5. Big news

Guess what? It's time for; you guessed it, a new chapter! I feel I am improving slightly as this goes on, but feel free to crush that in any way you see fit and tell me how to do better. I already have someone who read my chapters and tell me how I did, and that is my good friend AgentJX7 (check him out if you like Gravity Falls stories). His input is nice, as he tells me where I need work, but he's a friend, and a nice one at that. I need people who are not afraid to decimate my story and tell me where I can improve. Anyway, enough of my ranting, let's get to the story.

Kodah

Kodah woke up with a splitting headache. He groaned slightly as he rolled over, feeling a dull ache everywhere. He opened his eyes until only a slit of light was let in. 'I feel like I got hit with a truck.'

'What the hell is a truck?'

'Oh it's just…wait WHAT?!' Kodah's eyes flew open, and he sat bolt upright whipping his around to take in his surroundings. He was in a healer's room, an IV slowly feeding in a nutrients and potion mixture. He reached to pull out the IV when he heard the voice again.

'You might not want to do that…' Kodah calmed down and looked around again. His switch axe was resting against the far wall, shining in the light coming in through the glass windows. There were a couple of chairs occupying the right wall, towards the door.

'So,' Kodah thought, 'What happened?'

The voice with no source spoke again. 'Heh, it seems that me using my life source to heal you, kind of… oh how do I put it?' Kodah sighed. "This is great, just freaking great," he muttered. 'So basically our souls bonded and now I've got you stuck in my head.'

'Pretty much.'

'Well joy to the freaking world,' He thought exasperatedly, 'At least we're alive.'

'That's plus side number one.' Shi remarked in Kodah's head. 'Though there may be other side effects to this. Nothing physical, but your senses will be heightened. Your sight has already gotten better than it was before.' Shi was right. Things looked clearer and colors were sharper. He also noted that the curtains on the windows were closed, and the lights were dimmed down, but it still looked relatively light. Partial night vision. Cool. He stood up, his legs shaking slightly from lack of use. 'How long have I been out?' Kodah asked the narga residing in his head.

'About two days. You had a couple of visitors while you were out cold.' Really? Who would want to visit him? Maybe a few villagers and Mr. Thomas, but not many others. 'To answer your question, I believe it was a girl with white hair and bright orange eyes and a purple haired girl with matching eyes, both looking around your age. Also an older fellow with a rather large scar on his arm visited too.' Well that had to be Rika, Macie and Mr. Thomas. He expected Mr. Thomas, as he was a friend of Kodah's old teacher, and his guardian. But Rika and Macie were a bit of a surprise. 'I also remember a few others around your age coming in.' Shi added.

Kodah mulled that over in his head. Others from the academy visited him? He wasn't that popular with anyone there. Well there was no time to worry about that as the door opened and a doctor walked in.

He was looking down at a clipboard and did not see that Kodah was awake. When he looked up, he reeled back in surprise. After a second he regained his composure and smiled. "Well, this is a surprise. We didn't think you were going to wake up for a few more days." The doctor glanced down at his clipboard. "Let me just check out your vitals and change your drip, and then I can let in some visitors. Their waiting outside as we speak."

Kodah nodded, his face as expressionless as ever, and readjusted himself to a laid back sitting position. The Doctor first replaced the IV drip and replaced the needle in his arm. He asked Kodah a few questions, mostly about if he was experiencing any pains. He responded with a simple 'no' and readjusted himself to get comfortable. "You know Mr. Ottonashi; you have a remarkable healing ability. We didn't need to do much at all. And even more surprising is that it didn't leave a single scar."

The Nargacuga smirked within his head. 'You can thank me later.'

'Shut it.'

Shi went silent as the doctor finished his little checkup and wrote a few things on his clipboard. "Alright, I'll send in your visitors." He turned towards the door and was about to walk out until he stopped. "And if I do say so myself, you have two very beautiful young ladies that are very concerned for you. You lucky son of a gun. Just don't waste your shot kid." With that he turned back to the door and walked out.

Kodah sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the quiet. 'You know, for showing little emotion on the outside, you're very expressive in your head.' Kodah remained silent, staring out the window. Shi continued talking in his head. 'I would tell you to get some rest, but that's not going to happen.'

'What do you mean?'

Just then he heard a voice calling in the hall. "Where is he? I swear I'm gonna kill 'em!" Though he remained expressionless, he sweat dropped slightly at his guardian's behavior.

A few days later

Rika

It had been almost a week since Kodah had left in the middle of the class for a hunt. That was almost unheard of except for 4th year hunters. There was speculation to say the least. No one knew what was so import that a student had to leave the class. A couple of students were glad to see him go. Others were not so sure what to think of him. They had all hated him for his uselessness, and they would rather use him as bait rather than a teammate. But things seemed different now.

The day Kodah went out, the class was quieter than usual, everyone just staring forward. Mr. Thomas was also not his talkative, energetic, hunter-like self. Their actual monster biology teacher was out so he had stepped in. He was trying his best not to keep the worry out of his voice as he taught them about large monsters that most of the students would rather not face. One of the exceptions was Blake who despite the solemn mood was his usual bragging self. A few of the students openly glared at him as he stated that he could kill any large monster any day of the week. A glare from Mr. Thomas shut him up quick. He still had the bruise from yesterday.

Only a few hours later, near the end of the class for the day, the 4th year that picked Kodah up came bursting through the door. Needless to say everyone's hearts dropped at the news delivered to them. Well, almost everyone. Mr. Thomas immediately ran out of the room, trying to get to the hospital. The rest of the students ran to the window to get a look at their classmate. It was not a coincidence that the town hospital was across the street from the academy.

Few got a really good look at him, and those few were fighting to get over to the trashcan. Others were simply horrified, their eyes wide and silent. Everyone had kept their mouths shut for the last few minutes of class, and a few hours after.

Now it had been 4 days since then, and Kodah was back. He sat in his usual spot in the middle of the row closest to the window, bandages peeking out from his clothes. Many cast curious glances at him, begging to ask questions, but their teacher forbade them from doing so, saying he would tell when he was ready.

Today was another large monster lesson. Rika tried to focus, she really did. But the warmth of the sun coming from the window, coupled with the fact that it was Friday made it impossible to consentrate. "Ok class, today is going to be a little different," Ms. Kiera, the monster biology teacher announced. Ronan Kiera was a short woman, and looked to be very young, maybe in her mid-twenties. She had red hair that came to the base of her neck on all sides and coming down a little above her eyebrows in the front, which went well with her indigo eyes. She hated her first name and had an explosive personality, literally. She carried a Nargacuga bow and had a set of armor on made from the same beast, with black cat ears instead of the regular helmet, making it hard for some of the boys to concentrate.

The huntress continued to teach the lesson, "We get to see a live specimen of this monster. But not today ." She pointed at the board, a slideshow rolling down to show a monster she had seen before. It was large, green, and ugly.

Ms. Kiera turned back to the class. "Now, can anyone tell me what this monster is?" A few hands raised as some of the smarter kids recognized the monster. She pointed to the boy in the front row. "Yes Mr. Beker? What is this?"

Simon Becker was arguably the smartest kid in the class. He used to be the smartest, no questions asked, until Kodah's notes were stolen, copied, and distributed by the schools proclaimed Info Broker, who was none other than Macie's little sister Cecile Kegan. When students inquired who wrote them from the 1st year, she told them that she had confirmation that it was Kodah.

Simon stood up and faced the teacher. "That is a high level monster known as the Devi-". He was interrupted by a loud yawn next to Rika. She stopped daydreaming and glanced to her right, noticing that Macie had also found it hard to concentrate and had promptly yawned as loud and as long as she could and face planted on the desk, snoring quietly.

Rika was silently raging at her friend for falling asleep again, and was trying to quietly wake her up but it was too late by then. Ms. Kiera sighed and slapped a meter stick against the board, causing Macie to wake with a snort, making the class snicker at her. The teacher simply waited for her to get her bearings, putting the meter stick across her shoulders. "So Ms. Kegan, do you have something to add?"

Macie looked at the teacher then at the small pool of drool on her desk. "Shit," she muttered under her breath, almost so quiet that even Rika could barely hear her.

"What was that?" the teacher inquired knowingly. Seriously, she heard and saw everything.

Macie flinched and looked back up at their teacher. "Uh, n-nothing Ms. Kiera."

After a few silent seconds that felt more like hours of her glaring at Macie, Ms. Kiera started to laugh loudly. "Hahaha, you shoulda seen the look on your face Kegan! Woo hahaha!" Macie started to nervously chuckle along with her. Rika had lost track of how many times Macie had told her that Ms. Kiera scared the hell out of her.

As the teacher regained control of herself, she pointed at Macie, making her flinch again. "Now since you interrupted class, do you care to explain the monster we are currently studying. You were attacked by one last Sunday were you not?"

Rika remembered that day clearly and felt for her friend, but she couldn't suppress a snicker at the horrified look on Macie's face. Monster biology was her worst subject, and it showed. Then her friend's face flashed as an idea came to her head. "I have no idea what it is. I didn't even land a hit on it. But Kodah knows, he was the one who killed the thing."

Instantly, every set of eyes was on said boy, blazing with questions and curiosity. The teacher looked especially surprised. "You killed it?" Kodah nodded. Now Rika was confused. Didn't they know that he had killed it? Looking back she could see the teacher rubbing her face in her hand. "That wasn't in the official report."

Kodah just shrugged and sat in uncomfortable silence, waiting for the others to look away. But they never did, still blazing with questions. Suddenly Simon piped up. "What was it like?" Kodah glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. ""What was it like?" Simon repeated.

Everyone waited in tense silence as Kodah thought. "So?" Simon inquired again.

Kodah looked up, glancing at everyone. "It was… troublesome to say the least." He thought for a moment again. "It is a large, slow beast with thick scales. Due to Its high metabolism, it is always constantly hungry, and will eat anything or anyone." He paused for a minute before continuing. "It is easily provoked. When angered it enters an enraged state, commonly referred to as 'rage mode'. It gains a significant power boost while giving it the ability to use a breath attack that causes dragonblight, lowering your weapon's affinity or removing its elemental status. Basically it's a pain in the ass."

Some students scoffed. If it was that bad then how could a useless hunter like him kill it? But Rika had been there, and experienced the fear of facing something like that. She never wanted that to happen again; being truly useless and a burden. She could tell that Macie felt the same way. She hadn't even lasted a minuet before the thing threw her into the side of a cliff.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds until Ms. Kiera clapped. "Well it looks like you just summed up almost the entire lesson. And yes Kodah, it is a pain in the ass to kill. Now everyone, back to your seats or I will do something I'm not supposed to." Everyone started to walk back to their seats when Blake decided to open his big mouth.

"How could a useless guy like you kill something like that?" Rika saw Macie clench her fist. Oh please don't do something drastic, Macie. That's just asking for trouble.

Rika place a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Please don't do something Macie."

But that didn't stop her, as she jerked her shoulder out of Rika's grasp, stalking up to who she had dubbed 'Annoying Bastard'. "The hell you call him? Useless? That would be you buddy."

Blake recoiled when Macie came into his sightline, angry with him. But then he smirked. "But he sucks at hunting so how could he kill something that big? I mean come on, have you seen his training record?"

Ms. Kiera steeped between them, stopping the argument, or attempting to. "That's ENOUGH you two! Fey, sit down NOW. And Kegan, do NOT beat his face in." As she walked back to the teacher's desk she muttered under her breath, "Just not too badly."

And Blake, pushing his luck as always, smirked and whispered something into Macie's ear. Rika couldn't hear it but it must have pissed her off as she swung her fist and nailed him with a right hook. The sickening thud of bone on bone made Rika shudder. Everyone whipped around to see Macie standing over Blake, with two guys moving in to intercept Rika's friend.

'Darn it Macie,' Rika thought franticly, 'What did you get yourself into?' But suddenly, the 2 of Blake's friends were blocked from getting close by a wall of students. "Where do you two think you are going?" one of the students inquired. "Ever heard of a fair fight?"

But Ms. Kiera would not have any of it. "That is ENOUGH!" Everyone jumped at her voice. "You are ALL going to sit down NOW!" No one wasted time rushing back to their seats, except for those who never left theirs in the first place. "Good. Now I have an announcement to make. Due to the Guild believing that you do not have enough experience with monsters or other cities, they are inviting the school to come to Loc Lac to interact with the different people and hunters. That's right kiddies; you get to go to the big city." She pointed out the window to the courtyard outside. "Meet outside the academy at 6:00 am tomorrow, and wear some armor and your weapon. Only bring a small bag with some changes of cloths and your item pouches."

The bell rang, signaling the end of the day. "Well see you tomorrow kids. You get to see the big leagues."

Well that's a hell of an announcement.

That was not my best chapter. But I just needed to remind you that I'm not dead and advance the story a little. As always I hope you enjoyed the chapter and leave a review.