Alright, I've finally found my motivation, go me. And not just some rubbish little "I'll do it this time" motivation, I mean a reason to finish this whole story. I won't say what it is, because the universe would take it away. (It doesn't like it when I'm happy)
Tatsu and Erisa arrived at the classroom at about the same time, because Tatsu just ran faster. But it turned out that their rush was completely pointless. The teacher wasn't there yet. Tatsu quickly joined the back of the group, standing next to Crimson.
"So? how'd it go with Erisa?" Crimson asked with a wink.
"What do you mean how'd it go? I helped her out, we came to class."
"You idiot" Crimson smacked Tatsu over the head "If you're going to play knight in shining armour, you should always get a kiss out of it at least."
"What about saving somebody just for the sake of being nice?" Tatsu rubbed the back of his head.
"Well I suppose, but not if they're good looking like Erisa is."
Tatsu shot a look at Erisa from across the room, she appeared to be talking to her brother Ashton, but she looked his way and smiled at him shyly. Tatsu quickly looked away.
"Well maybe she is, but you shouldn't expect rewards for stuff like that, what if that guy had really hurt her, and none of us had done anything just because there was nothing in it for us and it wasn't our business?"
"I'm just saying you should have at least tried."
Tatsu shook his head "You're hopeless."
A few more minutes passed, and still no sign of a teacher. People were starting to get impatient.
"Dammit, where is that lazy asshole we're supposed call a teacher?" John, obviously.
"No need to shout." a voice replied "I'm right here." Everyone turned to look towards the door, eager to see what kind of person this teacher was. There was no-one there.
"I said I'm right here, not right there." The same voice, but a little bit sarcastic.
Everyone turned back to see a man in the middle of the room, He had most definitely not been there before. Crimson looked the man over with a critical eye. The guy was oriental in appearance, dressed just a little too warmly for the rooms temperature, normal kind of clothes, except for a heavy looking jacket. No weapons that Crimson could see, but from the guys entrance, Crimson had a good guess at what he would be teaching them.
"Nice entrance." Crimson commented "Though you could stand to make a little less noise when you land."
The teacher just laughed "All good tricks have to be practiced you know, nobody knows everything from the beginning. But anyway, onto more serious matters, I am Komichi Akeboshi, and I'm going to teach you all how to not shoot yourself in the foot."
"Does every teacher in this place have to be so condescending? We're not kids you know, we've held weapons before." complained one of the students.
Komichi walked over to the student and placed one hand on their head "I'm sowwie." he said in the type of tone one would usually reserve for speaking to an infant "I didn't wealise you were awl big boys and girls."
The student flushed red "Don't act like we're kids!" He yelled and swung a punch at Komichi's head.
In a movement faster than could be followed, Komichi moved out of the way, grabbed the students wrist, ducked behind them and twisted their arm right the way up their back.
"I have to assume that you know nothing, so I don't miss teaching you anything you'll need to know to avoid getting killed, so until you prove to me that you're not just whining little brats, I'm going to treat you like one, and throwing little tantrums is not going to make me see you as a responsible adult, got it?" He gave the students wrist a final twist and then let them go.
The student rubbed their wrist and muttered "Dammit, he's quick."
"Of course I'm quick" Komichi replied "A big part of being a ranger is not being seen and not getting hit, leave taking hits to those big hulking hunters." he laughed again, choosing to ignore the death glares of any hunters in the room.
Crimson had already formed his opinion of this particular teacher, he was strong, most likely one of the best rangers around, but he was also an idiot. Crimson liked him, who wanted to be taught by some serious old man?
Seemingly from nowhere Komichi produced a handgun, he spun it on the index finger of his left hand, flipped it up into the air and caught it with his right. He then handed it to the nearest student.
"Since all of you will be using at least a handgun every now any then, today is going to be spent introducing you to them." Komichi smiled at everyone as if he was giving them a wonderful gift. He then gave handguns to each student.
Crimson hefted his in his right hand, spun it experimentally and fired once into the far wall.
Komichi raised an eyebrow "Crimson isn't it? If you're going to use that gun as a toy, I'll have to take it away from you." There was some sniggering about Crimsons apparent mis-fire.
"Actually I was just getting to know the guns owner." Crimson replied in a tone as cheerful as Komichi's own. "They're left handed, unlike me. They know the proper way to hold a gun, so they have some experience, but still aim with two hands. They're a bit clumsy and don't take much care of their weapons either. It's a novices gun."
Komichi raised both eyebrows this time "And you know this how?"
"Wear on the grip, and some but less on the barrel, couple of scuff marks where it's been dropped, and the noise it makes when fired tells me that some of the photon conductors are wearing a little thin." Crimson smiled.
"I see" Komichi looked at Crimson seriously. "Everyone take seats, sit where you like, I'll move you later if I need to."
Tatsu, Crimson and Aurora all sat near each other, of course. With Crimson near a window, He'd always thought that day-dreaming in class just wasn't the same if you weren't staring off out a window.
John Kayden sat away in a corner, the only person who wanted to sit near him was the student who had swung at Komichi earlier. Erisa and Ashton sat together, Erisa picked a seat two rows back and one to the left from Tatsu.
"Now then, you'll need to know what the insides of a handgun looks like, so just give me a minute or so to draw a diagram." Komichi said from the front of the class. "Forgive me, but the principals say you have to know the theory before I let you do practical"
As soon as his back was turned quiet chatter ensued.
"Crimson?" Aurora asked "How can you tell all that about someone just by holding their gun?"
Crimson shrugged in response "You can do it with anything, anytime a person comes into contact with something, they leave an impression on it. Something like weapons is easy, people come into contact with them everyday, and its always the same person too. My mom can do it with clothes, jewelry, toys, anything at all."
"Wow, that's really cool." Aurora said "and actually a little bit creepy, you're not allowed to look at my stuff anymore."
"I think it was just stupid showing off." Tatsu said "Honestly, that was just a load of rubbish to make you look smart and so you could fire a gun."
"Oh yeah, Mr "don't worry miss! I'll save you from this hoodlum" gets to tell me that I'm the one showing off."
"She was in serious trouble! I just didn't want that guy to hurt her."
"So her being more than a little attractive had nothing to do with it?"
"Of course not!" Tatsu said just a little too loudly "I didn't even notice how she looked until you started talking about it, if you think she's that pretty, you save her next time." Tatsu felt an odd prickling sensation on the back of his head, he turned in his chair to see Ashton staring daggers at him. He gave a quick glare back and turned to face the front again.
Komichi had finished his cross-section drawing of a handgun. It look very little like what each student had in their hands.
"Ah, now I realise that my drawing may be a little off, but handguns are pretty simple weapons. You see first, you have the powercell, you don't need to know how they work, just that they have alot of energy. When you press the trigger the powercell is squeezed, which causes it to..."
Release energy down the conductive wires, to the power conversion crystals blah blah blah thought Crimson. He knew all this, he'd known it since he was able to talk. He stared off out the window, it wasn't as good because in the distance he could see the wall of the massive block they were enclosed in. It was so much better when there was actually a horizon to look at. Even though that was only caused by the epic lengths of corridors on Pioneer.
Crimsons thoughts turned to his classmates. To be honest he didn't even know most of their names. He knew John Kayden, he'd heard him shout his name as he ran away from Tatsu. Kayden seemed like a complete moron and Crimson could see himself fighting him on several future occasions. There was Tatsu himself, who seemed alright, but was a bit too stiff and serious from Crimsons liking, ah well he would soon have that changed. He should maybe ease up about the whole Erisa thing. Crimson knew he had a habit of taking jokes a bit too far sometimes.
Erisa Farzad, Crimson had to admit he did find her quite attractive, even though he'd never talked to her, she was pretty and well spoken. She seemed a bit too dependent on her brother though. Crimson couldn't really see the importance of a family bond like that, since he was an only child.
There was also Aurora, Crimson had been trying not to think about her too much, because it gave him headaches. She was a strange person, loud, childish and a bit of an airhead. Still there was something about her that was overwhelmingly likable. It felt like he'd know her forever, maybe they'd known each other in a past life and he just didn't remember it? But then, was there such thing as a past life?
Crimson was stopped from pondering this when he noticed that the room had gone quiet and everyone was looking at him, including Komichi.
"Huh?" he asked, as usual eloquent even in the face of ignorance.
"I was saying, since you seem to know so much about handguns, you wouldn't mind telling us how the photon energy conversion process in them can be made more efficient." Komichi said patiently.
"Ah, well electrical energy is converted into photonic energy by passing it through a crystal that is enriched with, umm some metal or other, I forget what, So the process can be made more efficient by having a greater power flow from the energy cell, or by having a greater concentration of that special metal in the crystal."
"Good" Said Komichi "The metal doesn't actually have a name, since nobody can agree on who discovered it, we just call it photonic metal. Now anybody, what are the drawbacks to these methods of power increase?"
Erisa raised her hand and was given a nod from Komichi "Umm if you uhh, increase the power flow, then umm, the wiring burns out faster?" She finished her sentence and hid behind her folded arms hoping people wouldn't notice how red her cheeks had gone.
"Exactly right" Komichi gave her a thumbs up and a smile "And of course, purer crystals are just more expensive. Now what else can increase the performance of a photon weapon?"
The lecture had got boring again, and so Crimson stopped paying attention, well, he kept one ear open for any questions directed at him. But for the most part he just went back to thinking about other people in the class.
It didn't seem like anyone was paying a huge amount of attention, except for Ashton, who seemed to be writing down every word that the teacher said, hardly anyone else had even thought to bring writing implements with them. Most knew that there was no such thing as coursework in this academy, and Crimson just didn't consider it.
The rest of the lecture passed with the same sort of tedious questions and explanations, tedious from Crimsons point of view anyway. Ashton seemed to be fascinated by everything, when they left the classroom Ashton was carrying at least 6 sides of A4 paper that he'd taken notes on. Crimson never saw the point in paper, everything could be stored on computer so much easier.
Komichi's instructions had been to go to a classroom that was down the hall, to the right, and 4th door on the left. He apparently didn't know the door number. They all gathered outside what they thought was the right room. Someone pushed the door open and apparently saw someone inside, because everyone began filing in.
They all took seats, similar in arrangement to the last room they were in. The teacher at the front of the class put down the book he was reading and looked at them all. His face was a network of scars, a cross on his cheek, a line across the bridge of his nose, and several more in random places. He looked sort of scary.
"I didn't tell you to sit down." His voice was gravelly, it matched his looks. "You will all sit in alphabetical order, makes it easier for me to remember your names."
"Excuse me sir, but is it by first or last name?" Erisa asked timidly.
"Last name, idiot, when have people ever been put in order of first name?"
"Sorry, I just, I wasn't, I didn't think."
"You don't look like you do, just move."
The class moved round, This unfortunately split up Tatsu Crimson and Aurora, so they couldn't talk to each other. It also put John and Tatsu right next to each other.
"Damn, I have to sit with the freak." John complained.
"You're lucky." Tatsu replied "You just have to put up with me, I've got to put up with you."
"What you say? You saying you got a problem with me?"
"Yes" Tatsu replied matter of factly "Much in the same way as you seem to have a problem with personal hygiene."
"That does it! Let's go! You and me, right now!"
The teacher had moved to stand in front of the arguing pair. "Stand up, come to the front." The pair obediently followed, expecting to be in trouble. "You've challenged him to a fight?" The teacher asked, nodding first at John, then at Tatsu."
"Yeah, cos he won't shut his smart mouth."
"Do you accept this fight?" The teacher asked Tatsu.
"What?" Then Tatsu remembered the rules lay down that morning "Yes, I accept."
Erisa sat with her hands clasped together, she looked concerned.
"The loser has to remain silent for the rest of the class, start." The teacher stepped backwards.
Tatsu assumed a defensive crouch. Whereas John simply stepped forwards and swung. Tatsu blocked high and stepped inside Johns guard, he delivered a solid punch to the blondes nose.
"Fight's over, you lose" The teacher pushed John back to his seat, ignoring the fact that John now had a nose bleed. Tatsu walked back to his seat without any expression in particular on his face.
"I knew you'd win" Erisa whispered to him on his way past.
The teacher introduced himself as Vincent. He gave no last name. He handed a saber to each person in the class and the lesson proceeded in much the same way as Komichi's had done.
Crimson was fairly annoyed that he was away from anyone who he would talk to, and he was lacking a window to stare out of. So he figured he'd try to strike a conversation with the person next to him.
"Hey, I'm Crimson, who're you?"
The guy looked at him for a moment and said "Nikolai, now shut up, I'm listening."
Whoa, unfriendly or what? Crimson thought, and how was it more interesting to listen to Vincent drone on and on about sabers than it was to talk to him? Honestly. He took a quick glance at the person on the other side of him, she looked at him as soon as he did.
"I have no interest in talking to you, remain quiet."
Talk about an ice queen. Crimson grumbled to himself, he was by now completely bored. What exactly was the point in his dad forcing him to come to this crappy place anyway? He already knew everything there was to know about being a hunter. Well that wasn't entirely true, but he could fake it well enough.
He sighed heavily, if he'd known that classes would be so boring, he'd have stolen one of the forks from the cafeteria so he could stab things with it to pass the time.
"Is there a problem?" Vincent asked, his voice rougher and more disapproving than it normally was. Crimson however was extremely bored and felt that this was a good time to entertain himself.
"Sort of." he replied "I was under the impression that this place was going to teach us how to be hunters. Hate to say it, but this class would be alot more useful for say, weapons dealers."
"You have a problem with the curriculum? Talk to the principals, not me. Til then, stand at the front of the class so I can use you to demonstrate something."
Crap, not the way it had been planned. Crimson had been fairly certain that he would be able to make a clever and bullet proof arguement about the classes. But it seemed like the teachers here were alot less concerned about making people feel like their voice was being heard than the teachers from high school. He dutifully went to the front of the class and awaited his punishment.
"Now then." Vincent boomed "You want to know why we do theory. It's because he who sits above, the principal of Pioneer, won't let us teach otherwise. Boy, catch this." He tossed Crimson a saber. "We have to make sure you are prepared for anything, that includes things even us instructors don't see coming. Turn it on boy."
Crimson pressed the switch for the saber. Without even a hum of warning it exploded, the metal shards embedding themselves in his hand and the heat blistering his forearm.
"Things like this can happen with any piece of equipment." Vincent continued "So first we teach you how to see if your equipment is up to scratch. Then we'll see about teaching you how to swing it around. You're dismissed for lunch."
Everyone filed out of the classroom, Tatsu and Aurora waited behind for Crimson. They had expected words to be exchanged between him and Vincent. But there were none, Crimson walked out of the class at the end of the rush of students, cradling his injured hands. Aurora was the first to say something.
"Oh my god! Are you okay Crimson? That was so unfair, he could have killed you! Are you okay? let me see!"
"I'm fine." Crimson replied, wincing as Aurora picked shards of metal out of his hand. "And I knew it was going to do that."
"You knew, and you still pressed the switch?" Tatsu raised an eyebrow "I think you didn't know and don't want to look stupid."
"Haha, maybe, but I knew something like that was going to happen. My own fault for trying to be so smart." Crimson flexed his fingers as Aurora used her healing technique to repair the damage. "That kinda tingles."
"So you do have some humility in you?" Tatsu said "There's hope for you yet."
"Like hell there is!" Crimson replied indignantly "I'm going to continue to complain about this place until the day they throw me out of here."
Tatsu rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you will, and may god have mercy on us all when it comes to the attention you'll draw because of it."
"Nevermind." Aurora smiled brightly "We've got lunch to get to, C'mon before everyone eats all the good stuff."
"That'll be the day, nobody in their right mind would eat all of those fried things that you like so much." Crimson joked as they walked off down the corridor.
An unnoticed dark eyed youth leaned back against the wall. "Crimson... So that's who you are. You'll be no challenge."