Hay guys it's me, sorry it took so long to post this. Time for the next chapter of my soul eater fic. We're gonna see just what some of the tutors have in store for our favorite meisters and weapons. Also i"m gonna try and make this chapter longer and more detailed. I've been practicing my style and i want to bring it to the table with this fic.
All was silent. Nothing stirred. Not even a mouse. This was the case in Maka and Soul's apartment. the only noise came from the snoring in Soul's room. Other then that peace and tranquility. Blair slept peacefully on the couch. Her ear twitched when she heard a noise. She looked up and saw no one so assumed she was hearing things and went back to sleep. As she she slept she missed someone carefully open the door and silently enter. The intruders slowly made their way through the small apartment. Inspecting it quickly before continuing to their selected destinations. they split in the main hall went to Soul's room and the other went to Maka's. In Maka's room the dark figure approached her sleeping form. It stopped at her bedside. He then brought something to his mouth and a few seconds later a loud whistle rang throughout the room. Maka shot up awake in a panic, squirming a bit under her cover in a frenzied manner before finally sitting up. She quickly grabbed her book of her night stand ready to give the man a maka chop thinking it was Soul. Then the lights came on. It took Maka a second a second for her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness. When they finally did she was able to finally make out the person.
"Viktor Stalin?What are you doing in my room!? And how you even get in my house!?" she asked.
"I picked lock to enter apartment. And reason i'm in your room in to begin training." stated Viktor as he moved another side of the room.
"What! You can't just break into my home! And it's four, thirty in the morning! What do you mean start training now?" she asked as Viktor looked through on of her drawers. She was about to say something about that when a shirt and skirt his her face.
"Get dressed. If not ready for training be five o'clock there will be consequences." ordered Viktor before shutting the door with enough force to knock one of Maka's pictures of the wall. She sighed.
"Soul was right. This is gonna suck." she muttered. as if on cue a very loud 'WHAT THE HELL MAN!' sounded from down the hall. "Speaking of which." she sighed.
Later...
Maka and Soul were currently following Viktor and Oleg in a jog around Death City. The two barely had time to get dressed and brush their teeth. Hell they had to skip breakfast because Oleg and Viktor were rushing to be ready by 5 o'clock. Neither of them were very happy about it either.
"povtorit' means repeat in Russian. When i say it you repeat this phrase. A sound soul dwells with a sound mind and a sound body." ordered Viktor.
"Um, i hope you don't me asking but why?" asked Maka raising an eyebrow. She soul already knew that phrase by heart. Well she did at least.
"No questions! Just follow order!" said Viktor. Maka sighed as an angry mark formed on her head.
"A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body." said the two teens in unison.
"povtorit'!" shouted Viktor.
"A sound soul dwell with a sound mind and a sound body." the two repeated.
"Provtorit'!" shouted Viktor. The two sighed before repeating the phrase. again.
'man this sucks. It's even worse than i thought it was going to be. i think i'd rather just go back to being in stein's class. At least i didn't have to get up this early and do this crap' thought Soul sourly as Viktor told them to repeat once more. They continued this little jog around the city for an hour or two. Whenever some asked to stop for a breath they'd be ignored or told they'd have to do five more push ups when they finish their run. They finally stopped when they reached the academy.
"Okay! You two lazy sloths have fifteen push ups to to do each. Next you ask to take a break on warm ups you better think twice!" ordered Viktor.
"Wait that was just warm ups?" asked Maka in disbelief.
"yes! now down!" said Oleg. The two teens looked at each other before getting down and doing their push ups as Viktor counted. When that was finished Viktor issued a new order.
"I understand you did not have breakfast. Luckily i am kind man. You have forty minutes to run inside and grab something to eat. Go!" he said pointing to the academy.
"Yes sir." muttered Soul and Maka before hurrying inside. The two reached the cafeteria in record time and quickly grabbed breakfast before looking for a table.
"Hay guys over here!" called Liz from a table where the whole group was sitting(minus crona who was elsewhere because she found since the large crowds in the cafeteria 'too intimidating').
"Hey guys." greeted Maka with a smile. The others returned the greeting as she and Soul sat down shortly before beginning to eat.
"So how's training going with those Russian guys?" asked Tsubaki politely. *cue 'Excalibur face' from Maka and Soul*
"Oh Viktor and Oleg? Well they're umm..." began Maka
"They suck." finished Soul bluntly.
"Soul! Show respect!" yelled Maka
"Why should i? Not like those old farts give us any respect." said Soul.
"I'm assuming those two are real hard asses huh? Kinda expected it, I mean from how they dress yesterday, talk about uptight." said Liz, though she had to admit the way they dressed was slightly better than what kid had her and patty wearing. At least it was respectable. But still the army look was sooo out.
"Or maybe soul is just being a wimp! If it was me i'd be sucking it up like the big star i am!" boasted Black*Star as he put one foot on the table. Tsubaki was about to ask him so sit back down before Soul gave his retort
"Oh yeah! How about you start training with them! I bet you wouldn't even last a day!" growled Soul at the blue haired idiot.
"Yeah right! A big guys like me can handle anything!" said Black*star.
"At least you started training. We haven't even started yet. What about you and Black*star, Tsubaki?" said Liz.
"Well they told us to be at the front of the academy at one o'clock today. They'd pick us up there." said Tsubaki.
"Does it really matter when we start or how hard our training is? We're the youngest people to be promoted to three star rank ever, and we're being given private lessons with some of the best to ever walk out of this academy . We should consider it an honor that my father had all this done. Not complain about it." said Kid as he carefully arranged his breakfast to be perfectly symmetrical before eating it.
"yeah Kid has a point. We should be thankful for all this guys." said Maka in agreement as she ate. She remained silent as she listen to the others converse on trivial things such as what their plan for the weekend and things of the like. Maka didn't think it would be wise to start planning ahead, as they have no idea to expect from their new mentors. For they knew they might get much time to relax and have some fun. Funny how no one gave them special training when Asura was still kicking.
"Maka? Maka!", Liz's voice broke Maka out of her thoughts.
"Huh!? I-i'm sorry- what happened?" asked Maka, her head snapping up to look at her blonde friend, making Liz and the others raise an eyebrow at her.
"I was asking what you and soul's plans for the weekend were… You okay, you've been quiet." asked Liz,
"Yeah, I'm fine! Just thinking about things, thats-" Maka was interrupted mid explanation when a whistle was heard a few feet behind her. She and the others turned to see Viktor and Oleg standing a yard or so away from them.
"Oh, come on! Not these guys again, already!" groaned Soul before banging his head on the table.
"Come! your time before class is about over-and so is your break! Now up and get ready to become true warriors worthy of serving DWMA." ordered Viktor as he crossed his arms over his chest and tuned out the groans of both Maka and Soul.
"hey calm down you two, We still got time. Not like this is the army or something. Maybe you two should calm down and have some fu-" Liz had begun something but stopped when she saw the menacing glare Viktor was sending her way. A chill went down her spine as she swallowed her words in a hurry and quickly supplemented them with new ones.
"What I meant to say actually was that they are under your charge so who am i to but in." she amendment with gulp.
"gee thanks for the help." groaned Soul sarcastically turning his head to Liz, obviously less than impressed with her performance in dealing with the two Russians.
"Leave it be Soul, and lets just get going." sighed Maka as she stood up and moved to dump out her leftovers in the nearby trash can.
later…
"Today, we gauge what you two are physically capable of." announced Viktor as the group stood in a combat area, usually used for light sparring match.
"oh yeah and how do you plan on doing that?" asked Soul looking up at the two Russian who looked at each other then at the two young meisters.
"(1)Yesli vy nachinayete ili ya?" asked Oleg to his meister in their native language.
"(2)Pust' mne tovarishch." was Viktor reply before looking down at Maka and Soul. Oleg shrugged and made his way to a seat positioned against the side wall of the room.
"Hay what you guys saying? We can't understand what you're blabbering on about." said Soul in a less than respectful tone.
"No offense but Soul is right, we can't understand russian, so with all do respect could you start speaking in english more often so we can learn better?" Rephrased Maka more politely than her weapon had put it.
"Your two attack me" Viktor suddenly ordered turning to the two teen who looked up at him surprise.
"A-attack you sir?" asked Maka, not sure if she heard right.
"I'm down!" smiled Soul, a wide tooth grin only he could pull off.
"Soul!"
"Comrade Albaran, why can you not show same initiative as comrade Evans here?" reprimanded viktor making the two snap their head sat him in surprise once more.
"What!?" was Maka shocked response, before Soul bursted into laughter
"well look at that! Looks I'm the star students instead of the book worm this time! Don't worry Maka, keep trying and one day you'll be as good a student as I-" Soul was silenced by one of Maka's powerful chops that brought close him to death's doors but not quite.
"Shut it Soul, You're starting to act like Black*Star." growled Maka, holding her book. Viktor sweat dropped at the sight. Where did she get that red book from? Viktor cleared his his throat to get their attention once again.
"as i said, attack me, with all you have. I will be fine, this is simply to see how well you can hold your own. I expect good things." said Viktor before getting into a stance. Maka sighed before standing up and nodded to Soul after he picked himself off the ground.
"Okay Soul, let's show him what we're made off, but we have to make sure we don't accidentally hurt him." said the blonde.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it." said Soul as he transformed into his scythe form. Maka and Soul stood across their Russian Mentor, in silence as they waited for him to give the go.
Maka examined Viktor's stance in the meantime, finding it to be a nearly flawless stance. Viktor did the same to Maka, finding her stance to also be adequate with only one or two gap in it. But that was still two flaws too many by his standards. Finally he decided it was time.
"Strike hard! Strike fast!" he called before boldly charging in and throwing a hard kick which Maka was able to block but was still sent staggering as he grabbed Soul by the handle before using him to throw himself and Maka through the air.
"Strike i said! you have the weapons, you should be the one pressing the attack!" called Viktor before Maka gave a nod and swung at him with the blunt side of Soul, making Viktor dodged with ease before swinging twice more.
Viktor side stepped to the left to avoid the first swing and ducked under the third, before flowing with a right uppercut that sent Maka one her back with a 'crack'
"Hey, I thought this was suppose to be a sparring match! It sounded like you were trying to take her head off with that one." growled Soul fro his weapons form, his anger at how his meister was taking a beating characterizing itself in a bent in his staff.
"Don't worry about it soul," groaned Maka, making soul's staff straighten as the 'eye' near his blade turned it's attention to her.
"If this is what training to prove myself as a three star meister is, then so be it." she said, standing up, earning a nod of approval from Viktor.
"That is it, Camrade Albaran, that is the warrior's spirit! There is hope for you yet! Come, and show me what you are capable of." he ordered causing Maka to nod before charging at him. Maka swung downwards at Viktor who jumped back to dodge, but Maka used soul to propel herself forward and nearly kick the russian in the face had h not been able to just step aside in time to dodge.
"Good Albaran, good! Press the attack!" he called as she swung at him twice before he caught soul again and threw her once more, but this time Maka was able to land in a roll and quickly get back to her feet before press the attack again. Viktor ducked under another swing and counter with a low kick that swept Maka's legs from under her in one fluent motion.
Not giving her a single second to react Viktor was over her, landing a succession of quick strikes to her midsection with the intent of the rapid barrage of pinpoint strikes overwhelming her sense and slowing down her reaction time. It seemed to worked as Maka seemed to forget how to use her scythe right up until Viktor loaded up one last attack. His open palm strike stopped just short of her heaving chest.
"If i had hit you with my soul wavelength directly just now, i could have stopped your heart." informed Viktor making Maka freeze. That's a good point, after seeing what Professor Stein did to Crona back in the day, she wouldn't be surprised if some one like Viktor could stop her heart with one strike with his soul wavelength. After all what else could she expect from Meisters of Stein's and Viktor's statuses. They were the two best meisters she had ever met.
"Comrade Makarov! It is your turn!" called Viktor as he walked off. The waiting Oleg had the usual crooked smile as always.
"You sure you wanna keep going Maka, you took a beating from that guy." asked Soul.
"I'm fine," breath Maka, standing back up again, "let's just finish this and see what else they have lined up."
"Would you like the hammer or the sickle?" asked Oleg, his left hand becoming a sickle and his right becoming a war hammer.
"Both? Okay, well you asked for it!" he suddenly answered for them before charging forward and striking with his hammer.
"Huh-woah!" cried Maka as she was barely able to dodged Oleg's crushing blow at chipped off part of the floor.
"Go easy Comrade Makarov, go easy." reminded Viktor before tuning out the fighting as he pulled out a book from his inner coat pocket and began to read.
Later…
"Well that was short." mused Oleg as he looked down at an exhausted Maka and Soul.
"What the hell! Are you trying to freaking kill us?" yelled Soul glaring at the crazy Russian.
"Aw is the little baby going to cry? Go on amercian cry a river and then swim to someone who cares." taunted Oleg in response, leaning forward as if daring Soul to slug him by getting in his face.
"How about I flatten that fat head of yours!" shot back Soul an angry mark forming on his head.
"Enough! Both of you, I am getting headache." sighed Viktor as he walked up to them.
"I-is it o-over?" stuttered Maka, exhausted.
"Not yet, but next test is simple one. I assure you. For now, rest. Collect strength. And be ready, then meet us at the Red Star Fitness in south Death City." ordered Viktor before walking off, with Oleg in tow.
"i said it once, I'll say it again, this suck!" groaned Soul bringing his hands over his face.
later…
Maka and Soul trudged in the 'Red Star Fitness' building. The Red Star Fitness center was a fairly large building, family owned and operated for several years. It had many areas for different workouts, from the most modern machine to old school weights. There was even a zumba and yoga/spin class area as well as a kickboxing room. Perfect for a meister and her weapons to keep in shape. No wonder Viktor and Oleg came here.
The trainer currently standing at the desk look up at them and greeted the two with the customary smile. She was blonde woman with her hair in a long braided ponytail and blue eyes. She wore a yellow half shirts with a red star on the chest and black and yellow, knee length, gym shorts.
"Good day," she spoke with an accent reminiscent of Viktor and Oleg's on. another reason they must've liked this place, the family that owned and ran the place were Russian as well, people they could relate to.
"Oh uh hey. We're from the DWMA and we're looking for two men. Viktor Russian and Oleg Makarov." asked Maka politely, walking up to the desk.
"Oh yes, you two must be Maka Albaran and Soul Evan. Viktor told us about you. They are in the rock climbing room, past the weight lifting area down stairs. " instructed the woman
"Rock climbing room?" repeated soul.
the woman noded before pointing in the direction opposite of the front door, "that way then make a right. You'll see it."
"Uh-thank you Miss " began Maka, squinting at her name tag "Thalia, thank you Thalia."
"Is no problem." smiled Thalia before sending them off. The two made their, the directions given to them and on the way to the stair they saw Thalia had meant. They could already see the part of the rock wall coming up from the lower level, with a glass guard rail to keep people from accidentally going over the edge.
"Woah. This place is pretty big." noted Maka as she and soul made their way past the railing and toward the stairwell. Once down stair they walked past the weight lifting area (where some of the men made Soul suddenly feel self conscious of his own less define muscle mass) and found Oleg and viktor conversing with the owner in Russian
. The owner had short black hair in a crew cut, and triangle soul patch. He wore a blue tank top and black, slightly baggy, track pants with white shoes and black half finger gloves. The owner had several tattoos adorning his body with a red star with a hammer and sickle inside of it on the back of his neck.
"Ah Albaran, Evans, come say hello to Nicolai Chernov. His wife Thalia Chernov was the woman who greeted you up stairs. They are old friends of our and will let you two train here for discount as favor to us." informed Viktor turning to Maka and Soul. The two teens looked at each other with raised eyebrows before turning back to the three russians.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Chernov, and thank you for giving us a discount Mr. Chernov." thanked Maka.
"My pleasure, Please enjoy the gym. Stalin, Makarov, (3) khorosho videt' vas snova kak." said Nicolai before walking off.
"Okay then," began Viktor turning to his students, "your task is simple one. climb to top of rockwall. Go." he informed pointing up to the top of the rock wall.
"That doesn't sound too hard." noted Maka looking at the rock wall.
"Eh, it's not exactly cool but it's better than getting thrashed by you two." added Soul as Oleg and Viktor offered them the gear needed to climb. Maka and Soul put on their harnesses and protective helmets before they began scaling the rock wall. The two carefully scaled the rock wall, some of Maka's muscles were still sore from the sparring matches with Viktor and Oleg but she pressed on.
"You okay there Maka?" asked Soul, stopping to look down at his meister, worry showing in his eyes. The teenage girl looked up at her weapon before giving a nod with a slight smile.
"Don't worry Soul, I'm okay." she assured, but Soul was unconvinced as he watched his meister inch up toward him. Soul eventually sighed before continuing up. Once he reached the top, waited Maka to make it as well only a minutes or two behind him. Then together they rappelled back down to the ready and waiting Russians.
"Good, good. You two feel good? Limbered up?" asked Viktor looking at the sweating teens
"Yeah."
"Sure?"
"Good. Then you should have no problem doing it again." said viktor making the two look up.
"What?" came the unified reply.
"You heard him do it again." repeated Oleg stepping forward.
"Trust me, there is a method to my madness, comrades. Climb the wall again and this time go as fast as you possible can. i want record time. Go." ordered Viktor. Then teens sigh but nod before going back up the rock wall, this time getting channeling their training and combat refined reflexes to scale the wall in half the time as they previously did.
Once they returned once more Viktor gave a nod of approval.
"Again, even faster." ordered Viktor. The Soul groaned while Maka sighed silently. Soon they were scaling the rock wall again, but not as fast Viktor had liked.
"Faster!" he called.
"we're going as fast as we can!" Maka called back as she found her footing a fake rock.
"Comrade Makarov,(4) dat' im povod , chtoby dvigat'sya bystreye!" ordered Viktor making Oleg smile before suddenly ran up to the wall like a excited child running to a toy store to pick up the newest and most fun looking toy. Oleg bound up the wall with no harness or safety gear to speak off. Oleg moved like lightning in the sky as he shot up the side of the rocks wall.
Maka heard something from under her before looking down in time to see Oleg already hot on her heels. The surprise may not have caused her to loose her footing but Oleg grabbing her rather roughly by the ankle and yanking her off the wall certainly did.
Maka let loose a surprised (and slightly embarrassing for her) squeak before suddenly being brought to sudden stop when harness stopped her mid fall, but the blunt force of the sudden, dead stop brought pain, being enough to actually knock the wind out of her.
"What the hell? What are you do-gah!" soul never got to finished thank Oleg climbing up in an instant ripping him off the wall.
"Comrade Makarov comes from northern Mountain Village in mother Russia. He is, how you say? Extremely capable rock climber. Something like this is no challenge for him." commented Viktor as Maka and Soul were both lowered back down.
"What the hell is wrong with you guys!" breathed Soul
"That wasn't even necessary." added Maka.
"I disagree. Now you have a reason to go faster. Get to top of rock wall before comrade Makarov or face harsh punishment." ordered Viktor
"And just how the hell do you think we can do that? The guy climbs better than tarzan!" shouted Soul instantly rises to his feet.
"Soul's right, despite being so blunt about it, there's no way we can out climb Oleg." added Maka.
"Then figure it out. You are suppose to be the smart one are you not Albaran?" commented Viktor, "We spar again friday, so you have until tomorrow to figure out how to beat comrade Makarov to the top."
With that viktor turned and his heel and began to walk away while his weapon partner stayed for a second longer "looking forward to it" smiled Oleg before following his meister.
"I really hate those guys." groaned soul falling back onto the mat.
Next day (sorry for all the jumping around, but i've been having serious writers block and i just want to get this chapter done)...
Maka sat with Soul across from Professor Stein in his office, hoping to get advice from him on how to beat Oleg. Stein sat, typing away on his computer
"So you're trying to beat Oleg Makarov at rock climbing huh?" reviewed Stein as he lit a cigarette, despite the no smoking in school rule. Maka, tried not to cringe at the pungent smell, while soul had grown used to it, his father having smoke, some sort expensive tobacco from his fancey pipe for several years.
"Yeah, but there's no way we can climb faster that he can." said Maka.
"Right, Oleg spent most of his life before coming to the DWMA in a small mountain village, climbing mountain, or in this case rock walls, is like second nature to him. you two probably never beat him to the top on speed alone." noted Stein as he took a drag from his beloved cancer stick.
"Yeah, so we're screwed right? Fantastic." muttered Soul sarcastically.
"Not really."
"What do you mean professor Stein?" asked Maka looking at him, perplexed.
"you problem is simple, your looking at it the wrong way, Viktor only said you had to beat Oleg to the top, correct?" he asked, making the two nod, "So he never gave any specification on how to do that. You two only assumed he meant you had to climb faster than Oleg."
Maka and soul looked at each other and then back to stein, in realization. That was a good point, but how did that help them in the long run?
"Here's some advice, let gravity, guide you." smirked Stein before standing up and walking out with a small smile.
"What the hell is that suppose to mean? Since when does Stein speaking fucking fortune cookie?" exclaimed Soul as while Maka sat in thought.
"Gravity huh?" she muttered to herself. What could he mean? Suddenly Maka's mind flashed to an idiot with blue hair who would once in a while drop down from seemingly no where only land on some poor guy feet first.
A smile slowly worked it's onto Maka's face.
"Thanks Professor Stein."
Later…
"3,2,1 go!" ordered Viktor and soon Maka and Soul were off.
"Remember the plan Soul." reminded Maka to her skeptical weapon. She had been able to devise a risky and rather un ethical plan using Stein's advice and Soul was still having doubts about it. Even so the red eyed boy nodded his head.
"yeah, yeah, i'll remember." grumbled Soul as they began to scale the wall. Both Meister and Weapon were scaling the walls at a rapid pace making Viktor nod in approval.
"Go comrade Makarov."
and Oleg was off barreling up the wall like his life was dependent on it. Soul groaned when he saw the crazy russian shooting up toward them.
"Here's he comes!" said the boy and he and maka began climbing faster and faster until Oleg finally caught up to soul.
"Its end here for you Evans!" laughed the russian.
"Fat chance!" growled fighting the strength of russian, "now!"
Soul suddenly hugged the wall and Oleg's eye widened when he saw Maka dropping toward him at high speed. SOul had blocked his view so he had no time to react as the blonde's feet crash into his face. Oleg stain there in a stunned state before slowly tipping backwards allowing Maka to grab Soul's waiting hand, who then help he back t the wall as Oleg fell to the floor.
"Hm, creative." noted Viktor as Maka and Soul climbed the rest of the way up.
"Ha, suck on that you russian prick!" laughed Sou pointing down to the recovering Oleg, who, was currently wishing her wore a safety harness.
"Soul!" scolded Maka, smiling none the less at their success.
"They did good." noded Viktor
"Yet they should learn to clean their shoes." muttered Viktor spitting out the taste of some foreign substance.
"You two took big risk and received equal reward. You have peaked my interest." said Viktor as Soul and Maka came back down.
"Thank you Viktor." Said Maka
"Bout time you gave us compliment." grumbled Soul.
"Yes, you've done very good…" smiled Viktor, pleased with the creativity his pupils have shown, " i believe you two will make us proud as teachers. That being said, i believe we should move tomorrow's sparring practice to today. After all i want to keep this 'spark', as you americans call it, going. That is, if you are up to it." offered Viktor making Maka and Soul looked at each other before slowly smiling.
Later…
The group was back in the training grounds with Viktor and oleg standing across from Maka who was already soul in his scythe form. Viktor smirked before Oleg transformed into a sickle and landing in his Meister's hand. Viktor shifted into stance and Maka did the same.
The two began circle each other before stopping, the smirk never leaving Vitkor's face while Maka remained laser focused on her opponent. For several minutes the tense air was silent as the two examined each other.
"Begin." ordered Viktor, and so it began.
Oh! Sorry about the cliffhanger guys but i want to get this chapter up and posted. Next chapter we'll be looking at Black*Star and Tsubaki's first day training with their new mentors. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter and i'm sorry it took so long to post. anyway i'll update as soon as i can, bye!
PS: please review.