The Capital was lively and bustling as always, with everyone going about their days and daily routines. The skies were clear, the birds were singing, and the sun was shining. But if you were to look over at the castle, the crown jewel of everything… you'd see something on top of the centre most spire, looking out over all the civilization like a protector, a watchful eye, or an eagle searching for its next meal. Something with elegant wings that people either feared or were in awe of.
But Galacta Knight couldn't care less.
The mythic aeon warrior was overlooking this new world, a place he still was learning more about even three years later. He was a very quiet presence, always observing and learning. Which made him a bit of a feared being amongst castle staff. All of them were worried he'd lash out, tap into his almost primal power and shred the planet.
But the knight never could perish the thought of doing so, especially because he felt so much more free ever since being bested by Caleb and the others. We simply wanted to learn more to better protect his new life.
But he still didn't blame the fear.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and simply listened to the sounds of the city, of the people talking, helicopters flying by, and the wind rustling the plant life. Then, when he felt connected with everything, he pumped his wings and blasted into the sky, creating a sonic boom as he did so. The warrior performed a loop before diving into the city, his speeds unrivalled as he cut through the air.
People in the city paused and looked up in surprise when the knight shot overhead, following the roads to a T. Galacta's reflection followed him as he flew past glass skyscrapers. As he rounded the corner, he saw how he was approaching the mall, and thus the treasury. With no hesitation, the knight flew down lower, with people looking at him in worry, before he made a sharp spike upwards in line with the treasury. Employees inside were none the wiser, but the ever oppressive boss jumped and spilled his coffee as Galacta blasted past his office window.
When he got to the top of the building, the knight flapped his wings and rested on the top of the tower's radio antenna. Relaxing his wings as he stood on the tips of his armoured feet, he looked back out towards the city, listening to all the noise and music once again.
This was how he spent most of his time away from the others, simply to let his wings flex and so he could take in the fresh air because of his unknown amount of time being imprisoned. He was free, he was loose…
And he was happy.
More than happy, he was at peace.
Taking a deep breath once again, he opened his wings to take off once again, only to pause when he felt a presence nearby. A familiar one from the one person who could catch him everywhere.
"Something on your mind, Flowey?" The knight asked as he looked down at what little flat roof there was. Said golden petal flower was looking up at him with a neutral look, eyes glinting with curiosity.
"Just came to check up on ya', that's all", the flower said. "You took off so suddenly that I thought something was going on."
The knight hummed. "I was simply letting my wings breath, Flowey. I still feel as though I am missing so much wasted flight, even after all this time."
Flowey chuckled and looked out over the city. "I get that. Actually feeling the sun on my petals still feels like a dream…" He suddenly turned back towards the knight. "But yeah, I came here to check up on ya'. Oh! And also to let ya' know Warlord wanted to talk to you. Later!" The flower dipped away before Galacta could say anything else.
Blinking at the now empty space, the knight looked over at the castle, and flew back towards it. Only this time he was heading towards the army's hangar, flying over the courtyard as he did so. As he made his approach, the knight cut through the open roof, which was only open during clear sunny days so the trainees could get some much needed sunlight.
Landing in the middle of the training grounds, luckily not interrupting and training regime currently happening, he looked around till he spotted the chainsaw-armed robot pacing as he watched over some soldiers that were practising melee combat on some dummies.
He hovered over, and Warlord looked over. "Ah, Galacta, I'm glad Flowey got to you."
"Yes… How did you find him and know he could find me?"
The robot shrugged as the two of them. "I was talking with Pyro and Viper back in the hallway with my plans for today, and that dang flower just happened to be right there and said you could help me with sword fighting."
That made the knight's eyes glint a bit in curiosity. "Sword fighting, you say?"
Warlord let out a loud laugh. "I knew you'd be interested! See, I was thinking about Master Caleb and Gladius' skill with melee altercations."
"They are very reckless", Galacta said firmly. "But I don't blame them. Gladius never had a chance to be free, and Caleb is still young who never needed to know." A pause. "I'm assuming you want me to help them learn?"
"That is correct, but not just them. I was also planning on getting others involved who have some knowledge on that form of combat, and since you were already a legendary swordsman, I felt it was appropriate to get you involved."
"I admire the foresight." The knight paused for a moment, then nodded. "Very well, I'll help you with this. Mainly for the boy's sake, but a part of me has been getting somewhat craving to unleash some of my might."
"Excellent. I'll talk to Skye and see if she can set up an isolated, outdoor area for us, and you'll go and get the others." With a salute, Warlord marched off, dismissing his current class before heading elsewhere to find the fellow general. Galacta chuffed out a half laugh, and started to make his way into the castle. Heading into the halls, he found his wings subconsciously folding in, a tick he adapted since coming here.
Turning corners, the knight occasionally passed by castle staff, the variety of reactions just as he expected. It still did. Hurt him deep down, but he never let it show. Mainly because he didn't know how to. Emotion wasn't his strong suit.
As he neared the main hallway, he slowed to glance out at the city and simply observe. While it wasn't like flying above the whole thing, this was still a lovely view that showed how much history this place had.
Blinking, he returned his focus on his task, and entered the main hallway. The others either could be heard in their rooms, their open doors helping with that, or were lazing in seating that was recently put out in the corridor.
As he passed by Iris playing with Bugsy and Hydra, the cyclops paused and looked over at him. "Whatcha' doing, Gal?" She asked.
The knight stopped and looked over at her, the nickname always filling him with warmth. "I was looking to assemble our fellow sword fighters for a special round of training."
"Ooooooooooooo!" The cyclops said in excitement. She jumped to her feet, eyes filled with stars. "Can I join you?!"
The knight blinked a bit in surprise. "You wish to join this?"
"Yeah! Ever since Maria told me about the stuff she learned at her school, I've always wanted to try and practise with a sword!" She started to pretend swing an invisible blade, making lightsaber sounds as she did so. Galacta watched with mild amusement, his eyes glinting.
"Very well, you may join us", he said with a light bow. Iris looked over at him and started celebrating, with Bugsy and Hydra joining in. "Now, where is Caleb and Gladius?"
"Oh, they're in the Rec Room. I think Gladdy said one of the eggs was going to hatch soon?"
With a bow, Galacta left the cyclops and two Pokémon, and headed into the main hangout spot. Looking around the room, he saw his two friends at the table that had the two eggs resting on it, the heat lamp still functioning properly. He hovered over, the boy not reacting at all.
"What brings you here, Galacta?" He asked, glancing at his friend with a tired smile. "As you can tell, just waiting till Viz finally hatches."
The knight glanced at the green and pink egg, and saw how it was wiggling a bit with a few cracks on the shell. The other egg had a few barely noticeable cracks, but was otherwise no closer to hatching. "I see… You think it'll hatch today?"
"Maybe… I hope…" Caleb sighed and leaned back in his chair, Gladius hovering over the two eggs almost like a mother bird. "How come you're here?"
"I was looking to bring you and Gladius along for a little something. Warlord decided to hold a special sword fighting class with you two and others with similar skills. He wished for me to assist with the teaching."
Caleb blinked, looking towards the egg thoughtfully. "That sounds fun… Sure! I'll tag along! What do you think, Gladius?"
The sword hummed in thought. "Where will we hold the training?"
"Warlord didn't have a location set up", the knight explained. "But he does want it to be outside somewhere, isolated to avoid any bystanders getting harmed."
"Then I'll join as well. It will be good to get out and exercise, practise up our skills for when times call for it." Caleb nodded when the blade looked at him, and Galacta nodded at them both.,
"Very well. I'll meet you at the hangar then." He bowed then left, Lethe boy watching him go before turning back to the egg. It was shaking more, and the cracks were bigger, but still didn't seem ready.
"You think we should bring Viz' egg with us, Gladdy?" He asked his companion. "I mean, if they hatch, then it's just perfect because, you know, Sword Of Justice and all."
Gladius hovered beside him, glancing at the hopping egg. "I suppose we could. If we set up a spot for it with some shade, then it can 'watch' us, in a way…" He jumped in surprise as the egg jumped happily in response, seemingly aware of what was said.
Caleb let out a laugh and stood up, taking the egg and hugging it close. "Looks like that answers our question! C'mon, we'll snag some stuff in the hangar."
The two friends left the room, leaving the others still there to watch their movie in peace. But unaware to them all, the other Legendary egg shook and cracked a bit more, the winds outside picking up speed a bit…
Heading down the hall, Caleb just barely caught a glimpse of Iris running around the corner ahead towards the army training facility, so he picked up his pace so he wasn't the last one. He'd let Gladius hold last place.
~X~
In the hangar, an hour-ish later, Galacta looked around at all of the participants of this special lesson. Jenny, Manolo and Maria were stretching as a form of warm up; Gladius hovered around absentmindedly; Caleb (who was still hugging the egg close) was talking with Iris, who was holding the blankets and umbrella for the egg's outdoor spot; and finally, Courtney was surprisingly tagging along, more curious about swordplay since the princess challenge in Total Drama Action.
The knight nodded slightly to himself, impressed with the turnout. He honestly felt no one would join, but when Caleb joined it was easy to convince the others.
As they all waited there, the sound of a truck horn made them all jump. Looking over towards the open hangar door, they saw Warlord sitting in the back of an army pick-up, waving all the participants over.
"Here up, everyone!" He hollered. "I want to make sure we have a good amount of daylight for this, so the sooner the better."
The group all started to make their way over, the seven students all grouping up. "I'll be honest, Court", Jenny began. "You and Iris wanting in on this is surprising."
The Ex-CIT blushed a bit. "Well… Ever since World Tour, I felt I needed a better way to let out my anger. Gwen pointed it out, how I'm really…"
"Abrasive?" Manolo said bluntly.
The Type A sighed. "Yes. And too controlling. She used how I was in Action and after Greece as prime examples, and after my last time butting heads with Zomboss, she suggested I should take something else up that's more in tune with what I need. And this is exactly what I need! But if it's not sword fighting, then maybe some kind of martial art."
"You did body a freaking shark for your final Action challenge", Caleb said with a smirk. "And you took on Sierra in Greece!"
"Eva's also helped me out a bit too", Courtney admitted with a smile.
"What about you, Iris?" Maria asked the cyclops, drawing attention to the two of them. "How come you're tagging along?"
"Okay, well, I told Gal this already, but I just want to be cool like you guys!" Iris said happily. "And I feel like it's be cool to add to my skill set. Imagine the stunts I could do with a sword!"
The others all paled at the idea, but just smiled in a forceful manner at her. "That;s great, Iris!" Caleb said in a faux happy tone. "We'll definitely be looking forward to it!"
She beamed back and skipped ahead, holding the material's for the egg's spot tightly. When she was out of ear shot, the group all shared horrified looks at what this could entail, and simultaneously swallowed nervously before speeding up to catch up.
When they reached the truck, Manolo carefully helped Caleb up and into a seat, while the others all followed right behind. When they were all situated in their seats, Warlord waved his chainsaw off the side, and the truck started moving forward. Sitting at the spot closest to the head of the vehicle, he reached the others, who were all looking at him expectantly.
"Alright!" He began, his voice living up to his title. "Skye is letting us use a special training ground beyond the first few hills exclusive for outdoor practice with things involving more… volatile abilities and such."
Galacta remained stoic as always, Jenny nervously giggled, and Caleb and Gladius shared a look of uncertainty.
"But it'll be perfect for us! So, when we first get there, I'll let you all get loose and warmed up before we start the first round. Then, after we'll have ourlunch break, and then the second batch of lessons."
"There's food stuff over there for us?" Manolo asked. "Is that something you requested?"
"Something like that. There's a smaller hangar there with a cafeteria, so our food is covered."
"Sounds great!" Marco suddenly shouted as he poked his head from the top of the tarp over the group.
Everyone minus Galacta let out a startled scream, before looking at him in silent shock. "Marco, what the hell?" Caleb said bluntly, heart racing. "Where… What… HUH?"
"I overheard you guys were doing some sword practise, so I decided to tag along", he said, climbing in and sitting between Galacta and Jenny. "I was Star's knight for a while, so I know a thing or two about this sort of stuff."
"You two still did that?" Galacta mumbled.
The Safe Kid blinked, his smile falling into a neutral look. "Yeah. It was the best we could so I could still stick around and stuff. So I learned a few things, and felt this was a good time to get out of the castle and just help my blood pump."
"Still, you could've not given us all heart attacks", Maria scolded. The boy simply smiled sheepishly, making the wooden woman roll her eyes and shake her head, leaning against her husband. "How'd you sneak on anyway?"
"I was already in the hangar to just check out what kinds of swords they had a while ago, saw a few missing, overheard Galacta and Warlord talking, and decided to stow away to act as a kind of surprise factor."
Caleb blinked, then levelled him with a flat look. "Majima taught you that, didn't he?"
Marco's eyes widened, and he cleared his throat. "He might've…"
Jenny snorted, Iris giggled, Manolo shook his head with a smile, Courtney's blank expression didn't even twitch, Maria mumbled something about yelling at Majima later, Warlord laughed wholeheartedly, and the boy and sword duo both made an eye rolling motion. Galacta simply remained silent as he took it all in, his eyes glinting with a slight happiness.
As the truck took a more rustic road that led out of the army's personal town next to the castle, Caleb found himself looking off towards the endless rolling green hills. It was cathartic and somewhat weird with how empty it felt, almost like the Capital was just planted down randomly one day.
Looking ahead as the truck made its way over one of the hills, he could see another fence topped with barbed wire in the distance. It looked a bit barren, with it just being a singular metal hangar in the back of the dirt patch. It was… bizarre, to say the least.
The gate into the area opened for the truck, and when it parked the group all climbed off. Looking around, the place was empty like it was from the distance, but there were some extra sheds, a watch tower, and a few trees with benches.
"I was told this was originally planned to be a part", Warlord explained as the truck headed to an open garage. "But when plans fell through, they made it an extra training ground!"
"That's interesting…" Jenny said offhandedly. She walked off to take a better look around, which was a sign for all the group to break off. Caleb, Gladius and Iris headed towards one of the trees and set up a comfy nest for the egg. When it was set up, Caleb looked at the shaking egg with a smile.
"You excited for when it hatches, Caleb?" Iris said with a giddy look.
"You bet, sis", he said happily. Soon we'll have another face to add to our little group."
"Pft, little", Gladius said as he crossed his wings. "If you say our family is little, then I don't want to know what happens when we gain double the members in the future."
"Oh you shush." The boy gave him a smirk, with the trio all letting out a laugh. It was just then when a loud whistle pierced through the air, making them look over towards Warlord.
"Everyone, line up!" He barked out. The others all shared looks and made their ways over, lining up as told. Beside the robot general was the aeon knight, who was watching everything with a careful eye.
"Alright!" The general began. "We're going to start simple and slowly go up from there. So, first, let's see what each of you can do."
He walked to the side and let Galacta take the centre stage, and the Knight pulled out his lance and pointed it at the students.
Manolo was the first one who walked up, and both he and Galacta partook in a short demonstration fight. The musician was fairly good with his two blades, especially thanks to his fight with Chakal. The others watched with rapt attention, with Maria clearly trying not to kill the mood by cheering on her husband.
After a moment, the two stopped when their blades clashed a final time, and Galacta nodded. "Very good, Manolo. Your father taught you well. Maria, you're up next."
The woman nodded and walked up, shooting her husband a smile before taking out her own blade and readying up. The group watched as she fought with Galacta, she was more elegant, but still had that edge to show she wasn't just a trimmed rose. She was graceful yet with a certain kick that helped her stand firm.
Manolo smiled and nodded as Maria fought the knight, proving her skill tenfold. When the lesson concluded, Galacta nodded and gestured for Jenny to move up next. The teenage robot did so, and had her hand transform into a gleaming sword. She clashed with Galacta, her battle prowess focused more on broad heavy swings rather than the smaller, quicker strikes of the Sanchez'. It was fascinating, and Warlord, who stood off to the side, nodded while his arms were crossed.
Slowly, the others all showed off their skills, which ironically was in order of skill. Marco was next, and he was pretty good himself. All his time in the Neverzone definitely paid off.
Courtney and Caleb were okay, with the latter somewhat assisted by Gladius. But they weren't great either, being fairly sloppy and uncoordinated. So they both needed work.
And when Iris threw her temporary sword, forcing all the others to duck and cover, Warlord and Galacta decided she'd need some more time than the others.
So the lessons started, which were fairly standard for the topic. Proper posture, hand and eye coordination, the different types of blades, all of that. It was slow, but it was kinda fun. Courtney was the most invested with the history side, Iris liked the flashy moves, and the others… Just kinda followed along.
Even with how smooth things were, there were a few hiccups here and there.
"Okay, no!" Maria barked, storming over at Warlord and getting between him and Caleb. "If you think Caleb taking you on is a good idea, forget it!"
The general scoffed, his chainsaw revving dangerously. "Maria, please. This is natural when it comes from training this sort of stuff. When I was built, I had all the necessary programs installed to ensure training regimes went perfectly."
"Yeah, and shredding Caleb apart with a chainsaw is exactly what you need to do." Maria crossed her arms, glaring at the robot fiercely. "You aren't laying a finger on him."
Warlord seemingly puffed up and stood tall, just barely over the height of the wooden woman. "Maria, I understand your concern, but just let me do my job."
Maria's glare became harsher, and the others all shared looks expecting a fight to break out. Caleb took some nervous steps back, Manolo standing in front of him protectively. Things were dead silent for a while, the woman and robot glaring at each other in such a way, the others were somewhat panicked the slightest thing would set them off.
And then Manolo took a single step forward, and the two glaring adults drew their weapons and aimed them at each other. The tension in the air became suffocating as a fight was directly gearing to breaking out. Things were getting out of hand, so Galacta got between them.
"Both of you, enough", he barked, holding his lance between them like a gate. "Fighting like this won't help any of us. Part of being a strong sword fighter is patience and understanding. So stop this now, and we'll deal with it later."
Maria shot Warlord one last glare, and put her sword away. She marched towards the small hangar, grabbing both Manolo and Caleb's hands, dragging them off away from the general. The others all shared looks and followed after them, leaving the robot and knight on their own.
"They;d be tried for treason for talking back to a superior officer", Warlord grumbled as he stormed off in the opposite direction, ready to get training dummies set up for the next lesson.
Galacta's eyes flashed with a rare anger. "They had every right to criticise your awful idea. Caleb isn't invincible, and your idea would have gotten him horribly injured, if not killed. It was reckless to even think it was good."
"Yeah, I get that", the robot spat back, shooting the knight a brief glare. "But it's what my men go through when they're training. It's to make their resilience better."
"But is Caleb a machine like them?"
Warlord paused, his body still as a statue. "Doesn't matter."
Galacta glared at the robot, but did nothing. "If you try to do that again, I will not hesitate to stop you."
With that final note, the knight left after the others, passing by the egg which was shaking even more now. Warlord turned around and watched him go, his stern expression giving way a bit for guilt. He let out a sigh and went back to working on the next lesson, trying to clear his busy mind of anything foolish.
But it was hard to shut down your intended programming…
~X~
After the group returned from lunch, they all were assigned their own training dummy to practise their swings on. Warlord paced behind the dummies, barking out tips for good form and less spent energy, which was making the others more effective. While Iris was struggling the most, she was slowly getting a hand on things.
During a few times she would really struggle, Galacta would hover over and help her with a gentle voice. The others all there noticed how the knight seemed more relaxed with her, wondering if there was a sort of mentor bond growing between them.
But no one let it distract them. They simply let the idea pop away as fast as it came, their dummies taking on plenty of damage as the training continued. Warlord nodded happily, but he was still not happy that his earlier training was disturbed. He had this all planned in his head, dammit, and he'd do what he needed to!
So, when an hour passed, he walked over to Caleb's dummy and shoved it aside. Galacta watched him with a dangerous glint, but the general didn't move to act.
"Now!" The robot barked. "I want you, Caleb, to take a swing at me."
The boy looked a bit nervous as he glanced at Gladius, but did as he was told. Warlord clashed his chainsaw against Gladius' blade. "A good tip is to always expect the unexpected…"
Before anyone could react, Warlord delivered a swift punch to Caleb's gut, making him wheeze in pain. The others all gasped as the boy staggered back.
"Warlord, what the heck!" Marco cried out. "Why did you do that?!"
"To teach you all to not expect fights to always go your way!" The robot barked back. "Life isn't easy, get used to it!"
"But you didn't need to hurt Caleb like that!" Maria screeched. "What happened to always serving him and keeping him protected?!"
Warlord was dead silent as he gave the wooden woman a blank look, before turning back to the wounded boy. "You'll understand my reasoning after I finish this lesson." The general walked closer to the boy, his chainsaw revving up…
Only to be sent flying back when a burst of green kicked him square in the chest. Everyone gawked at the sight of a green elk-like creature standing in front of Caleb protectively, her eyes glaring at the robot viciously. Looking over at the egg… They saw it was just a shattered eggshell now.
Caleb smiled weakly, still recovering from the blow. "Nice of you to join us, Viz." Viz let out a cry, then glared at Warlord. The robot growled, but before he could even say anything else, the legendary kicked him again with her powerful hind legs, denting his body and sending him to the ground.
"Okay, honestly…" The robot said weakly. "I deserved that." He huffed and sat up, looking at the Pokémon warily. "I can tell when I crossed a line."
"Zomboss should really mess with your programming…" Courtney mumbled. "Just so this doesn't happen again."
"Maybe he should…" Warlord sighed. "Okay, yeah, lessons done for the day. We can head back now."
The robot stood up and headed to get a driver for the truck, leaving everyone else to start giving their attention to Viz.
"She's beautiful…" Iris said in awe. Viz smiled and leaned down, sniffing the cyclops and making her giggle.
Caleb smiled as Maria checked him over. "Are you okay, mijo?" She asked in concern.
"I'm fine, Maria…" He said with a light smile. "I'll just be a bit more careful around Warlord."
She hummed in uncertainty. "I don't think any of us are going to let him get any time alone with you. Frankly, after today, I trust Vec so much more…"
"Yeah…" Manolo said as he brought the two of them into a hug. Gladius wiggled his way in to feel included. "Hopefully this doesn't happen again, though. Because if it does, I'm turning Warlord into a pile of scrap."
"Save me some of that", Gladius said. "Felt so insulting to be tricked like that. I know Pyro and Viper will tear him a new one for that."
"I'd watch that", Courtney said flatly with a raise of her hand.
Caleb huffed out a laugh, and looked back at Viz, who was soaking up all the attention Marco and Iris were giving her. But as he did, his eyes caught sight of Galacta heading over to assist Warlord with the truck. Sure, today wasn't perfect, but no day is.
And despite it all, he wasn't afraid of Warlord. Just… hurt. And a bit confused. But things would work out in the end. Just needed some time, is all.
After an hour, the group were all on the truck and on their way back to the castle, with Warlord at the back this time. Caleb gave him a sad look, and walked over to him. With everyone else in ear shot, he knew it'd be okay.
"You okay, Warlord?" Caleb asked.
The robot sighed. 'Just thinking, that's all. I guess even though I was built here, my world's programming still makes me no better than a swearing, snarky mercenary."
The boy smiled and pat his chainsaw arm. 'We'll help you, Warlord. It'll be okay."
"I know, I know…" He glanced back at the others, who weren't fully paying attention. "I just hope Maria doesn't gut me when we get back."
"I'll talk to her." The bespectacled boy walked off back to his seat, looking back out and smiling as Viz pranced beside the truck, Iris cheering as she rode the legendary's back. Today was good.
Galacta watched it all, and under his mask, he smiled.
~X~
Chapter 7 is done! Some sword training can't go wrong, especially since we got some Galacta focus. I loved the stuff I did at the beginning with the knight's flight over the city. Atmospheric writing like that is so fun to tackle.
But yeah, this was a nice chapter to get done. Same old, I always say the same stuff in these author's notes LOL. So yeah, hope you all enjoyed this chapter, hopefully I get the next one out before Halloween (Life is just really busy at this point).
Up next: Purdy goes on an adventure as Maple, Z-Tron and the Pokémon have to chase after her so the city doesn't burn down…
~Caleb~