As Minoru looked around him, he examined the smiling SG members, a frowning Claire, a slightly merry Beatrix, a nervous Sherry and an enthusiastic Rose standing across from him.
Outwardly, he stood utterly stoic, but inwardly squealed slightly, more than gleeful yet another item of his bucket list was fulfilled (okay, the one he had ever since forming Shadow Garden, he was an otaku in a magical kingdom, alright? Who wouldn't want to do one of those ever famous drill scenes?).
"Remember how I said I'll train you up a bit?" At their nods, he grinned, "Well, we finally got a good opportunity for it! Therefore, I'm going to drill you all to high heaven and for that duration, I expect absolute obedience lest an accident happens. Clear?"
Everyone gulps, if determined. Nevertheless, Claire was tense, she didn't exactly mind their training sessions, but that was under the assumption she was the one making the calls in their battles, now that she knows it was the opposite all along…
Sherry had similar thoughts, just how hard was this going to be? Gamma-san's smile seemed strained!
Satisfied with their reactions, Minoru continued, "Good. Now then, the 7 Shades and Nu can train themselves normally in the larger clearing-" Nu looked vaguely disappointed at that where Beatrix wondered if she should tell Aurora how they train "normally" later, her friend was curious about it. Minoru paused, eyeing Gamma's squirming figure, suddenly remembering, "Oh right, while I had earlier given up on training Gamma due to her natural clumsiness, I figured out a way to counter it," he said warmly, much to his subordinate's joy at the care and the other shades eternal relief, "You'll be staying behind when the Shades scatter for that… but for now, focus on making the suit compensate for your lack of balance…"
Gamma nodded, already taking a notebook out of nowhere and writing it down, she's finally going to be able to use her lord's teachings properly! (Nu made a point to herself to double check it)
"The key is that your weight is to be used as a balancing method. To hone said skill, go ahead and go 6 on 1 against Delta. Alpha, stay behind," before they could start relaxing, he dropped that.
Delta just grinned gleefully while the shades looked sick (minus Alpha, who simply nodded seriously and Zeta who groaned out loud), before they regretfully moved away to hone themselves against the lycanthrope.
Not even Eta dared slack, since her master was totally serious, possessing a sudden urge to curse (for she was already crying at the thought of all her precious inventions getting destroyed over having a lifetime of living with Delta).
Turning back to the staring rest, he smiled cheerfully, completely ignoring his oldest friends' slumps. "Considering how none of you will be able to handle the usual training we do, we'll start off easy. Rose, you and Claire will spar without magic," the moment his sis opened her mouth, he grinned, "And I DO MEAN no magic," she pouted while Rose listened intently, "Follow the directions to the anti-magic zone Seiichi's made for this purpose and commence to sparring," as Aethra gave them a map, he turned to his second in command, "Alpha, you'll be in charge of training Beatrix, mainly in the use of her magic- her blade matches yours almost to a tee," she blinked, surprised while Beatrix eyes sparkled, a fight with her niece! "Go as hard as you possibly can. I'll catch up to the four of you soon."
Over a nod, he eyed the only one left and pursed his lips. With Sherry, Minoru had to take care, since she was a beginner, thus he smiled awkwardly at her fidgeting, "Hmm, Sherry, your training will have to be a bit… specialized for now, especially since we only really need you to defend yourself," her shoulders relaxed. "But, for that, we sorta need to start by letting you try out each of the weapons you see here," at her mortified face, he backtracked, mind a hundred miles per second, "Er, we can try another method, but I feel like this'll be easier. You're small and so, having better stealth skills will do wonders and a hidden weapon will probably be good? I mean, it's definitely-"
"Minoru-san, I get it," he turned silent as she smiled bitterly, "I… don't really like weapons, but I'll give it a try. Can we.. Can we just start off slowly? I'm not exactly… muscly," whispered the researcher, slightly red.
He nodded, happier already.
…
Minoru assumed Sherry's eagerness would be enough to keep their cheer, but by god, was he wrong.
A single touch at heavy weapons made Sherry feel unbelievably cold and when she tried to actually carry one, it was so massive the petite girl fell over and a giant domino effect occurred, to the point they had to run to avoid getting stomped by armoury (or getting hit by arrows, why were they everywhere, Seiichi?!).
Then she tried out the longsword, which was dominant in Midgar, but felt uncomfortable swinging it around and nearly cut his arm off. So she abandoned it in favour of a rapier, like Rose… but found that she was too slow for it, and nearly stabbed herself thrice before he finally managed to get it off her determined hands.
This movement slumped the girl as he panicky hid every other fencing-class weapon away.
Next, she tried the smaller version of the sword Beatrix was using, which resembled a katana- Beatrix used what would be called a chokutō. Sherry had her hands on a chokutō kodachi… which she was surprisingly suited to (and didn't cause nearly as many accidents with)... Until she happily tried to hide it in her clothes and he stopped her.
Finally, they found something she really shined with (and actually would be able to hide), so it was decided that she'd use shortswords and daggers.
Sherry took notes on every instruction and repeated movements several times as he drilled her in the basics of both of her chosen weapons, and sparred with him, while he held back to not hurt her too badly (not that she gave him much space. Seriously, did her yandere self somehow transfer over when she used the things?).
Once that was done, she tagged along as he moved to the magic-less zone to see how Claire and Rose were doing. He guessed that without magic to help them, his sister was losing to Rose by a huge margin. This was because Claire's blade was only powerful while taking advantage of the immense physical boost granted by magic. It fell way short of Rose's, which focused on finding and exploiting the smallest of weaknesses found in the enemy. In the long run, Rose would win easily, since ne-san had gaping holes in her defence without magic to bolster herself.
Reaching the zone, he was proven right, as while Rose was simply panting from exertion and wincing at some cramps she'd developed, Claire was riddled with stab wounds and cuts, which forced her down in 7 of their 9 spars (by their report and the video recording that was made of them by Seiichi. The other two were draws.)
As he applauded (and ne-san demanded to know why he looked so damned happy despite her losing, much to Sherry's restrained laugh), he approached a surprised Rose with a gentle kiss.
(Okay, gentle was pushing it, she literally fainted after he finished dipping her. So… oops)
As he tried to wake her up, Sherry awkwardly helped a disgruntled Claire out of the zone.
"Rose," he poked her with his magic, carrying her bridally, "Roseee-kun?" The smoke on her head dissipated, but nope, still unconscious. He gruntled, he can't heal her like that!
Then got an idea, approaching her ear, whispering, "... Ne, wake up, Senpai."
That did the trick, Rose snapping back and after a moment of silence, realisation settled in and she promptly started apologising.
"And I'm so sorry for the inconvenienc-"
"Rose," she paused, "I'm the one at fault here, don't sweat over it, okay?" The drill-haired princess blinked then accepted it gratefully, "good. Now, to what actually matters: you do remember where you were cramped, right?"
"Yes! I get usually cramped when making movements that I'm unused to due to not having the right feeling when developing my blade," she explained.
"Not surprising," Minoru understood completely, having passed through similar stuff before finally perfecting his, "given you're suited to fencing from my old world more than the styles you'd find here," at her dumbfounded face, he chuckled, "Here, take a look at your sword."
She moved it from the hilt as he pointed randomly.
"It's quite a bit thinner than the standard longsword commonly used, isn't it? That's because it's a speed and precision oriented sword, which facilitates stabbing over slashing motions, although it is capable of both. Such swords are called 'rapiers' in my old world. They're known for being especially graceful, thus it also lends to the idea of swordsmanship being beautiful."
"I see," Rose eyed her years-long companion with newfound eyes (and less cramped muscles). "And… this style, are you going to…?"
He gave her an unabashed grin, "Yup, I'm going to teach you the basic stances of , really, you should use both styles as the situation calls for it."
At her excited nod, they began. Minoru would tell her about the movesets and make corrections wherever necessary and soon enough, she grew proficient in the style.
On a sidenote, Minoru taught her a mix of épée and sabre-fencing, since épée fencing targeted the entire body, while sabre fencing targeted only the upper body.
Claire would never change her blade no matter what, so he stuck her with a broadsword and had her use that in the future, his sis gave him a weird look for that one, "... I've been pondering this for a while now, but why do you know how to use so many weapons?"
"Simple- weapon versatility, really. The more weapons you can use, the better. Besides, I don't actually specialize in weapon usage- that honor belongs to unarmed combat- I just like not being boxed in as merely a sword or a spear-person," he said, shrugging.
Before Claire could recover from that bombshell, Rose caused a distraction for him and allowed him to leave, having offered Sherry to spar with her to help her improve, and she'd accepted happily.
(Okay, a training Claire's glare assured him she hasn't let it go, but he'll sort that out later…)
A few minutes after, stopping by Alpha and Beatrix's lesson space, Minoru found Beatrix sparring while using magic correctly. He found himself surprised as while there was still some leakage and slip in control, those were merely growing pains.
He made to go over and comment/praise, but the duo saw him and ran over to ask for his input first… momentarily freezing him as he belatedly wondered whether those two had dog beastkin in their blood before shrugging.
(Nah, that was ridiculous. He managed to taste both their blood before… neither even had traces of the taste of beastkin blood.)
Relaxing, he helped refine an almost cautious Beatrix's blade and started sparring with Alpha, forever proud of her progress and feeling happy at her reddish ears over his head patting.
"You've done really well! You might actually give Aurora a run for her money!" He praised, continuing to pat her. Beatrix pouted, which meant that he also had to headpat her.
Alpha grinned at the sight, then remembered something, "Oh, don't forget to check on the girls. For some reason, I've been feeling a headache for a while now…"
Nodding, he did as told, going to assess the damage with the rest of the shades, and yup. Everyone except Zeta and Delta were grievously injured, he thought it'd be a light spar, but he never imagined such a nightmarish scene.
There were cracks everywhere and the entire clearing looked one second away from collapsing.
Beta was mangled over Epsilon, and Nu and Gamma somehow ended up in a… weird position- Gamma on her face and knees, Nu slumped over her. Both bleeding, though surprisingly enough, it seems Gamma has improved combat-wise, since he can see that she hadn't tripped (her suit didn't have any trace of dust suitable for that conclusion).
And Eta… her face, oh god, just her bawling face and the numerous inventions trashed about.
Understanding Alpha's headache (and already imagining Aethra's face at the damage), he cleared his throat, stopping Delta who was about to pounce on Zeta, "Delta, heel!"
Delta, the wolfy woman that she was, naturally(?) heeled. No, seriously, she literally was on her haunches at his heels. Sighing, he patted her head, "Had fun?"
"Yup! We should totally do this more often!" The resounding moans did not agree.
Chuckling, he smirked at the formerly(?) clumsy shade, "Gamma, how goes the temporary counter? Figured it out yet?"
"Oh, yes!" She exulted in response, having apparently found some measure of positiveness despite the situation, "The way I move when I start falling and then when I try stopping it resembles a drunk person trying to move. I thought this might be what you meant, so I applied that idea and… well… Beta, I'm so sorry for that, but you shouldn't have gotten in the way of my attack." Beta, having got off a groaning Epsilon, waved it away, while smiling a bloody smile.
The blood, ostensibly, was from her own forehead while also missing a tooth, "I don't mind, if that was what it took to finally counterattack Delta, I'll do it how many times it takes!"
Epsilon ostensibly agreed, relaxing while Nu attracted Delta's focus with treats, Eta's vengeful cries being heard.
"Zeta," he turned his attention as well, asking as the chaos resumed, "Have you found your specialty yet?" On seeing her shake her head, he sighed.
Really, could nothing garner her interest?
Wracking his brain for every drop of information available in his head, he muttered, "Maybe she needs to focus on fighting without weapons, but that's sil-wait," suddenly enlightened, he eyed the head tilting beastkin, "Zeta, no weapons. Spar with me."
Nonplussed, she settled into a stance for combat, though felt rather strange at being forced to fight without weapons. And then he was in front of her without any warning, aiming a punch at her solar plexus, that would've hit had she not dodged back. Then she aimed a punch at his face, but he deflected that easily, landing his other fist on the earlier target, making her cough up blood as she fell to her knees. Healing her, he went at it again, this time, she improved, taking in the moves he performed.
As the spars continued, she felt that the attacks were better… and more importantly, her attacks were more fulfilling than before. It even made more sense for her how he moved, and so soon enough, they were trading blows- punches or kicks.
That still didn't give her a single win, of course.
As he helped her sighing self up, he commented, "Welp, no wonder you were that good with weapons… Zeta, it seems that you're like me, an unarmed combat specialist," she looked astounded at that, eyeing her hands as he continued, "In fact, all of you need to stay and learn unarmed combat before you scatter and grow."
He glanced around, even finding Alpha, who'd followed him. She seemed contemplative while Delta pouted longingly at her slime sword laying still. Eta was especially unhappy at that (how will she test things now?!)
While the others seemed at least enthusiastic (or curious like Epsilon), Zeta let out a whole new level of fanaticism…
Thankfully, before that could lead to anything unsavoury, they'd managed to remind her about the whole Diablos thing and she dialled it back down.
Decisions and new methods expressed, Minoru had them all gathered since their training was at an end. With the ones left behind, making decisions of their own.
Klaus sat across from his daughters, a rectangular table between them. Seiichi was sitting away from them, within earshot.
While Alexia tried to keep her focus on oto-sama's words, the dragon's snickering briefly made her want to strangle him.
"Having seen everything so far, I'm afraid my actions might have allowed more harm than good, therefore this will be my verdict, but any mistake must be amended by your own judgement, understood?"
His eldest nodded noncommittally while Alexia solemnly as he started, taking a deep breath.
"Iris… you are a warrior, someone who fights to protect what's important to you. Most specifically, you fight to protect your family and the kingdom. However, there are instances where your intuitions are skewed. Therefore, you must make concessions rather than just allow personal grievances to grow, am I clear?"
Iris hung her head, sadly agreeing. This wasn't the first time her weakness hung on her head, but father was right. She can't stay like this. Which is why she needs to train harder, and prove that she can protect their country, not just from others, but from herself. Even if that meant tearing apart her personal beliefs.
"Yes, recent events made me realise that… stubbornness alone won't accomplish anything, neither do it solo."
"Good, now… Alexia," Klaus turned to his youngest, carefully stating his musings, "You are more of an administrator… although your potential as a warrior is also something noteworthy. However, rather than simply say as much, there is something more pressing. I've… ignored your opinions more than ever considered it, thus I ask you now: How do you feel the kingdom should act in the future? As the future Queen, you must make your decision."
He's been thinking about this for all of the breaks they were allowed and Klaus couldn't think of a better person.
Alexia was stunned, surely this was too early a decision? She did agree to his points, but still! "Father, wouldn't Iris-neesama be the one with precedence, as the older daughter!?"
Klaus simply shook his head. "It's clear that you actually use the information you have to make the right decisions. Not to mention you don't just dismiss things out of hand," he said gravely, Iris biting her lips as Alexia realised the same, meaning, "Your sister may be unsuited for the throne… but she'd be best for Knight Commander. You, however, are the opposite."
His words reverberated in her bones while her older sister squeezed her hands, eyes full of warmth. They said the same thing, thus she contemplated the situation for the first time Alexia allowed it.
Having realised its trueness, she slowly answered, "... It's clear that Seiichi and Aethra support Minoru… or Cid, as he's known in our world. And in fact, it's pretty clear that he's aware of how bad things can be and acts to change it," he may have many loose screws, but that much was true, "Shadow Garden… they would have my full support, even if it has to be tacit," there's no denying their effectiveness, yet the fact remains it's not done for any lost love towards Midgard, "As it is, they only act against the cult, a common enemy. And any expression of control they might have is downplayed compared to their desire to be left unbothered after everything is over."
They nod, they only really kickstarted acting because of their own damn fault. It would only be fair to allow their freedom to act however they want after.
"... Not to mention, Minoru would be my perfect groom if I had any say in it, especially since he'd be more annoyed at having to be in charge of anything than having any greed for power," Alexia whispered silently. Iris raises a brow at her dark chuckle, not having heard it.
Klaus agrees completely. While scared of the pressure the Cult would put on him to let them control the kingdom, allying with Shadow Garden would do no such thing.
The only real issue is how to convince everyone else of it.
And so discussions continue.
As these discussions were ending, Minoru and his "students" returned. He raised an eyebrow, and mentally called out to Seiichi.
It was all fine and dandy to have those discussions, but aren't they forgetting something?
'Shouldn't we discuss when and how I want them to regain their memories?'
'Well yes, but can you relay it over your mind? And how'll you know if it worked?' Seiichi knows Minoru isn't an idiot, but will he really be able to notice it? Especially with how busy he'll be adjusting?
Recognizing the point, Minoru conceds, 'True… okay. Here's what we'll do: Let's have them recite a passphrase to the nearest suspected companion, or one of the nine of us from SG.' Minoru gave the passphrase to him as an implant, whispering:
"We are the shadows that follow."
Seiichi nodded, before he grinned at the rest of them, "All right, you'll be remembering this clearly whenever Mionoru feels it best for you to remember. You'll know what to do once that happens," the 'please contact Shadow Garden and don't be idiots again' was implied. "Note that I may or may not call you back for further viewings, since you need the advantage…" He reiterated as they took it in.
Aethra, feeling immensely drained, had decided to leave early and silently returned to her realm, leaving Seiichi the only one responsible.
Everyone nodded and then were returned to their former situations by different magic circles, their personal notes teleported within, but carefully made blank until notice. Note that Minoru and the 7 Shades, alongside Claire, Beatrix and Aurora did not have this happen to them.
Slightly tired, Seiichi sighed and mumbled to the now empty room, "Now then… who's gonna help me give them the second dose of their future? Aethra felt drained after all… seems she felt it more than she let on…"
Tilting his head to open yet another portal, he left to find a new partner.
AN: AND DONE! Seiichi here! After some time to think about it, Neutral has unfortunately decided that they will not be able to continue co-creating for the sequel. As such, I am opening the floodgates, so to speak. It's an open application for anyone to become the co-author for the sequel. I will be considering each request for the rights. Anyone interested can either PM me here, or comment on AO3- either works. The deadline is 5 June 2024.
That aside, what a ride! I hope this is a satisfying finale for the first season. I'll start working on the sequel in June, so that if the movie comes out in Fall, we'll be hopefully caught up to the anime.
Till then, both of us do write our own individual works, so go ahead and read them!
For the last time, Seiichi and Neutral are Bonkers at the Races!
EDIT: Neutral here, hey! So uh, originally, I started helping Seiichi because I was happy someone asked me to help them with their work for the first time ever, but I myself don't have that much interest in the anime, thus I felt burned out so too speak to continuingly modifying character reactions and felt like my lack of much fuel would hinder more than aid Seiichi. Which is why I told him I wanted off, sorry, but I do think he'll manage to find an even better co-creator who shares his enthusiasm, so fans of the anime please think about it, okay?
