Chapter 8 Initiation
For as happy as Marco was that he survived the incident with Viper it didn't mean he didn't sense the annoyance and tiredness of his fellow teammates. To be honest he didn't blame them as he was feeling quite tired himself.
Sakura sighed "So I hope you understand that things don't usually get that bad and this was a special case."
"I figured" Marco drawled "I mean Unless your telling me you go around getting poisoned and your ass kicked without actually arresting anybody every time."
"Oh I'm sorry" Pete growled "But everybody but Viper evacuated and I don't know about you but I didn't wa nt to risk getting poisoned again just so we could tie him up.."
"Yeah no thanks" Marco laughed nervously "The stars alighned in just the right way for me to win that fight. I'll probably have to train a bit harder in the future."
"Agreed" Ricco said "If we're having trouble agianst some low level guild we'll never have any luck in the future."
"You guys should stop acting so down." Sakura smirked "I say once we get back to base we throw a party to make our newest member's initiation official."
"Wait you mean it wasn't official already?" Marco asked.
"Of course not" Sakura chided "You don't even have the guildmark."
"Guildmark?"
"You don't know anything do you?" Yoro sighed.
"A guildmark is proof that your involved in a certain guild." Pete explained.
"We all decided to put them on our left shoulder." Ricco said as he removed his shirt. On his left shoulder there was in fact a fancy turquoise S.
"It comes in different colors too" Yoro said "Pete's is black, mine's brown, and Sakura's is pink."
"And how do you know that exactly?" Sakura asked.
"Uhhh..." Yoro immediately bolted attempting to escape the wrath of his teammate.
A teammate that had gained a certain bloodlust as she chased after him "Get back here you damn perv!"
"I don't get it." Marco asked confused "What did he do."
"You really don't know anything..." Ricco sighed.
It was a three day walk to a small town called Paku. It was a small out of the way place next to a river. Marco didn't get to talk to the locals all too much but they seemed nice enough. Pete led him into a large stone cottage next to a windmill. It had a nice wooden roof and a dock into the river.
As beautiful as the exterior was the building was much less pretty on the inside. It opened up to a small living room and kitchen with a simple gray rug and green couch. A strange device Marco didn't recognize was hung on the wall. On another wall in the room was a huge map of Fiore with words written in a language Marco couldn't read.
There was a kitchen attached to the living room with a standard set of appliances although they did look more advanced then what Marco was originally used to. There was also a small hallway with four doors, two on each side. It was preety obvious that these served as the rooms for the other four.
"You'll be on couch duty for a bit." Ricco said "At least until we can afford to buy another bed. And then there's the issue of who's he going to bunk with... NOT IT!"
"Not it!" Pete said quickly.
"Not... oh god damnit" Yoro sighed "Looks like you'll be bunking with me."
"Why?" Marco asked "Sakura didn't say anything so shouldn't I bunk with her?"
Ricco smacked Marco "What's wrong with you!? You can't just bunk with a lady it's not right!"
"Eh? What's wrong with it?" Marco asked.
"Did nobody teach you human decency?" Ricco sputtered.
Sakura shrugged "I don't mind"
"If he doesn't have to bunk with me..." Yoro muttered.
"I really don't care." Pete deadpanned.
"You all stay out of this!" Ricco snapped "Look have a you ever interacted with a female before?" Marco opened his mouth to speak "Outside of your family." and promptly closed it.
"Besides us have you interacted with any other human before?" Ricco then asked.
"Does Viper count?" Marco asked Ricco sighed and shook his head "Then no..." Marco shrugged "I don't see why it matters anyway, what I want to know is what is that thing on the wall?"
Yoro gasped "Why it's only the greatest invention known to man! That lacrima at the top is connected to hundreds of news stations, animation studios, and movie studios. It then projects the shows they make onto the screen. It's called a Lacrima Vision or LV for short."
"Animation? Movies? What in the world are you talking about?"
"And here we go agian!" Ricco ranted "Don't tell me your illiterate too aren't you?"
Marco squinted at the map on the wall trying to read what was written on it "On a scale of one to ten how mad would you be if I said yes?" Marco inquired.
Ricco's eye twitches and he covered his mouth with a pillow before letting out the loudest most frustrated scream he could manage.
"That's enough" Pete said coldly causing everyone in the room to shiver "Well just have to bring him up to speed on everything he doesn't know. Yoro you can tell him about any technology you think he'll need, Sakura you teach him how to read and write, Ricco..." Pete smirked "You get to teach him about social cues, and I'll tell him how to read a map."
"I fucking hate you Pete." Ricco deadpanned.
Lesson 1 Technology
Marco was led into Yoro's room which was filled with different gaming equipment. Aside from having his own privite LV, there were also a few consoles and a massage chair. With headsets and controllers for four people to play.
"Alright so I'm going to be teaching you about all the wonderful technology you missed out on living in a cave first of all..." Yoro picks up a metal box "This is a toaster."
"I know what a toaster is." Marco deadpanned.
"Then what about This!" Yoro said excitedly shoving a lamp towards Marco.
"I'm not retarded." The Dragon Slayer answered irritably.
"Well then do you know what this is?!" Yoro asked shoving a ruler at him.
Marco angrily slapped it out of Yoro's hand "That's not even technology! How about you just explain that to me." Marco pointed at the LV "You said something about Animation tell me about that."
Yoro pressed a button on the remote and a cartoon came on the screen it seemed to feature some sort of black rabbit tormenting a grumpy looking owl. "That is animation" Yoro explained "It's pretty new and there are only a few studios but this is one of the more popular cartoons. This one comes from Des loisirs one of if not the most popular Animation studio in Fiore."
"Oh that's neat..." Marco was barely paying attention the show had managed to take almost all of his attention away from Yoro. Marco couldn't help at laugh at the childish (although humorous) slapstick the cartoon supplied.
Yoro shrugged he figured the technology lesson wasn't all that important anyway. He instead sat on one of the beanbag chairs littered throughout the room and laughed at the show with Marco.
Lesson 2 Literacy
Unlike Yoro's room which was full of technology Sakura's room was filled with books and scrolls almost all of which having to do with spirits and other paranormal activities. There were also a few ancient tablets laying out on her table which Marco found much more interesting then the papers at the table Sakura was at.
"Alright" Sakura sighed "It has come to our attention that you don't know how to read."
"That's not true." Marco denied "I can read that stuff on the table over there just fine."
Sakura shook her head "I know that's a lie. Those tablets are written in a dead language the last time it was spoken was around 250 years ago."
"No it's real simple see" Marco said "This one is titled 'Susanoo and Orochi part X' The fool had been played as such and a blinding light pierced from the heavens... faded text... and the daughter cried for eight days and nights... more faded text... and the Yo-Kai forest was made from the beasts defeat."
Sakura's mouth was agape "That's incredible I've been researching that stone for years trying to decipher it without results. Yet you were able to do it without any trouble at all."
Marco wasn't listening however currently stumped while trying to read a simple children's book. "Hey real quick what's this word mean?"
Sakura sighed "That's I Marco." The Dragonslayer still looked clueless however and Sakura rubbed her temples "Genius one second, moron the next, This is going to be a long couple of days.
Lesson 3 Social Standards
Ricco's room was a lot like Sakura's room with all different sorts of books lining the shelves except these were about weather patterns and storms instead of the paranormal. Several charts and graphs were displayed neatly on the walls while crumpled papers and wrappers littered the floors.
"Are you sure your certified to be giving me social lessons?" Marco asked after seeing the state of Ricco's room.
"You don't get a say in this." Ricco snapped "Mister why can't I bunk with a girl I just met."
"Yeah why can't I?" Marco asked dumbly.
Ricco sighed "Okay you lived with your mom right?"
"Yes"
Ricco nodded "Did she ever have you leave the room when she got changed?"
"No"
"Did she have you turn around?" Ricco asked hopefully.
"No"
"So she got undressed right in front of you?" Ricco asked disbelievingly.
"Yes"
Ricco face palmed "Well normal people don't do that okay. Most people get changed in private and they don't let others see them. In fact it's illegal to get naked in public around here."
"So don't do it." Marco concluded.
"Yes!" Ricco shouted as if he had struck gold "Yes that is exactly what I'm talking about!"
"This social thing isn't that hard at all. Much easier then learning how to read at least."
Ricco continued on excitedly "Now when your first out the door what do you do?"
"Walk through it?" Marco guessed."
"NO!" Marco jumped at Ricco's sudden aggressiveness "You hold it! What are you stupid."
"Apparently..." Marco said nervously."
Lesson Four Cartography
"So how do we do Car-tah... Car-to-gra... Cara..to...grapha" Marco sighed "How do we make maps."
Unlike the other rooms in the house Pete's room was neat and organized. It was fairly empty except for a mat and punching bag in one corner and a bed and nightstand in the other. In the center of the room was a simple table with a map of Fiore on it.
"We aren't making maps." Pete explained "I'm going to be showing you where some of the major points of interest are." The map Pete motioned too was much less clear then the one I The living room it was filled with circles and Xs and stars all in different colors.
"Alright first up." Pete said "The color coded circles represent the different dark guilds with blue being the weakest and red the strongest."
Marco noticed that about seventy percent of the blue circles had been crossed out while the only green circle, which Marco assumed was the rank above blue, crossed out was where Serpens Fang was based. Although there were two black circles that Marco decided to ask about.
"Don't even think about those." Was Pete's instant answer "Those two circles represent the guilds Grimour Heart and Tartaros the two most powerful dark guilds in Fiore." He stressed "Do not even think about fighting them."
"Okay"
"I really mean... oh wait..." Pete blinked "You don't want to fight them?"
"Not really no." Marco confirmed.
"Well that's a relief." Pete sighed "I had to physically stop Yoro from running after them when he heard about them."
"Nah I'm not interested." Marco reassured.
"Well alright then." Pete continued "Other then the dark guilds I also labeled any towns that might be troublesome. For instance out next destination is going to be here." Pete pointed to a town on the map, it was labeled as Chirapa Town although Marco didn't understand that. "This town has been on my to do list for quite a while but a lack of reliable evidence has prevented me from attacking. But I just received information that some suspicious activity is happening in the town and I refuse to ignore an opportunity like this."
Marco nodded "So we're going to be heading out soon then?"
"Not too soon." Pete reassured "But yes we will be heading out in about a week or two depending on how fast we can catch you up with the English language."
"That seems reasonable." Marco yawned.
Pete grunted in annoyance before he shot upwards "I almost forgot" he said "You still need to get your guildmark." He pulled a stamp from out of his desk."
"What's that supposed to do?" Marco asked "Are you approving some documents or something?"
"No" he answered irritably "This will grant you a Guildmark physical proof that you are part of our guild. All you have to do is tell me what color and I'll put it on your shoulder."
"Uhh purple I guess. It'll match my hair." Marco rationalized.
Pete snorted "Yeah that's what the rest of us did anyways."
When Pete was finished a Fancy purple S was shown on Marco's left shoulder "So that's it?" Marco asked "No big ceremony, or blood sacrifice?"
"God no!" Pete denied "Why would you assume that?!"
Marco's only answer was to shrug.
Late that night Marco fell asleep on the living room couch Yoro, Sakura, Ricco, and Pete decided to discuss the oddities of their new member.
"I get living in a cave must shelter you but this guy is like next level clueless." Ricco sighed.
"It's more then just that." Sakura said "Being able to decipher ancient texts in mere seconds while unable to understand the ABCs boggles my mind."
"It actually makes me think about what he said when we all first met." Pete said "That he was raised by a dragon."
"Oh don't tell me you believe that." Yoro sighed.
"He did show us his memories" Sakura said "Although in hindsight that could have very much of been faked."
"Well how else do you explain him?" Pete asked "If he was raised by a dragon he might have been taught the ancient language the dragon used, and I doubt giant lizards would have much use for LV's if they even knew what they were."
"And the fact that he used to live in a house would explain why he does know about basic appliances." Ricco rationalized "Besides LVs are still pretty recent so he might just not have owned one at the time."
Pete shook his head "It doesn't matter, he's part of the team now so we should just learn to live with his weirdness. Besides it's now like the rest of you are normal either."
"Amen!" The other three cheered.
"It wasn't a compliment"