Author's space: First of all, I'd like to apologize about the huge delay on updating. I had an important exam and my schedule was packed. (Being a scout troop leader isn't that easy.) I also had to do national service, a program organized in my country for youth at the age of seventeen to receive military training. So updates will be coming in about 4 months. I sincerely apologize again. Also, I'm planning to rewrite this whole story so please reread the previous chapters once I announce the revamp.
Oh yeah, one more thing, this chapter has a lot of references to motorcycles, and I know some of you have never sat on one or even operated one. So I'll make a small section on the bottom of this chapter so that you'll understand how to use a motorcycle.
Chapter 8( Yay! My lucky number!)
New Beginnings
"Alright, now we've created our clans. What do we do next?"
"You can find new members or you can take in quests from the bartender to earn money" the Grimoire said. The party looked at the bartender upon hearing this, only to receive a scolding from the bartender.
"Quests aren't ready yet; come back tomorrow," the bartender remarked, sighing. "I can't believe I travelled all the way here just to do the same thing I did back in Ivalice. You two!" He pointed to his assistants. "Take over while I go and have my breakfast; I'm already late."
The two assistants quickly marched to the counter and to handle prospective customers.
"Why didn't he just ask them to do their work in the first place?" Hsien Phing said, pointing out the fact the workers had previously just been sitting down behind the bartender.
"Let's just leave; we got nothing to do here for now." Vee Xiang started to put his Grimoire in his pocket. The other clan leader did the same.
"So, what next?" Ann looked at Dan with an eager look on her face.
"We'll get back to headquarters. It's going to be afternoon soon."
The party left and headed to their motorcycles, but stopped when they heard a voice from the Grimoires.
"You are approaching a motorcycle. Would you like to initiate battle module: Motorcycle?"
"Huh? What's this thing here?" the sea scout leader asked.
Vee Xiang noticed a "more info" button on the screen.
The screen brought up a message. "Motorcycles are allowed to be used in battle for an advantage in some situations. Master the vehicle and the advantage is yours. The following is a tutorial on the use of motorcycles in battle. Pillion riders are allowed."
"There's still an hour of free time and the HQ is just a few minutes away."
"It's better to be prepared rather than unprepared; let's check this out."
The four motorcyclists and pillion riders got on their bikes, and the clan leaders hit the initiate buttons simultaneously. A huge flash was emitted by the Grimoire, bringing them into a virtual world. Panels stood before them in an infinite line. A disembodied voice with a robotic tone started to talk.
"We shall start our tutorial," The computerized voice began. "In battle, a rider must control his bike with both of his hands. This causes a problem - single bikers cannot wield their weapons since both of their hands are occupied. To solve this, Ivalice Laboratories has created a particle shifter to move the controls to the subdominant hand. The functions and handling of your bike will still be the same and untouched by the Particle Shifter. Please choose your dominant hand."
Two panels appear in front of each of the riders, reading "left" and "right". The riders hovered their dominant hands over the appropriate panels. The controls then shifted to one end. Dan's right handlebar seemed empty after the transformation, but the left side became more complicated than ever.
Now this is going to take some getting used to,Dan thought to himself as he saw the others revving their bikes.
"This will be a great advantage in battle; you'll understand once you get the experience."
"Since everyone is ready, we'll commence the training module," the computerized voice announced as the bikers were each transported to a separate training field in a flash of light. The field was composed of pixel-like blocks that stretched on endlessly. Some of the blocks shifted to form obstacles and tracks scattered throughout the course. Once the course was fully developed, a bright light flash created a path the motorcycle would have to travel on.
"Looks like it's me and you then," Dan, the only biker on the course, said.
"Ceh," Ann grunted. "It's not like you can complete this whole course on your own, can you?"
"Ivalice Corp. has created a module composed of a series of 8 targets around this path. Hit them all and you pass."
"Ann, you hit the targets while I drive" Dan commanded as he revved his bike and clenched the clutch.
He then slowly released the clutch as he pulled the throttle, his bike starting to move slowly with a slight rev. It accelerated to a speed of 20km/h, the maximum speed at which you could change the first gear. Dan pulled in the clutch without realizing he had also pulled the front brakes by mistake. His bike jerked, shaking like a wild stallion, causing Ann to fall.
"Hey, watch it! Can't you use a bike?" the girl scowled, a cross look on her face. Dan hung his head as he offered his hand to Ann.
"How come you suddenly can't ride? You lost your ability?"
"It's not that I don't know how to ride, but it's hard to get used to the new controls on my bike."
"Ah ah ah, no buts about it. Just a few minor changes and you're whining? I thought scouts were able to adapt."
Dan, at loss for words, could only sigh in response. He had failed as a scout.
Ann climbed back onto the Honda Shadow and Dan proceeded back to the start.
"This time I won't accept failure."
"Can't you see I'm not used to this?"
"No, I can't see that. Not at all," she said sarcastically, shaking her head.
"Don't worry, she's encouraging you. Keep moving and remember that the clutch is the top one. The front brakes are on the bottom."
"ThanksShadow,I really needed some encouragement."
Dan started his bike again, clenching his clutch and revving up his bike. "Easy now . . . Just relax and stay calm."He slowly released his clutch, continuing to pull more of the throttle and brought his bike up to 20Km/h. Then he pressed on the clutch - carefully avoiding the front brakes - ,changed gears and released the clutch. The bike accelerated.
"Now you're doing it. Let's take this course down!" His partner pulled out an arrow and placed it on her bow, ready to aim when a target came into her line of sight. Dan smiled in accomplishment, accelerating even more.
Keeping a steady course, they approached a target. "I got this one." Ann pulled the arrow back, took aim, and released. A hit! The target shattered into several small pixel blocks and disappeared.
Dan took a left, spotting a target behind a cube several yards away from them.
"Over there," Dan yelled as he pointed to the target passing them on their right.
Ann quickly fired an arrow. It seemed like the arrow was going to miss until the tail of the arrow brushed the edges of the target. It dissolved into smaller blocks.
"Good thing I can use my hand while riding. That might prove useful."
"Well duh, that's the main point of this."
The path took a sharp turn to the right, forcing Dan to tilt his bike. Suddenly, a target appeared in a hole on the road beside the sharp turn.
An arrow was shot, but its flight was wobbly because of the unstable conditions during a turn.
"Can't you avoid tilting your bike? It's hard to aim."
"I'd like to, but I can't when I'm on a sharp turn. I won't be able to make it if I don't." The third target broke into pieces as they left the sharp turn.
As they continued, they saw a long straight road after a right turn, two targets were moving together antagonistically, not to mention fast.
"This is going to be hard," Ann whined as she nocked an arrow. As they got on the straight section of the path, they saw one of the targets slightly further behind a target alongside the road.
"Teamwork is the key here, combine both of your strengths for this."
"We have to hit the targets when they are in the same place, notice that both of them slow down."
"We? How are you gonna hit while driving?"
"Just watch."
Dan let go some of the throttle to slow down to 40 km/h. His right hand held a machete, ready to strike. He looked to his right, waiting for the targets to intersect with one another. Near the middle of the long stretch, the targets slowed down.
"Now!" Dan commanded as he pulled out his machete to destroy the first target. Ann hit the other target. They proceeded along the course, returning to cruising speed at 60 km/h.
They soon reached a 90 degree turn to the left, making a U-shape in the course. The two targets came up, one on the left, the other on the right with a wall behind it.
"You take the left, I'll take the right" Ann instructed. Dan was astonished; he couldn't really stab on the left side since his left hand was occupied.
"Just do as I say, you'll regret if you don't." As they got close, Dan stabbed the target on his left while Ann shot the other.
"There's a wall behind your target." Dan flinched for a millisecond once he realized that his blade would been damaged if he had hit the right target.
After some time on the long, straight road, they realized that only 7 targets were destroyed, with one still undiscovered.
"Where's the last one?"
"Look up." A target was positioned 200 feet above the ground and 500 feet away.
"Whoa, that's way too high for my arrow."
"And I don't think my blade will even touch the target."
"Teamwork, like I said before."
"But how?"
"I'll just have to leave that to you two. Happy discussing."
"Damn, just when we need his advice."
"So how are we gonna do this, showboy?"
"I'll throw my knife at the target. You shoot the knife to make it gain speed and go farther."
"Might? Well, it's worth a shot." Dan stared at the target as he swung his sword on a rope in a circular motion to gain speed. Ann nocked an arrow, preparing for the big shot.
Teamwork he said, eh? This all I can think of at the moment. Hope it works.
Dan threw his sword, the rope trailing behind it in the air. After the sword achieved a height of 50 feet, Ann shot two arrows simultaneously to give Dan's sword a boost. The arrow got caught on the rope, pulling it further. The finish line was approaching fast. As they both closed in on the gate, their projectile closed in on the target. Just before Dan's bike wheel touched the finish line, the target broke.
The module was complete.
"Wooh yeah!" Ann shouted. "That was fun. I wish I could go through it again!"
"Congratulations on completing the module. Your score is 50 due to inaccuracy. Ivalice Laboratories would like you to perform better next time."
"A fifty? That's all?" Dan said in astonishment.
"Looks like you'll have to practice more to master this. You messed up at the start, so it's all your fault anyway."
"Maybe later, let's exit this."
"As you wish," the computerized voice answered and a bright flash brought them out.
As the two teleported to the real world, they saw the others waiting for them.
"So what took you so long? You know that time is money, right?" Tisha asked as she approached them with doubt on her face.
"Yeah, we waited for more than 10 minutes after we completed the test. It was easy to finish," the sea scout said.
"Well, your bikes are using semi-clutches while mine is full clutch," Dan defended.
"I know! They were alone together in their own little virtual world and didn't want to go back because they had complete privacy in there. Am I right?" Xiyin exclaimed.
"Yeah, and they can get so close and starting kissing and going n-" Dan quickly punched the air scout before he finished his sentence.
"We should all shut up and let our president get to his speech . . . oh, I meant troop leader. It's late now and we don't want to make the other members wait, do we?" Hsien Phing said.
"Oh yeah, forgot about that speech. Well, let's get going then."
So some of you might not have been on a motorcycle so I'm going to try to explain on how to ride and operate a motorcycle.
Before you starting revving your bike, you obviously have to start the bike (you don't say . . .). Then you can start revving. The purpose of revving is to warm up the engine and ready the bike for movement, especially with full-clutch bikes. To accelerate, one must turn(though we normally say pull) the throttle(it's on the right handlebar). To accelerate more, just pull the throttle more. Let go, and the bike will slow down.
Then we move on to gears. Gears give different amounts of power to push the bike and are used in different situations. For example, when the bike is stationary, a large amount of force is required to break the inertia of the bike. Therefore, the first gear will have a large amount of force applied to it. However, there is a speed limit of 20 km/h for the first gear (though the exact limit depends on the bike you're using), after that the engine over-revs and makes a lot of noise. The second gear is for accelerating to another speed; once again, after it reaches this speed it will over-rev. You can break the speed limit for the gears, but it will damage the bike's engine.
Once you reach another speed limit for a gear, you change gears until you reach the top gear, which will usually be 4, 5 or 6 (again, it depends on model and type). When you're using a bike with a full clutch, the clutch will be on the left handlebar. You have to press it to change gears. When you're transitioning from stationary to moving, you have to slowly release the clutch while pulling some of the throttle. To change gears, you have to press the clutch, then use your left foot to press on the gear changer (some might call it the gear shifter) to change gears. The difference between semi clutch and full clutch is that semi clutch won't have a clutch on the left handle bar and you just simply press on the gear changer to change gears.
When it comes to changing gears, the sequence from gear to gear is neutral, first, second, third, fourth and so on. Some motorcycles go up to third gear, while some go up to sixth. Mopeds only go up to third, while big bikes go up to sixth. To change gears on a full clutch, you first press the clutch, then you put your feet under the gear changer and lift it up. This is called upshifting. Downshifting is the complete opposite, where you press down on the gear changer. While on semi-clutch bikes, you press forward using the front of your feet to upshift and use the back of your feet to downshift gears.
When on sharp turns, you will have to tilt the bike to put more weight on one side to turn easily. You can see this in bike races where bikers have to tilt for more than 80 degrees to turn. The bike will be unstable when it turns. It's called counter-steering.
Here's some videos of bikes and a bit more of a detailed explanation:
Introduction : watch?v=kgNIPIRvkGI
Shifting gears: watch?v=FwDzuz8cWhQ
Counter Steering: watch?v=dqcRPv-rOi8&feature=relmfu
All these videos are not mine and they belong to their respective owners, let me know if I'm missing something.
(Links probably not necessary, but it's your call.)
School Tactics Advance Talk Show
Dan: Hello, and welcome to today's talk show!
Ann: With your hosts, Ann and Dan. Today's topic is why there was a big delay on this chapter and why it's so short compared to the last.
Dan: We would like to welcome our guest for today, the author of School Tactics Advance, Scoutmasterkb28.
*A faint scream is heard, getting louder every second. Suddenly, the author falls onto his seat from a tube overhead.*
Ann: So what took you so long to write this? Were you trapped in a cave or something? And if you were, that's still no excuse. I should know, seeing as I have lived in a cave and managed to be creative in spite of it. Why couldn't you?
Sm28: Well, er . . . I wasn't actually in a cave. I had a lot of work to do.
Dan: But it has been on hiatus for more than a year. Seriously, what happened?
Sm28: I have been too occupied on school and real life. I had a big exam last year and I had to go do national service three months ago.
Ann: What did you do in national service and what was so big about this exam?
Sm28; The exam was a big part of my life as this exam was my final exam for my secondary school education. It decided my future and whether I could get enrolled in a good college or university. When you get a good result on the exam, you have a higher chance of getting scholarships. While in national service I had to participate in military training, "patriotism", and other things.
Dan: Well, that sounds great. So you got to play with guns?
SM28: Yeah, it was great. We had a chance to use a M-16 rifle.
Ann: He's dangerous! Security, secure him and check to see if he's armed.
Sm28: What? I only used it once.
*VeeXiang and HsienLoong, decked out in suits and sunglasses, approach the author and pull him away.*
Dan: 's all for today.
Ann: Hope you had a great day.
