Chapter 18
Frisk opened the front door slowly. He felt pure delight, seeing Argus, who was right in front of him. Argus smiled as he saw Frisk.
"Frisk, are you done with everything now? Have you had breakfast yet?" Argus asked politely.
"Y-yeah… I've had breakfast." Frisk answered.
"Oh… I'm sorry if I kept you waiting.."
"No, it's okay. I just finished breakfast."
"Oh okay. Let's go… We got a lot to learn today, Frisk."
Argus turned around and signaled Frisk to follow him. Frisk did exactly that. They navigated their way through Toriel's garden.
"Your energy.. Feels a bit different. I can barely feel any energy from you.." Argus said as they left the garden.
Frisk was frozen at the sound of those words. "Y-yes… I can't use any soul magic… I don't know why."
"You're a peculiar case. I've fought some humans in the past and they gave off a decent amount of energy." Argus said as he looked at Frisk.
Frisk thought about Argus' words and thought about it. It took a moment for Frisk to comprehend what Argus said fully. And then he realized something.
"WAIT!" Frisk shouted, noticing something that Argus said.
"Yes? What is it, Frisk?" Argus asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"You said that I had weak energy! I never thought I had any energy." Frisk answered in an excited tone.
"Well, yes. You do have some Soul Energy in you. But it's only a small amount of it."
"Is that why I can't create stuff like other people do?"
"Probably yes."
Frisk was hopeful for once in his life about his abilities. He was finally going to learn how to fight to protect himself from Flowey and the Royal Guard. This would be his first step on finally getting into Special Forces. There was silence for a few minutes.
"You okay, Frisk?" Argus asked after noticing that Frisk was in deep thought,
"Yeah.. I'm alright..." Frisk answered as he smiled at Argus.
"Okay then…. I'll take your word for it." Argus said as he looked at the road in front of them. "We're close. We'll reach the training area soon."
Frisk wondered why they would have a training area at first. But as soon as the fight between Flowey and Daz and Dolo came to his mind, he figured that it was probably necessary.
A few minutes later, they reached the training area. It was a clearing with broken stone tiles, with some vegetation growing on them. There were a few training dummies there as well. There were also a few target boards there as well. It was a huge area. Frisk was amazed to see a training ground for the first time.
Argus glanced at Frisk and smiled. Argus figured that it was Frisk's first time at a training area. He thought about what Frisk had said to him earlier. Of all the humans that he dealt with, Frisk was a special case. He had the confidence to train Frisk and teach him how to use soul magic. However, it was easier said than done.
"Shall we start then?" Argus asked as he prepared a dummy.
"Yeah, I'm ready. I can start at any time!" Frisk said in an excited tone.
"Okay, before you actually fight, try to call forth your soul energy. It should be possible." Argus said as he moved closer to Frisk.
This made Frisk remember what he was asked to do in his Soul Arts class. He tried his best to call forth his soul energy, but he miserably failed at the time, and all the kids in his class laughed at him for not being able to call forth his soul energy. Everyone was able to do it in his class except him.
Frisk concentrated on the palm of his hand and tried his best to call forth his soul energy. He stood in the same place for 15 minutes, trying to do it. But nothing happened. Argus grew curious of Frisk's condition. "Why isn't he able to call forth that power inside him? I clearly feel a small amount of soul energy from him. He should be able to call forth his soul energy even if it's a small amount." Argus thought. Frisk, however, did not give up. He still stood at the same place, with his full concentration on calling forth his soul energy. Argus admired Frisk's spirit.
"Okay, stop.. I think you need a check-up before you can train, Frisk." Argus said with a curious face. "You seem to have... uh… Some condition that prevents you from being able to bring your soul energy out at will…"
"Yeah, this is what happens whenever I try to do this. Nothing ever happens..." Frisk said with a disappointed look on his face.
Argus realized that Frisk was disappointed in himself. Argus searched for words to comfort Frisk far and wide, but he could not find any. If he tried to comfort Frisk, he would be uttering words that he was not confident in.
"I think you need a check-up, Frisk. But I am no scientist, so I can't really tell what's going on with you. Looks like we have to control the soul energy that's coming out of your body." Argus explained.
"How do we do that?" Frisk's expression changed almost immediately.
"Hmm, first, you need to display some of the physical skills you have. We need to determine the extent of your physical power." Argus said with a hopeful smile.
"Okay let's do it!"
Argus summoned a fly-shaped bullet and prepared to shoot it at Frisk. Frisk flinched at the sight of the bullet.
"Let's see what you got, Frisk. I'll be shooting you with these. Show me how good you are at dodging." Argus said in a serious tone.
"Wait wait wait! Aren't we gonna see my current physical strength?" Frisk asked as he prepared himself.
"What do you use to dodge?"
"What?"
"What... do.. you... use... to... dodge?"
"Legs?" Frisk answered unsurely.
Argus nodded. "That's right. We'll focus on testing your leg strength first. Then we'll proceed to the next test."
Argus summoned a few more of the fly shaped bullets. Frisk felt a small amount of pressure coming from Argus. Frisk mentally prepared himself.
"Are you ready?" Argus asked as he prepared to fire the bullets at Frisk.
Argus launched the bullets at Frisk as soon as the latter nodded. Frisk focused his strength on his feet as he attempted to dodge the bullets. He was successful in dodging all the bullets with ease. Argus smiled as the bullets disappeared after not being able to hit Frisk.
"That was excellent! You seem to have a good amount of leg strength and you have good reflexes." Argus said as he summoned slightly more bullets than before. "Ready?"
"Yeah, I'm ready."
Argus launched the bullets at Frisk, who was able to easily dodge each and every bullet. Frisk remembered his days of training. Since he could not use any soul magic, he could only rely on physical training.
"Looks like you've trained your body before. You have enough physical strength to advance to stage two." Argus said.
"Yeah, I had physical training on the Surface, since that was the only thing I could do… But…. It's not good enough..." Frisk said in a disappointed tone.
"Don't worry about it too much, I'm sure we can figure something out."
"I hope so."
Silence was in the air for a few minutes. Frisk's disappointment was clear to Argus. who looked at the former.
"So… What's in this 'second stage'?" Frisk asked.
"Well, in the second stage… we simply try to get you to control the small amount of soul energy leaking from you." Argus said after taking a moment to answer.
"Hmmm, why do I get the feeling that it's easier said than done?" Frisk sensed the uncertainty in Argus' tone.
"That's because it is. And not only that, it's extremely dangerous to even try and control that portion of your soul energy." Argus said with a serious look on his face. "If you don't have great control, your soul will be destroyed… You should try to control only a part of this energy. Because excessive use can kill you."
"I see… I knew that it wouldn't be easy.." Frisk said.
There was silence in the air for a few moments. Argus could see the fear on Frisk's face and he had second thoughts about putting Frisk through such dangerous training. Argus never knew about Frisk's condition before this.
"I'm sorry, Frisk but I don't think we-"
"I don't care. Please train me. I have to try, even if there's a chance of death." Frisk interrupted Argus.
"Well, okay then… We need more time on it because you're gonna control a very small portion of your soul energy." Argus explained as he nodded. "It's extremely difficult to control small amounts of soul energy than larger amounts. Because it takes a lot of concentration to do so."
"I see… I get that it'll be difficult. But I accept all the risks."
"Hmm, so we'll start by meditating. You need to first clear your mind. We'll be focusing on meditation today. Being calm is the key"
Frisk had never tried meditating before. But he knew that he would have trouble meditating because he always had something on his mind and it would be hard for him to get everything off his mind.
"Come, I'll take you to the meditating area." Argus said as he signaled Frisk to follow him.
The training area was much bigger than Frisk had expected. There were multiple dummies and target boards there. Frisk was surprised because he did not expect such a large training area to exist Underground. It took a while until Frisk and Argus reached a huge metal gate. Argus took a key out of one of his pockets and opened the gate. Frisk saw a beautiful garden as soon as he entered through the gate. He noticed that the wall that supported the gate looked very old. And there was a small amount of vegetation growing on different parts of the wall.
"Let's go to a good spot. There are lots of spots to train meditation here." Argus said as they navigated their way through the beautiful garden.
They walked until they reached a small clearing in the garden. Argus signaled Frisk to sit down. Frisk sat down on the ground, after clearing the spot.
"Okay now. Close your eyes and clear your mind." Argus said as he sat alongside Frisk.
"Okay, here goes nothing." Frisk said.
Frisk closed his eyes and tried his best to clear his mind. He stayed like that for a few minutes. He did not move a single muscle in his body. It was going well until he had a vision of the scary humanoid figure that he found in the garden. He immediately got startled and his concentration was interrupted.
Argus flinched when he saw what had happened to Frisk. He wondered what happened to Frisk.
"What happened? Are you okay?" Argus said with a worried tone.
"Y-yeah… I think so…." Frisk answered reluctantly.
"Something definitely happened to you just now. I can't help you with your training if you don't tell me anything."
"It's really not a big deal, Argus. I'm fine, I'm okay… Can we continue the training now?" Frisk lied so he could continue the training.
"Fine… If you say so…. But if something happens next time, you should tell me about it."
"Okay, deal."
Frisk closed his eyes yet again. He still could not control his rampaging thoughts about different things. It was difficult for him to stay focused. Agus was able to see it after looking at Frisk's face. He knew that Frisk was having trouble focusing.
"Frisk, calm down… Take deep breaths and imagine yourself in a huge hall, without a single thing. in sight and no sound." Argus instructed.
"I'm trying, I'm trying." Frisk said in a frustrated tone.
Argus understood why Frisk would be frustrated at this point. He could tell that Frisk was trying his best to do it. Argus wondered if he should have cancelled Frisk's training because the risks were great. He knew that if Frisk dies during training, he would face an angry Toriel. He wished Frisk to succeed with all his heart.
Frisk screamed,"AAAAAAAHHHH."
Argus jumped when Frisk wondered what happened to Frisk so suddenly. Argus watched as Frisk collapsed on the ground after he screamed.