, isn't that the piplup guard?" Toby pointed to the blue penguin rushing towards us on the horizon. It was hard to see from here but it seemed like he was panicking. The frantic waving of his arms were a dead giveaway.

"GUYS! GUYS! IT'S HAPPENING. IT'S HAPPENING!"

Abby plugged her ears, clearly in pain. "Don't you have a mute button! That voice of yours is gonna make someone deaf I swear!"

The guard met up with us, more tired out than I was. "Sorry- but- urgent- glass."

"What?" Toby asked.

"Horror Glass needs us. We're going to war again."

"Sweet! Last one there is a rotten egg! Toby shouted with Glee as he rushed past the penguin, his weapon firm in hand. Glory to Team Instinct!"

Abby sighed. "So soon? Alright, come on kid we got work to do."

These kids go to war? You would think people would have enough of that already but I guess the newest generation didn't share the same views. Still, it'll give me a chance to see these 'warriors' in action. I only hope I don't get put up in the front lines.

Seeing how recess is halfway over, the entire kingdom decided to haul its collective ass and brought us to the field, with some members left behind for security reasons. We ran a mile (or at least it seemed like a mile. It was hard to calculate distance right now) and stood at what seemed like the most open space of the school grounds.

We suddenly stopped, I was a bit anxious to say the least. Weren't the other knights supposed to be here. "Um… hey Horror Glass?" I asked.

"Yes, dear child?" Was he talking like that? He was a child as well wasn't he- oh that's right we were still roleplaying.

"Where are the two kingdoms? I thought we were going to war?"

"We are, we're simply waiting until they get here. Something else troubling your mind?"

"Yeah, I've noticed everyone else has a weapon. Would it be too much to ask for a nice sword to use? Maybe even a hand-me-down? I mean, you guys are kind of leaving me naked here."

"Hm..." Horror Glass looked around his comrades for any indications until he spotted an ironic weapon hanging on the back of Toby.

"Hey Tobster?"

Toby turned around "Yea?"

"Can I borrow an old reliable?"

"Aw but Glass, old reliable is just… well too reliable to give up."

"Toby, you suck at using that golf club around, I can't think of a single time you actually landed a hit. You have weapons, the new kid does not. So…?"

He sighed and passed the club to Horror Glass, who passed it onto me. It wasn't a real club. It was made of foam and had a tag on it, which gave me the impression that this might have been a toy that was sold here when it was still a golf course. Childish, but it still appears to be working fine.

"So what exactly are we going to be doing in this war? I know we're not trying to literally kill each other but-"

"Shh!" Hushed Abby. "Later. They're here." She pointed ahead to the emergence of two groups appearing over the horizon, Valor and Mystic. Each leader stepped from their main crowd and walked to the center.

There was Horror Glass, obviously. Team Mystic had a human kid with a blue eyepatch over his eye; he dressed more like a pirate than a knight. Does choice of clothes really matter here, only if it's the right color apparently; the last kid was a charmeleon, definitely one of the taller kids in this with green sandbox of ours. Streaks of red paint streaked across his cheeks. His face contorted as if he was going to go up against an entire army, ready to die in the line of war. Arceus, do these knights and space wizards really matter to these people that much? Don't they have video games or toys to spend their time in?

Another good thing that I can be thankful for alongside my speed, is my good hearing. I can barely make out the words they're speaking. But I can make them out.

"Well, well, well. Ain't it the blue pirate and red dragon." Horror Glass boasted. "Quite glad you finally arrived, I've been expecting your arrival."

"Yeah, duh. We call everyone here." Said the eyepatch kid.

"Yes, but everyone will behold and see the power of the Instinct Kingdom! Shame we have known each other for so long. I've been becoming attached to yo-"

"Dude, can skip the theatrics this time?" Said eyepatch. "Recess is ending soon."

"Yeah, we're here to fight not boast about how 'cool we are'." The charmeleon scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Hey!" Glass' robotic arms folded as if in a sign of indignation. "My group is cool! Just look at our weapons and stuff."

"Yet you're the only kingdom here with the lowest numbers. Ha, don't make me laugh."

"Yeah, whatever you say you little wall liz-"

Glass didn't even get to finish as the charmeleon pressed his snout against his head, smoke leaking from his nostrils. "Finish that sentence and I'll burn the living crap out of you, you little green snot-nosed bastard."

What the hell was that?! I recoiled slightly, looking at the stiff posture of both pokemon. Bastard? Crap? That's the first time I ever heard a pokemon even remotely curse. The way he spoke sounded like he was spitting acid in my ears. It almost sounds like he meant it.

Glass surely thought it had weight to it. He waddled back, shivering like a newborn chicken who had hatched a moment ago. I couldn't see his face, but I could definitely see the sweat coming down his head.

"Hey, let's not turn this into an actual fight okay?" The eyepatch kid rested a hand on both of the leaders' shoulders. "We have limited time right? Let's focus on playing instead. We didn't plan this out for nothing after all."

The charmeleon snorted then pulled his head back. "Alright. Get the watchers in place."

The three leaders raised a finger, claw and robotic digit up in the air simultaneously and pointed to a separate hill each. Several kids from all the groups split off and began walking to these hills as the kings joined them. To further entice my amusement, they began passing our belts made from velcro with strips of plastic attached to it. Everyone had a belt but only half of every group had plastic. I got one with plastic. I saw Abby looking at me, realizing she has yet to disclose what's going to happen.

"It's an altered game of capture the flag, only the flags are on us. The goal for the kingdoms is to snatch as many flags as they can before time runs out, and you have to place them on your belt. To get a flag, you either snatch it off someone whilst someone is running or you 'kill' them in battle."

"Kill?" I raised an eyebrow.

"When someone hits you with their weapons, you play dead. Just fall to the ground and wait there until the people on the hills tell you to get up. This game is timed, so be sure to put that speed to good use." A belt was passed onto her, she wore it proudly.

"That's all? No problem." I said, "I played similar games back then so I should be fine-"

"FOR GLORY!" The kids shouted from the hills, three colors rushed into the field, a mix-match of red, blue, yellow preoccupied my vision. If they moved any faster I would have seen brown.

"What are you waiting for man?!" Toby screeched in my direction, nearly blocking the attack from an enemy opponent. "Duck!"

"What?" The grass shuffled to my right. A girl from the red team tried to swing at my chest. It nearly hit me as I jumped out of the way and fell face up on the grass. "Woah, woah! Chill out, I haven't gotten ready yet! Can we-" She tried to aim her stick at my belly. Dammit, they really are out for imaginary blood. I rolled out of the way and scurried near the battle. I need to plan out my next move.

I could possibly rush into the group and snatch as many flags as I can but… nah it's crowded for my tastes. Wait, I see a couple of blues trying to fend off two reds and a yellow. Their flags are totally exposed.

I couldn't help but smile, first thing when on the battlefield never turn your back on your enemies. I ran behind both the bulbasaur and jigglypuff, I had to bend my back a bit to even reach their belts but there was no sweat off my back as I robbed theirs/

"Hey!" I hear one of them cry. I can't believe it was that easy-

Velcro is ripped behind me as the belt gives a quick but soft tug on my waist. I took a quick glance, the bulbasaur took my flag at the last second. Damn, well you win some you lose some. At least my move was a success. I attached those flags to the Velcro, so where is my next target?

A feminine war cry proudly announces itself behind me. Whoever it was, it was getting louder. A sneak attack? Guess I'm not the only sly guy around here. I gripped the toy golf club in my hands and spun around like a top. I didn't know how fragile they were so I aimed to simply tap them. I made contact with a pokemon, it was white and small. I saw it was wearing red, definitely a Valor. I reached for the belt-

"Ow." She said nonchalantly. It took a minute to realize that it was… "Swirl?!" I announced it to her. "Is that you?"

I got a better look at her now. She was wearing a red head band, red buttons and matches over her ice cream head. Her choice of weapon was a comically large red plastic spoon. Her eyes seemed to swirl as Swirl focused on me. "Calvin! I didn't know you were into war. And an Instinct no less? That's something."

"Well-" Something hit me behind my neck. The force caught me off guard and I fell into the ditch. I snapped my head to witness Poseidon landing on the floor, adoring a plain red headband and wielding a large plastic fork. He couldn't help but feel proud of himself.

"You have a rather large neck." He reaches and pulls the flags of my belt. "You're down too Swirl?"

"Cal, took me down in a heartbeat." Swirl lazily rested on the grass as she eyed the oshawott. "He spun around like a racecar on the runway. You should have seen it." Poseidon eyed me, pondering whether he should frown or be amused.

"It didn't hurt." She quickly replied. "It actually felt nice."

Poseidon's tension relaxed, but quickly reorganized his stance upon seeing several more kids heading his way. The fork was held up high. "Hold the thought real quick, things are going to get real." The pokemon declared, then his weapon and those of his enemies danced.

I watched as they continued to fight, it looked like Poseidon was attracting more unwanted attention; more forces were ganging up on him but he seemed fairing on his own. "Hey." I look at Swirl, still resting on the grass. "So… you're a knight now?"

I nodded, my neck still sore. How can a fork cause that much of an impact? "Yeah, for now I guess. Heard this game was talk of the playground so I decided to try it out."

"Yeah, it's getting popular by the day. But I think it's only because people like beating each other. But there… might be other things people like here-"

"No, it's solely because of the beatings." Poseidon replied, still doing his best to fence off Team Mystic.

"Like I said, there could be other things. Oh I forgot to ask, how is Darkness and Leafy doing? I almost kind of expected them to be with you."

I shrugged. "Darkness is not interesting and I think this game would be too much for Leafy."

She cocked head in confusion. "You think Leafy would be too scared of the game?"

I shook my head. "No, I think the game would be scared of Leafy. You know how he is, just imagine he would be on the battlefield. It would be pure-"

"Monkey business." She couldn't help but chuckle at her own joke.

I smiled. "Yeah, exactly. So how did you two join?"

"Since day one. I changed a lot back then. I remembered that we tried a lot of ideas but we eventually settled on medieval stuff. Kind of wished we stuck with cowboys and bandits though, now that would have been awesome."

"Didn't know you were into that sort of stuff."

"Well… I wasn't at first. But I learned to love. Now I see why you boys like this stuff. It's fun. Say, we could always use more people. Valor is growing stronger than ever. Perhaps we can grow even stronger with your help. Your quick moves would really make a difference."

"We already have enough people on the team, Swirl. There's no shame throwing a bone to Instinct '' once in a while." Poseidon was now finished in downing everyone who attacked him.

Do you have a thing for ruining other people's fun, Poseidon? It would explain a lot. He does have a point though. "I would love to Swirl but I already made obligations to Team Instinct." I pointed to my yellow headband. "Would seem like a jerk move to abandon the team I just joined."

"Aw." She pouted. "That's a shame."

"But hey, who says we need to play these games at school? You like cowboys, right? Why not get some guns from the toy store and pretend to be cowboys and robbers back in the neighborhood. We'll have all the space to ourselves."

She brightened up at the idea. "You know, that doesn't seem like a bad idea-"

"Swirl! Get back up! You're done being dead!"

"That's our cue." Poseidon grabbed onto her sister and stood her upright. When the coast was clear, he pulled her away from the area. She gave me one more wink before leaving.

"See you later, Cal. Try not to get stabbed!"

I'll try not to! Shame she's on the other team though I really like her company. If only Team Instinct had more umph! To it. Maybe that can be fixed. Hm… if Team Instinct were to be… let's say… not the butt of all jokes and taken seriously, she'll have an excuse to switch teams. Right? Would that mean I would also have to deal with Poseidon. Aw that's a load of-

"Calvin! Get up! I'm not paying you to lay about! Kick their butts!" I hear Horror Glass shout. You haven't paid me anything but I get the message. Let's take this a bit more seriously now.

I sprung to my feet and followed the same strategy. I swooped in when no one was looking and snatched their flags. Apparently you can give your flags to someone else, Abby forgot to tell me that but it wasn't nothing I couldn't handle. I didn't know who was winning but I could see that more people were coming after us now… that had to be a good sign.

"Excuse me!" "Thanks!" "Sorry, I'm repossessing what's rightfully mine!" I couldn't help but giggle to myself. They didn't have the chance to chase me until they got tired or got taken down by someone else. I had a bunch of flags on me now, if just to taste victory on my lips.

"What? NO?!" How are we losing?!" That didn't sound like it came from the mosh pit. I glanced at the hill, the leader of Team Valor was furious, what caught my eye was that he was eyeing me in particular. "We had the lead."

"I don't know what to say sir, maybe we should try harder next time-" Said the pokemon's guard.

"Don't even finish that sentence! We're so close to winning the grand prize, there's no way I'm gonna let it slip from my claws. Especially from one of them. I'm going in."

"What? Sir no!" The pokemon guard tried to stop the charmeleon but was forcefully shoved aside. "They might strike you down and we could lose more points. We could-"

"They might win, and we'll be the biggest loser today." He hissed at the guard before rushing into the fight. I'm not letting that little nothing cause us to lose everything I worked so hard for!" His nostrils smoked more than a chimney and drew his choice of weapons, two plastic bats with toothpicks glued onto it. Is that even allowed?!

Hold on, that guy is too far away from me. I could keep running-

He took down four kids without even looking.

OHCRAPIGOTTORUNNOW!

"War ends in one minute!" Someone shouted!

One minute? Alright, that's fine. I can survive a minute. Just need to-

"DIE!" The charmeleon's bat nearly hit my head, I suffered another close call as he tried to aim his second bat at my pelvis region.

HOWDIDHEGETTOMESOFAST!

I was running like a headless chicken against the voracious dragon. I'm getting distance from him but he's gaining ground. And now he is flying low to the ground. Crap. The kids avoid us at all cost, it was as if they were no part of this chase sequence. I can't blame them. Is this why Team Valor is the top dog? Because of this one guy? Man, what did I get myself into?

"Thirty seconds on the clock."

The fire-type was more upset now, I can see the veins bulge on his head, god no! I tried running harder but my legs were getting tired, I can't keep this up much longer.

"Ten seconds!"

Screw it, I'm out of gas. I'm going to have to defend. I brought up my club and took the defensive stance. The charmeleon smiled and reared both bats.

I tried my best to strike but I couldn't handle it. At the last moment, I decided to dodge under him, I clutched my club tight but I felt it hit something? A pained groan and gasps were heard behind me. I still feel my flags on the belt… am I safe?

I turned behind me to see the charmeleon face planting in the mud. He was covering his crotch in pain, did I hit them by accident? I see the kids now, they are staring at me in complete shock, even my own team's jaws were dropping.

The piplup walked to me and took the flags off my belt. He counted them all quickly and after a moment of silence he spoke. "THE WINNER IS… TEAM INSTINCT!"

The cheers were deafening.

Wow, the chapter took a long time. I surprised I managed to finish this as I'm hauling to move out of the house soon. But in any case I hope you enjoy. I'll be posting a smaller and the final part of the 'New Lesson' arc soon. I'm hopefully aiming for this month. I'll see you all next time.