Chapter 7: Getting Back on Track

To my surprise, in several days, Paco's wing was all healed up, so we continued to wherever Joe planned to take me to. Chili Bob was sleeping in my inventory.

"How is Paco already better?" I asked.

"He's a fast healer, for reasons unknown. Same thing with why he is so much bigger than usual. Your guess is as good as mine."

"Are you going to tell me where we're going yet?"

"Nope." Joe grinned.

I rolled my eyes and looked down to the ground below me. We were headed North, I could tell because we were flying beside White Wolf Mountain. I also knew this because the lush, green grass and leafy trees were slowly growing more gray-ish, dead looking. Several minutes later, Paco started floating down to the ground.

"Are we here?"

"Yessir."

"What?"

"It means 'yes, sir', but I merged the words together. Are you following?"

"I'm not retarded, you know…"

"Sure act like one."

As he said that, we landed. I looked around, and a little South of us there were a few lines of men dressed in assassin-like clothes, and one in front of them dressed the same. He would do something and the rest would copy. I looked to the North and saw the most deserted building in RuneScape: The Games Room. And West of us was the Warrior's Guild.

"Why are we in Burthrope?" I asked.

"To go to the Warrior's Guild. You need to learn that there's more to fighting then swinging around your sword." Joe explained.

"But that works…"

"That wasn't working to great for you against those demons." Joe pointed out.

"…Silverlight would have worked…" I grumbled.

Joe let Paco fly off while we were here. We walked up to the guards at the entrance of the guild.

"Proof of strength and accuracy, please." One of them said.

Joe pulled 5 plates out of his inventory and threw them in the air, then, with 5 iron knives, threw one at each plate, shattering each to pieces.

"Enter."

Joe walked in, and I preceded to follow him, but was stopped by the guards.

"You too."

I turned around and pointed at my Strength SkillCape (t).

"Hello, master of Strength! Please, enter!" as the guard opened the door for me.

We walked into the room with bank booths, and after we were done banking, we headed to the room where Ajjat, the master of Attack, was in.

"Hello, welcome to the Warrior's Guild." Ajjat said.

"Hey, Ajjat, it's me, Chase." I said.

He concentrated for a moment and said, "Chase! So nice to see you again! What can I do for you?"

"We're going after," Joe looked around and leaned in to whisper in Ajjat's ear, "the Black Dragon Gang…"

"Sorry, but, have you lose your mind?" Ajjat said.

"Ajjat, I never told you this, but it's the three leaders of that gang that killed my parents." I said.

"I see. It's your funeral, though."

"I won't be needing one."

"I will start with you tomorrow." Ajjat said.

"Let's go get rested up then, Chase." Joe said.

We got our sleeping bags and woke up the next day. It was a promising-looking day; the sun was shining vibrantly over the horizon with birds chirping and chinchompa traps being set off. I was feeling pretty great today.

"Let's go, Chase." Joe said.

We went to Ajjat, and he told us to follow him. We followed him to a secret room in the Warrior's Guild, which I won't reveal how to access, because we were the only people he shared it with.

"Welcome to my secret training room!" Ajjat said.

"Wow, this place has got EVERYTHING!" I exclaimed.

And boy, it sure did. It had targets, punching bags, dummies, and combat rings, and for agility there were wall climbs, lava traps, spike traps, rock fall traps, wall climbing, and plenty more.

"Let's get started, shall we?" Ajjat said.

I unsheathed my Dragon Scimitar, a look of anticipation on my face. Ajjat then took my sword and sheathed it.

"I need a sword, don't I?" I asked.

"You need to learn strategy in combat. And strategy is not physical, but a mental skill, even more important."

"…Huh?"

"Here, take this." Ajjat said, as he handed me a chinchompa. I delicately held it, knowing how sensitive these were to impact.

"Ready?" Ajjat said.

"Ready for what?" I asked.

Ajjat quickly hit the bottom of my hands, making the chinchompa catapult into the air. I knew it was going to explode on the first object it makes contact with, so I put my hands over my head, curved down and crouched, and braced myself. The chinchompa hit my back, the explosion knocking me to the ground. I got up and yelled,

"What the hell, Ajjat! Why did you do that?"

"You need to have a steady hand for control of the blade. You must also learn about velocity, speed, trajectory, and timing." Ajjat explained.

"What the fuck? Is this Algebra or combat training?"

"The pen is mightier than the sword, so it could be considered Algebra, yes."

"That doesn't make any sense. If I fought somebody using a pen, I would kill them easily."

"Do you want to take back that statement?"

"Why would I? I stand by it. The sword is WAY mightier than the pen."

"Draw your sword." Ajjat commanded.

I unsheathed my sword, while Ajjat put his hand in his pocket and pulled out an ink feather pen.

"Ajjat…I'm not fighting you, especially when you're armed with a pen…" I said.

Ajjat ran up to me in a blur, flung off my helmet, and slapped me back and forth several times before running back to his original position. I picked up and wore my helmet, and asked,

"What the heck was that?"

"That was strategy." Ajjat said.

"Bitch slapping is a strategy?"

"No. The element of surprise."

"Oh, I understand now…" I said, and then as fast as I could, I ran up to Ajjat and swung down my sword.

*CHINK!*

I pulled my sword out of the crack in the ground it made, and looked around for Ajjat. Then I feel a tap on my shoulder, I turn around, and—

*WHACK!*

I was punched with hard force; I reeled in the air, bounced off the ground once, and rolled to a stop. Then, Ajjat ran up in a blur again, and using his pen, drew a mustache on me, and leapt twice to return to his original spot.

"OK…stop…I…I want you to teach me this…" I stuttered, still dazed from the impact.

"I have set one hundred chinchompas over there, I want you to keep picking one up, toss it in the air, and catch it without it exploding."

"But that's impossible!" I exclaimed.

Ajjat then grabbed three and started juggling them! Then, threw them in the air, and one by one, they would land in his hand and he would set it back on the table.

"Proof that it is possible. I will observe over there." Ajjat said.

I picked up a chinchompa, tossed it up, and caught it…and it exploded. I tried again, with the same outcome. I tried eight more times with the same results!

"Am I doing something wrong…?" I asked.

"You must lessen the force of the impact and channel the remaining amount in your hands and arms."

"In English, please?" I said.

"I did say it in English." Ajjat responded.

I tried once more, with the same outcome: pain from an exploding rodent.

"Can I stop I think for a while?" I asked.

Ajjat smiled and said, "Good, you have passed part of this test. Taking time to think of a strategy, instead of going in blindly."

After 10 minutes, I thought of a plan. Have my arms high in the air, then grasp my fingers around the chinchompa, instead of my whole hand, and then slow it down by letting my arms down. I tried it, and I couldn't believe it worked!

"Ajjat, I did it!" I exclaimed.

"Good job, but there is much more you need to learn."

"You guys have fun, I'm going to find something to do." Joe said.

I never saw Joe again until my training was over…