Golden Sun: Searching for a Way
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Sheba woke up to a small pain on her left leg, and in response lazily got out of bed and checked her leg. A tiny spider dropped off her leg and crawled away. Sheba hated spiders, and this one had bitten her. Considering it had woken her up at a good time she decided to let it go without punishment. She walked over to the Sanctum's main hallway where a few others that were early to wake up were eating some breakfast. Sheba pecked at some fresh bread, but she wasn't really too hungry at the moment.
A man beckoned for her to come over to him and said, "Come here when you're ready to be tested."
Sheba wasn't expecting it to be this early but she sure was ready, she decided to walk over to the man and get started. "I would like to attempt it now, sir."
"Great! My name is Jerun, I will be the one testing and judging you. Now follow me to the training room."
Jerun led Sheba into the training room and showed her two weapons, a short sword and a mace. He then asked her to select one of the two weapons; she quickly selected the mace. Sheba found swords harder to use in general, maces were just as good anyway. Sheba demonstrated her skill with the blunt weapon and explained to Jerun why she preferred it to a sword.
Jerun nodded, "Good, I think you would do well in melee combat. Now lets go over the subject of psynergy..."
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Isaac headed over to the arena where the competition would be held. The arena was a large grey structure that stood at the crest of the mountain Vale was built on. He walked over to a booth where people signed up for the big contest. There wasn't a big line at the moment so in a short time he made his way to the booth. Isaac paid the small entry fee and signed his name where he was told. Now Isaac was in for sure, and he thought himself ready for anything. The competition would be tomorrow at noon, and he was going to make sure he got enough sleep.
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"...Congratulations, Neophyte." Jerun said to Sheba. He handed her a small medallion that apparently was supposed to show her rank.
"Did I really make it? It wasn't too hard." Sheba was excited, no more studying and not as much hard work.
"Yes you did, and I'm glad you didn't find it too difficult. Well, now that you're done with all that I know something that might interest you."
"Really?"
"Yeah, there's going to be a competition for beginning fighters like you at the city of Vale."
"Competition? When?"
"Vale is holding the competition at its arena tomorrow."
"Vale is sort of far away if I remember correctly, and I also don't have any money to enter something like that."
"There are advantages for joining us, you know. If you're interested I can get someone to teleport us both there, and I can pay for you."
"Yeah that would be nice, I'm interested. I didn't know that teleportation was even possible until now."
"Well one can do lots of interesting things with psynergy, with enough concentration."
"When should we start going there, then?"
"Tomorrow, that test was longer than it seemed. And it's getting late already, so go get some rest now. That way I can wake you up early in the morning."
"Sounds good." Sheba headed back to her room to get to sleep.
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The fighters were all gathered in a big room at the Vale arena. Sheba glanced around at all her opponents; she counted around fifteen other competitors. They all looked tough, and Sheba doubted she had much of a chance. It was going to be a while before everything would start so she read a little booklet that explained how the competition would work.
According to the booklet the competitors would be randomly put on a bracket where they were separated into four divisions. Sheba was in the first spar of the fourth division, which meant she was in the seventh fight. The booklet also noted that the top fighters of each division would then be separated into two teams the second to last battle. Then the two fighters were given a choice, split the reward or fight for the full reward. Sheba was startled by a loud clang of bells; it was time for the competition to start.
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Isaac readied himself for battle, as he was in the first fight. A few yards away from him stood a tall black-haired man. A signal was given and both men swiftly drew their swords. Isaac charged at the man and slashed at his torso, but his opponent easily parried it. Apparently the man was being as defensive as possible, and was steadily watching for movement. Isaac swung his sword again at the man, it was blocked again and then the opponent attempted to counter. Isaac had planned for this and dodged around the man, and then finished up by swinging the flat of his blade right at the back of his opponent's head. The man fell to the ground; Isaac had won his first fight without getting injured.
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Sheba had won her beginning fight with little injury and it was too quick to even bother mentioning. Now she was in her second battle of the contest. Across from her a cloaked man stood, his sword drawn. Sheba concentrated hard and a burning bolt of lightning struck her foe, but he did not look too effected. The man started running toward her in rage, and Sheba took out her mace so she could defend against whatever he might do. The man did nothing but slash at her in his frenzy and she had trouble blocking all the blows.
While the man regained his balance Sheba swung her mace at her opponent's sword arm and heard a satisfying crack. The man gasped in pain but was not willing to give up; he wielded the sword in his other hand and swung. Blood flowed from a newly opened wound in Sheba's left shoulder. She glared at the man and put all her concentration into a whirlwind of energy that swept the man high in the air, and then she let him drop.
Sheba almost felt sorry for her opponent when she saw him; he was completely knocked out and probably wouldn't be moving around for a while. Sheba's second fight gave her hope that she might win, but that wound was hurting badly. Sheba located Jerun and got a few gold coins from him so she could spend the night at the inn. The final fight would be tomorrow.