Stupid guards and their stupid quotes
Quickly crouching and sidestepping his father's downward strike, Cedric grips his blade tightly with both hands to his left, his blade pointing to the ground. Taking advantage of Rodrick's prone position after following through with his strike, Cedric feels as one with his sword. He takes a sharp step forward with his left foot, planting it slightly ahead of his right one. Then, bringing his hands together in a sweeping motion as if casting a net over a river, he strains as hard as he can to pull them to his front. Finally, he slices upwards at his father's abdomen.
Cedric is now struggling to hold his breath any longer. Feeling the blow connect, he exhales and prepares for what is to come, flexing his abdominal muscles. As predicted, his father - the sore loser that he is - lifts his left foot and unleashes a kick towards his son. Cedric receives the famed Bladehart family not-so-secret martial technique "Loving Tap of Lovingness" and is blown back with a shockwave, crashing on his back 15 meters away from the point of impact.
As Rodrick stops to wonder if he had taken it too far, he hears his son coughing and cursing, his words garbled by the coughing fit.
Smiling, he takes a look at his now-ruined shirt. The wound has already healed.
"I must say, I can't wait for the day you'll come back from your adventure to spar once again. The next time, I'll be facing you with my peak-stage gold-rank body. And I'll be using skills."
Cedric, now standing, dusts off his clothes with his hands. Raising his head to glare at his father, he sees a huge, proud smile painted all over Rodrick's face. Feeling that cursing his father would be a meaningless way of getting a further introduction into his so-called "family secret techniques", he instead smiles.
Firing off a properly timed quip, Cedric says: "If you'll still be swinging around that stick with your shoddy swordsmanship by then, I would happily provide you with a proper lesson on finesse and true mastery, for a fee, of course."
Ignoring the comments on his improper use of technique, Rodrick stretches his smile even more. 'If only he knew, I am actually a mid-range spell-caster. Ah, the look on his face. Let's not ruin his moment. If anything, he deserves celebrating a proper victory.'
"Alright, while you're washing up, I'll go buy us some meat from the next town over. Tonight we're having a feast to celebrate your coming of age, albeit two months earlier than I would have liked."
The following morning, Rodrick takes his son to a village situated around 3 kilometers away from their makeshift cabin. Thinking back on his adventures with Rodrick, Cedric realizes they never really stayed on any planet long enough to sight-see. They were always coming and going through the various cities, using teleportation gates to travel the sector. Glancing back, Cedric gives a silent nod of appreciation at the cabin he has called home for the last year.
Upon passing the gate that welcomes them into the village, Cedric watches the surrounding guards salute his father with a fervent gaze containing reverence. He feels both proud of his father and excited in anticipation of starting his journey.
As they move along the worn-down path, surrounded by Victorian-style buildings made of wood and concrete, they head towards the main street road leading to the local teleportation hub. Cedric takes a moment to enjoy the village teeming with life. "Ah, civilization at last," he thinks.
They arrive at what Cedric could only describe as a 20-meter-wide, 60-meter-tall tower built of white marble, speckled with black dots and intricate grooves, glowing blue in a rhythm that reminds Cedric of a beating heart.
They proceed to climb a couple of stairs, and Cedric feels bad for dirtying such a beautiful construct's likewise white marble foundation with his dirty shoes. He notices that the grime left by their footfalls seems to evaporate into smoke, disappearing from view, as though the dirt was but an illusion.
Right as they entered the resplendent building, they found themselves faced with a disinterested-looking clerk sitting behind the counter. The woman appeared short, around 1.75 meters tall, and looked like a young elf halfling. The only difference was their height, shorter cheekbones appearing less sharp, featuring a bit more bulk than their elven counterparts.
The woman grumbled, "Where would you like to teleport?"
Rodrick, puffing his chest proudly, declared, "To the Federation's Grand Sector Station."
The clerk, pointing at Cedric, took a moment to put on her best bewildered look and asked, "Is he applying for the Forge?"
Rodrick, seeing the clerk's reaction, beamed and proclaimed proudly, "Yes, he is-"
The clerk, quick to interrupt: "Yeah, I don't really care. Proceed to gate number seven and wait for it to glow blue before entering."
Chuckling at the clerk's antics, Cedric grabbed his brooding father's hand to proceed over to their assigned gate.
After climbing five sets of stairs, they are greeted with a hallway with a large sign indicating the number 7 leading towards their destination.
A guard stationed at the gate glanced at the father and son duo. Staring at Rodrick, the guard quipped:"Let me guess, Someone stole your sweet roll?"
As his father was about to retort, the gate's blue-colored membrane flashed into existence with a rumbling sound. Cedric proceeded to push his father through the gate, hoping to avoid hearing yet another tirade about guards and their stupid quotes from their stupid prepared quote book.