I would like to bring it to people's attention that I am being forced to use WordPad to write this story, because some fool has lost my disc with Microsoft office on it. This means that all spelling, grammar and punctuation is done by me, not a fantastic little spell checking program. Ah well
"WOULD ALL NEW STUDENTS PLEASE REPORT TO THE CAFETERIA IMMEDIATELY, REPEAT, ALL STUDENTS TO THE CAFETERIA" The intercom crackled. Crimson threw his pillow at the small grey box, and missed.
"Sonuva bitch piece of crap intercom, why's it have to go off just when I get comfortable." He muttered as he crossed the room to retrieve the pillow. Crimson was not exactly in the best of moods when he'd been forced out of bed, he'd much rather be allowed to sleep all day, instead of the paltry 4 hours of rest he'd managed to gain since his arrival. Suddenly the door exploded inwards and the short girl from next door burst into the room.
"Heya sleepy head, I came in to talk to you earlier, but you wouldn't wake up, but now you have to, sooooo I thought you could have the honour of escorting me to the cafeteria. The girl was offensively hyperactive, considering Crimsons somewhat lethargic condition.
"You came in earlier? Did you even knock that time, or do you just not bother? Ever heard of privacy? I could have been naked or something."
"Well that would have been very embarrassing... for you" The girl giggled "we need to get going now though, the announcement did say immediately."
Crimson relented and walked down the yellow line with the girl. He had to stop thinking of her as "the girl" it was obvious they would be spending a fair amount of time together, and despite her irritating cheeriness and terrible fashion sense, he quite liked her.
"So?" he asked "What's your name anyway?"
The girl stopped and straightened her skirt "My name is Aurora Tasai-Quin Rylath Dorphin Tals Sytheria, 12 of 59" She smiled at Crimson "But you can call me Aurora. What's yours?"
Whoa, Crimson thought, long name, and the numbers at the end were odd, he wondered what they meant. Had she been older it could have just been that she had been married a lot, but the 12 of 59 sounded like a production number. Then he realised, short, energetic, no fashion sense. She must be a Newman. He'd heard of Newmans, and even seen one once before, his dads friend Elisel, but he'd never been this close to one.
"Hello? I know I'm stunning, but you can stop staring now."
"Oh, sorry." Crimson apologised "I'm Crimson Pryandomar" He waited for her reaction.
"Really? Wow." Aurora said. Well, this was it, the unending questions about his dad, endless repetitions of the absurd legends surrounding his father's combat prowess. "That's a really funny name." Aurora finished.
"What?" Crimson was honestly surprised "You don't recognise it at all? Doesn't ring any bells?"
"Nope" Aurora started skipping forwards again towards the cafeteria "Must be odd though, having a colour instead of a first name."
"Hey!" Crimson blushed, walking at a fast pace to keep up with Aurora as she bounced along the corridor "At least it's better than Aurora Tasai-Quin Rylaaahh whatever."
Aurora started skipping backwards "Those are my parents' names thank you very much, and they are a lot better being called a colour."
Crimson sighed "You're very childish, you know that, right? And by the way, post."
"Yeah, I'm childish, and post?" Aurora continued to skip backwards until she clanged into the yellow support post that Crimson had mentioned. She got up, rubbing the back of her head "Oww, meany! You could have told me!"
"Sorry" Crimson was trying not to laugh, which became much easier when he noticed the scowl on Auroras face "You're not hurt or anything are you?" He asked.
"Well my heads okay, but I think my ass is broken."
"Huh? What?"
"It's cracked in two!" Aurora laughed
Crimson shook his head "So childish"
The rest of the trip to the cafeteria took them only a few more minutes, Crimson was quite surprised at how well he was doing at not making a fool out of himself like he did with most girls. But then Aurora seemed to be doing most of the foolery.
When they arrived at the cafeteria they easily found their class, simply because of the person in it with pink hair. It was more effective than a tour guides umbrella. There was some casual chatter for a few minutes until their instructors arrived. Sergeant Carlson seemed to be in her "nice" disguise for now. Crimson had decided the moment he met her that she was mental.
"Ah my lovely students." She clapped her hands together "This afternoon is going to be a wonderful experience for all of you, because today, we are going to assess your fitness levels, anyone who fails and doesn't improve in a months time, gets sent right back home to mommy and daddy, or as the case may be" she looked directly at Aurora "Their mommy and 5 daddies."
That was a cheap shot by anyone's standards, and Aurora was looking increasingly uncomfortable under everyone's stares. Fortunately their attention was soon distracted by a late comer. The cafeteria doors boomed open and a short white haired male made his belated and very much noticed entrance.
"Sorry... I'm late" He huffed, very definitely out of breath. "I, had to, run from the, next block, over." He gulped in some air. "I only just finished registering." he explained.
"Ah Tatsu Littlewing, I did notice your absence this morning, it would be hard not to see you even in a large crowd. Get over here, you're in my class." Carlson beckoned him over and Tatsu complied. She dealt him a backhand blow across his face causing blood to trickle from his nose. "Now don't you say that hurt, because I know your dear auntie gives you worse, but let it be a gentle reminder, NEVER be late."
Tatsu slunk to the back of the group, standing next to Crimson and Aurora. He was only a little taller than Aurora
"Does that hurt? Aurora whispered to Tatsu, pointing at his bloody nose.
"No" Tatsu whispered back
"You're a bad liar" Aurora raised her hand and small green sparks arced from her fingertips to Tatsu's face, his nose stopped bleeding.
"Thanks" Tatsu mumbled.
Crimson blinked, magic, at the simple wave of a hand, his dad would always laugh about it, declaring that no true hunter should fight by borrowing a power they don't understand, Trust in guns and swords, not magic words and flashy lights, that's what he'd always said. He then became aware of Carlson speaking.
"... groups, we'll be the first, so you can all trail along behind me while we go and look for the athletics track, now won't that be fun?"
The whole group trudged off after their instructor. Crimson had already decided that he didn't like her, he despised being condescended, his father was not exactly kind and caring, but he had always treated Crimson like an equal, in fact that was where most of the abuse had come from, times when Crimson was not acting like the man his father expected him to be. That he could understand, but this instructor... she was horrible for no good reason at all. Tatsu's voice broke him out of his silent thoughts
"I know you, don't I?"
"How would I know what you know?" Crimson replied "I don't recognise you though"
"Well erm, you never saw me exactly, I just went past your house once."
"Really? Why?" Crimson was perplexed
"My aunt was visiting, you might recognise her name." Tatsu dropped his voice to a whisper "Elisel"
"Who's..." Aurora began before Tatsu clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Please? I don't want anyone else to know." He begged "I hate being related to a celebrity"
Crimson chuckled slightly "I feel your pain, and I think I do remember you, weren't you that kid that dad had to stop Karli from killing?"
Tatsu groaned at the memory "Your demon cousin, I could hardly help that her feet were too big to avoid stepping on."
"Yes yes, big feet to step on, but I bet they felt even bigger when she was using them to kick your ass." Both Crimson and Tatsu started laughing, but soon stopped, they didn't know Sergeant Carlson very well, but she didn't seem to be the sort who would approve of laughter.
It took less time than Crimson had anticipated to reach the athletics track. It seemed to be a state of the art affair, judging by the equipment that was dotted about the place. But of course there is very little that technology can do to improve something as simple as a running track. Red metal, rough texture, standard stuff really.
"Ah, we appear to have arrived" Carlson declared. "Now here's the fun part, all of you are going to go for a little run around this track. I think maybe 5 laps should do it, don't you? Well let's do the maths; if the track is 1000 metres around, you're doing 5 laps, how far is that?" She looked around expectantly "Anyone?"
The girl with the pink hair raised her hand timidly "5000 metres miss"
"Ah, I can't hear people unless they use my name"
"5000 metres Sergeant Carlson"
"Very good" the sergeant beamed "As a reward, Miss Farzad here will only be doing 4 laps, oh and Littlewing? 7 laps for you, you were late. Anybody who fails to complete their laps will have 1 month to improve, otherwise they're going home." She smiled viciously at a few people "Get going then"
Each member of the class took off at a jog, some faster than others. Aurora entertained herself at the start of the run by consistently keeping about 10 metres in front of Crimson but after the first 2 laps she was too busy just trying to keep going.
Crimson was faring slightly better, since he lived in the middle of nowhere he was used to running a couple of miles to the shops when it was needed. Tatsu was obviously made of stronger stuff than his height and build would suggest, as he was out in front by an easy half a lap and showing no signs of tiring.
Crimson looked back over his shoulder and noticed that Aurora was almost out on her feet. To be fair several people had already quit, there was only a little way to go, and by most peoples standards 5 kilometres was near impossible. He slowed his pace and allowed her to catch up.
"Are you, okay?" He asked concernedly "You look, like you're, about to die."
"Feel like it" Aurora mumbled back.
Crimson put a reassuring hand on her shoulder "Come on, not far to go, you can do it, I know you can."
"Can't. Tired."
Crimson flicked his eyes forwards for a brief moment; the end was within sight, and within reach.
"Tatsu, he's over a, lap ahead, you going to, lose to him?" Crimson kept his hand on Auroras shoulder, not applying any pressure, just keeping her moving.
"Doesn't matter. I can't. Do this."
"You don't, think so?" Crimson grinned "Then I need, to tell you something."
"What?"
"The line's about, 10 metres, behind us now."
Aurora took a moment to process this information, she then blinked twice, stopped running, looked at Crimson, and passed out.
Crimson caught her before she hit the floor and carried her to the grass by the track side where he unceremoniously dumped her on the ground. He dropped down next to her, breathing heavily, he couldn't remember his chest ever hurting so much, it felt like something was trying to explode inside him.
A shadow passed over him and he looked up to see Sergeant Carlson grinning down at him
"Well done, there was me thinking you'd be gone before the month is out, ah well, there's still time for that eh? How about you wake your friend up? We're not done with your little physical exam just yet." Carlson straightened up and addressed the entire class "Five minutes break, and then you're going to be introduced to our lovely gym."
This was greeted by a large number of groans, including one from Aurora who, with some nudging from Crimson, was starting to wake up again.
He'd only just got her fully awake when Tatsu jogged over to them. His Pure white hair was plastered to his skull, and sweat was running down the side of his face, he looked exhausted.
"Hey guys, you ever get the idea that our class is being lead by a total sadist."
Crimson grinned in response "That reminds me of a funny joke, a sadist and a masochist are sitting in a bar."
He got up and moved before he got to finish telling the joke, partly to be at the back of the group when they headed to the gym, but mostly because Aurora had just thrown up in the spot they used to be sitting in. Today looked like it was going to be absolutely delightful.