Me: YES FINALLY GOT THIS CHAPTER DONE!
Elsword: Psh yeah right, you were just too lazy
Me: *sits in corner, shunned*
Elsword: HA I FREAKING KNEW IT *victory pose*
All but me and Elsword: *looks at each other* *nods* *death glares at Elsword*
Elsword: ...what?
Aisha: PLASMA CUTTER!
Rena: PHOENIX STRIKE!
Raven: HYPERSONIC STAB!
Eve: HEAVENS FIST!
Chung: SHOOTING STAR!
Ara: *Rapid spear strikes*
Elsword: O_O NONONONONONON- *gets hit by all attacks and faints*
Me: I feel much better :D
Aisha: Don't listen to that Elbaka, take as much time as you need :D
Me: :D
Chung: So how's my spy story coming along :D
Me: ...girls and Raven
Elgirls and Raven: Yes?
Me: Take aim and fire
Chung: WHAT NO I DIDN'T MEAN- *faints*
Me: Yay now shut up and enjoy the chapter
Chapter 4: The First Day
Mario's POV
The room greeted me with all the students lined up side by side with their backs straight and feet together all facing towards Lowe, who in turn faced towards them with a serious face. I scratched my head at this. What the heck am I supposed to do?
Lowe noticed my return and sharply turned to my direction, all of the other students followed suit. …Please stop staring. Please. I got nervous and sweated a bit from all the eyes blankly glaring at me as I whispered to one of them near me, a girl with long brunette hair in a ponytail, what I'm supposed to be doing.
"You have to get into position or else-" The girl answered me in a robotic tone before getting interrupted by Lowe.
"Student #50, why aren't you in position?" Oh great he actually sounds like a drill sergeant, complete with the stance used for 'Attention' and an angry stern tone. All he needs is a whistle and he fits the image nicely.
"W-Well Lowe I was g-gonna-" The nervousness I felt still didn't fade away, Lowe addressing me like that and the other students aren't helping my condition.
"Address me as Mr. Lowe from now on."
"O-Ok Mr. Lowe, well I honestly have no idea what to d-"
"You get into position like everyone else." He pointed to a back corner of the room, the corner I'm nearest to. I turned my head left and found an empty spot at the back of the line closest to it.
I assume this is my 'position'. I walked behind the line of students and copied their stance. Feet brought together with heels touching, toes apart 45 degrees while pointing forward. Stand tall and proud with your back straight facing your instructor. There was nothing for me to learn about the stance, glancing at the stances of others and a motivational poster behind me gave me all the information I need.
"Before we can begin, I need to see Student #50 for a second." That gave the students more time to stare at me. Damn, and they all stopped just when I got my position right.
Afraid he might call me out again and bear more attention, I walked in a fashion one would call 'robotic' as Lowe bored disapproving eyes into mine. "Yes Mr. Lowe?"
He responded by smacking my head with a closed fist. "Bow and try again." Lowe firmly told me. I held my aching head for a while, hearing the snickers of some of the students, and heeded his advice.
I bowed with my hands by my side. "Yes Mr. Lowe?"
"You were late getting into position. Run 50 laps around the building and come back, only then will we start the lesson."
I cringed hearing this. 50 laps!? This building looks huge! "But Mr. Lowe, wouldn't that take quite a while?" I tried reasoning with him.
"What was that?" His closed fist shook angrily.
I guess there's no arguing with him. "Fine then." I complied with his demands. It was then I noticed a sliding door leading outside the building. I exited through the door, stretched my arms and legs a bit, and started jogging.
The running was no problem, I got used to it all the time at home and moving around quite a bit in here, until I got into the 22nd lap…then the 31st…and finally the 50th. Heck by the time I got back inside, panting like a mad man, Lowe actually kept his word and the students were STILL in that stance with the same damn expression.
How *pant* can they keep *pant* that up for the entire *pant* time? Granted I'm not the fastest runner in my class, but it took a solid 30-40 minutes at most to finish all the laps. The girls gossiped to each other and looked at me with shriveled noses and some of the guys smirked and laughed a bit. I gave them annoyed looks and looked at Lowe, who seemed amused and pleased at the same time.
"Well, now we can finally begin." I would've complained here, but Lowe's face told me he's done this routine before.
He told us to remove our shoes and place them on the side, away from the huge mat spread all over the entire room, and called students #1 and #2 over to him. As I removed my shoes, I took a good look at the two students he called over.
Both of the students were guys. The one who diligently walked to Lowe first (probably #1) looked the oldest than any other student in the room complete with a broad stature (at least compared to everyone else) and grizzly-like facial hair and the other one who followed suit (#2 I assume) is about the same height as #1, but is clean-shaven and had blond hair in contrast to #1's black haired counterpart. Those two look around 20 years old in comparison to the 18 and 19 aged guys, primarily 16 and 17 aged girls, and me at 16.
"These two will help me perform the lesson to you all. Don't get distracted just because two of you simply are not there." Lowe explained.
It turned out most of these lessons involved stretching then applying basic punches and kicks I felt like I'm in one of those home exercise videos and copying their moves. The stretching and basic attacks I had no problem with as I usually do them in Gym during warm-ups, and watching Lowe acting all drill sergeant on us reminds me of my own teacher.
Great, something from home I don't want to imagine. I thought wistfully, practicing my side, front, and back kicks in that order following the rest of the class. I find it amusing, glancing left, as the guys in the back were more focused staring at the girl in front of them and making perverted faces than training. Fortunately for them, Lowe didn't take notice nor did the two guys with them (although they look like frilly little ballerinas practicing those kicks like that). After some alternate punches, Lowe told us we're at the last lesson for today, Sparring.
"Alright now since we have a new student today. Will you two spar one on one for everyone to watch, maybe they can take notes based on your performance." Lowe advised #1 and #2, who obeyed his order. The rest of us and Lowe sat by the side of the huge mat, careful to not open the door outside, and watched as the two went near the center of the mat. They stood facing each other, bowing first, and assumed fighting stances.
#1 turned to the side and spread his legs with the right leg forward and hands closed up to his head while #2 did the same. The girl next to me, the same one I asked for advice at the beginning of class, told me to remember that stance as it was the universal fighting stance. I could practically feel the tension of the other classmates beside me and from the two combatants. It seemed as though those two are pretty strong rivals or something.
"Begin!" Lowe called the start of the sparring match.
The two were at a standstill, maintaining that pose for what seemed like hours. Until, at last, #1 (screw this I'm calling him Grizzly) leapt towards #2 (calling this one Gold) with a left straight punch. Gold dodged to the side and brought his front leg up at Grizzly's face, sending him backwards. Grizzly reacted in time and caught the mat beneath him with his hands and back flipped to gain some distance. It was Gold's turn to take the offensive, he swayed side to side to keep his movements random and fired an array of punches and kicks that looked similar to breakdancing, complete with a helicopter-like kick barrage and everything. Grizzly dodged them all and caught Gold's leg, flipping him onto the mat.
All we could do as sideliners is sit back, mouths gaping and eyes in disbelief, as the two duke it out Dragon Ball style. They still moved at humanly reasonable speeds but their reflexes seem unparalleled to each other, like a complete balance of Yin and Yang in the world. Grizzly fought with a practical and standard fighting style enhanced with his speed while Gold counters with a completely unorthodox style reminding me of that one show I watched.
What was that show again? Oh forget it, how's Lowe reacting to all this? He acted pleased, if a little amused by the smirk he's showing. Damn is he the master, acting all confident and stuff. How did these guys seriously get shoved to the background so quickly?
"Calculations show that Mr. Tiger is fighting at 70% max power, 50% agility, and 100% cockiness." I felt somewhat alarmed as the girl next to me whispered in a robotic tone to herself (she looks pretty cute up close with the ponytail and everything). "Mr. Dragon is fighting at 60% max power, 80% agility, and also 100% cockiness. Analysis complete, now downloading." She closed her eyes and remained motionless, probably not noticing I heard her.
Not that I want her to think I'm a stalker or anything, but what the hell was that thought just now? That drove my attention away from the fight and onto the girl. Up close her face looks perfectly proportioned on that snow white skin of hers. She reminds me of someone else, but I can't…grasp…the idea.
Mr. Tiger? Mr. Dragon? Why is she suddenly more formal and why refer to them as animal metaphors of the Yin Yang? Why do I get the feeling she isn't like the rest of us? Actually why does she suddenly start talking, or rather in a monologue, longer than a deadpan one liner? The thoughts slowly formed in my head as her eyes remained closed. Good thing everyone else was too busy focusing on the fight, because us two sat near the front and I didn't hear any calling of "What the hell are you doing man?" or "Stop staring at her you pervert!".
The fight reached its conclusion in a draw, right as the girl next to me opened her eyes. Both "Mr. Tiger" (the unorthodox Gold) and "Mr. Dragon" (the orthodox Grizzly) lay on the mat exhausted, ending the match. All the students and Lowe applauded them for the fight, praising them for their abilities while the smart kids (all wearing glasses) gave them tips in order to improve.
I didn't pay attention to any of that, instead focusing still on the strange girl. She reminds me of another character in Elsword named Eve, the Queen of the Nasods. All that pinpoint calculating going through her head with a whispered deadpan voice.
After promising to spend the next day sparring due to today's class being cut short, Lowe dismisses the class to do whatever in the camp. Weird. I thought. Why end class now? The moon just came up. My fellow classmates just shrugged it off and started chatting about the stolen El Crystal.
"Did you hear of the group of bandits that were here earlier today?" I overheard a group of two, a boy and a girl, talking to each other as I stretched.
"Yeah, I heard they stole the El in the early morning when we were all still asleep." The girl replied. Now that I remember, it was sunrise when I first got here. That explains my slight drowsiness when I first got into this world.
"Damn thieves!" The boy slammed his fist on the ground in anguish. "If we were awake half of us could've taken those guys."
"Yeah but I heard from the other gossip floating around that the little runt, Elsword was it? He chased after the thieves and came back moderately bruised after a wind-splitting screech."
The boy's eyes widened amusingly at this. "Serves that kid right. The little sibling of the great Elsa can't even handle two measly thieves." I was about to tune out of their conversation, but the girl said something in urgency to the boy.
"Well the Elsword kid found out there was another thief involved, a really big guy named Banthus. He went after the thieves into the Tree of El with a purple girl holding a wooden staff and a green elf lady holding a bow."
Aisha!? Rena!? Why did Elsword try to stop Banthus in his condition? More importantly how did the girls convince him to help him out? I raised an eyebrow forming these thoughts together. As long as the three can handle Banthus it's none of my business.
The girl concluded their conversation by revealing she had sources of gossip, mainly those guys out front whacking dummies. I shrugged at the events that happened the past minute and faced back to the mysterious girl.
She was already looking back at me. I swear not the slightest bit of emotion popped up in her face, only quizzically turning her head in curiosity as I backed off a bit and felt some redness.
"Jeez just warn someone the next time you do that." I sighed, calming myself down.
"I do not understand?" There goes her monotone voice again. "I was simply staring into your face, are humans so flabbergasted about personal space?"
"No it's just that- wait what do you mean?"
"I was only staring into your face before you stared at mine, what any other intentions could I have?"
Yeah… "So what's your name anyway? I'm Mario." I introduced myself, trying to start this conversation from scratch.
"That is none of your concern right now." She replied.
"Well do you have a name you want me to call you? Calling you "You" all the time is just going to be confusing." I asked.
She closed her eyes deep in thought. Why didn't she simply tell her name? The way our conversation was going, she would've been just fine bluntly telling the answer.
Suddenly the outside door got kicked down…right on top of me and the girl (mostly me though, thanks to her ducking without feeling the need to warn me). The impact gave me a bit of a headache, but didn't slow me down as I crawled from under the door and into the eyes of my classmates. All but the girl (typical) were either in shock or in a fighting stance determined to fight. The girl simply pointed behind me with an almost mocking "Ahh.", making me turn around.
I got greeted by what seemed like 50 thieves outside crowding the little training area. I looked back again and counted our numbers, only half of the class, 25, were in the room. Lowe, Tiger, and Dragon all took off somewhere, probably the reason why class was cut short, and the rest of the class were in their dorms sleeping.
I really didn't like our odds here. Is this some sick joke the world put me in, to let someone who barely had any fighting experience whatsoever suddenly band together with people he hardly knows against greater numbers? The boy whose conversation I heard dashed to the thieves first.
"Protect Ruben!" He shouted at all of us, prompting the class one by one to join in in accordance to the thieves preparing to fight. Suddenly we had a brawl in here, only the girl and I didn't join in yet.
I dashed to her side facing the outdoors trying my best to (hopefully) fight and protect her. I can tell this may not end well.
Raven: So who's the girl?
Me: *turns away* I'm not telling you
Aisha: *death stare* You better not replace me
Me: Well-
Aisha: AGING!
Me: SONOFA- *turns old* not...this...again *naps*
Eve: *brings cups of tea* Tea anyone
Everyone but Eve, me, Elsword, and Chung: ME!
Me: why...*snore*...me...
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