Chapter 18: MEETING

The next day started as usual, the talks of what transpired during the contest had already died down due to the tense anticipation of the upcoming adventure. Vondrel attended lecture the next day with nothing unusual happening, it was as if the students and the homeroom teacher Mr Leo had completely forgotten about the contest.

After the day's class, he went to the cafeteria before trying to locate miss Abby's location.

He walked out of the cafeteria after vanquishing the served meal, then instead of going back to his dorm, he went through the alleyway beside the cafeteria and covered his head with his hood. He came out in an open field at the back of the cafeteria, then continued walking around the field, he was following the direction from the indicator given to him by Miss Abby.

Vondrel came across a building, it was built like a small arch, the sides of the small arch, stood two tall buildings. Seeing the indicator pointing at the arch, he went closer and knocked twice on the door of the arch and on the third attempt, the door opened wide. He entered cautiously while the indicator continued pointing forward, he moved cautiously taken note that the door opened itself.

As he walked past the opened door into the arch, a stiffled creaking sound resounded and immediately the doors shut close behind him. A foreboding feeling grip his heart as he looked around, waiting for anything to happened.

'i already guessed that it could be a trap, should I try forcing my way out??' he thought.

'i probably should not, nothing is attacking me right now. But it's better save than sorry ' as he finished his thought.

He heard a loud click after which the floor shuddered. Looking forward, something that wasn't there was suddenly there.

He came across a long stairs that led downward underground, which wasn't there before.

"I can do this" he said to himself. He took the first step on the first staircase. Immediately his leg touched the surface of the stairway, a clanging sound resounded and the staircase moved downward with speed. Making his heart almost jumped out of him.

"Ahhhhhhh....." he screamed but couldn't move because his legs are stucked on the stairway, he continued screaming. Then suddenly the movement came to a sudden stop, a force pushed him forward, throwing him away from the stairs.

'Blergh '

He vomited all the food particles in his tummy, his tummy churning, his eyes blurry.

"Welcome to the 'AUTA' in full ABBY'S UNDERGROUND TRAINING ARCH "

An autonomous tone said to him

"sorry for the sudden movement." A robot came to welcome him.

"What the hell, why will you guys do something like that?" Vondrel complained.

"Like i said earlier, we are sorry for making you uncomfortable on your first visit." The robot replied

"we will try not to make it that fast next time "

"_" ...Vondrel

Gritting his teeth so hard that they threaten to shatter.

"So you're only going to reduce it, you are not stopping it entirely? Vondrel couldn't help but complain

"Won't you just let go, or is that the reason why you're here??" A voice came from behind the robot.

"hmm... " Vondrel hmm'd

"Where can i clean my mouth?" He asked

"Over here " the robot replied

Vondrel went to clean his mouth before he walked straight to the location of the voice, while the robot kept talking by his side. When he got to the source of the voice, he stopped to greet.

"Good afternoon miss" vondrel greeted

"Have your sit and drop all the formalities, so...," Miss Abby replied before being cut off by Vondrel.

"Em....can you please tell this thing to keep quiet" Vondrel said while pointing to the robot irritatingly

"Hey i'm not just a thing, I'm an artificial intelligence and besides, I bear a name. Ohh you wouldn't know. Okay let me tell you my features, I mean, all about me or maybe somethings about me. " the robot began.

"Stelio enough, let my guest be" Miss Abby commanded sternly.

"Yes master" Stelio which is the robot replied

"So why are you here?? " Miss Abby asked as her gaze fixed on Vondrel as if trying to bore hole into him.

"I'm here for obvious reasons, but i have a condition before i agree to be your apprentice, i..." Vondrel answered before being interrupted by Stelio.

"Apprentice? Apprentice?.....why will someone who wants to become a apprentice give his teacher conditions? " Stelio questioned

"Will you just keep quiet and stop interrupting me!!!. " Vondrel said annoyingly as he gave the robot a death stare.

"You don't even have the right to give my master a condition, you are even lucky she wants you to become her student." Stelio shouted, staring back at him.

"What do you even know, i wasn't expecting much from an ordinary machine like you, I'll rather you piss off like the annoying pest you are" Vondrel retorted

"How dare you call me an ordinary machine? I'm a master piece among robots, i do things ordinary robot's can't even dream of doing " Stelio countered as killing intent leaked out of it.

"Haha the hell....you are actually claiming you are one piece of shit, where as you are just something that was being programmed to carry out specific functions"Vondrel replied sarcastically

"Something? Something?.....did you just call me something? I am more better than you in everything " Stelio retorted

"I wasn't talking to you in the first place, must you interrupt?" Vondrel questioned angrily, trying really hard to suppress his anger now.

"Yeah i have the right to interrupt someone who isn't worthy to clean my shoes trying to give my great master a condition isn't that ironic? " Stelio said innocently. You can't tell if it is smirking due to it not having any expression.

"I would have loved to show you that i'm better than you in more ways than you steel head could think of" Vondrel retorted

Miss Abby sat quietly on her chair while listening to their bickers, until she had had enough.

'Bang'

She slammed her table to get their attention, the duo moved their murderous gaze from themselves to her. If she hadn't held back her strength, the table though strong and stable would have being destroyed.

"Stelio you don't have the right to interrupt people, especially someone who is likely to be my apprentice. Do you think someone like that will be unworthy? " Miss Abby questioned

"I'm sorry master, he is just more of a block head than you might have thought" Stelio replied solemnly

" I don't see a reason how he can possibly be your apprentice." He muttered with disdain hinted in his tone.

"What?!!!" Vondrel was furious

"And you....i will agree to your conditions but you have to meet up to my standards before that, i also have my conditions " Miss Abby stated

"Okay shoot your shot, I'm all ears" Vondrel urged, having calmed down a bit.

"it's simple, first tell me what your condition might be " Miss Abby said

"Okay here i go....." Vondrel told her his conditions.

Miss Abby stared at him in silence, her face showing no expression.

"Hmm.... it's simple, I'll just apply my conditions to them too, they will be my apprentice but not my private apprentice, i don't want crowd" Miss Abby stated

"Is that a yes then??" Vondrel asked for confirmation.

Miss Abby simply nodded, promoting him to continue.

"So what's your condition?" Vondrel questioned

"Your friends just have to defeat two levels each of Stelio's trainee, then i will consider them. While you have to defeat four levels before you're able to become my apprentice else i wll kick you all out" Miss Abby stated strongly

"Why four and not two like the others " vondrel asked, ignoring the glare from stelio. He could have sworn that he saw the guy grinning devilishly.

Miss Abby just shrugged and said evenly. "My apprentice have to prove his worth before I can accept him."

"Hmm... Okay. But what are the levels of trainee we are to battle?" Vondrel inquired

"Stelio will give you information about that, and as from now on you won't be able to reach me without Stelio until you become my apprentice" Miss Abby replied

"See....i'm much more important than you are, and i'll surely make things hard for you" Stelio said mockingly

"Till then you may leave " Miss Abby concluded before standing up

"Come with me, I've tons of information to give you" Stelio ordered

"Hey... you don't go about ordering me around, you know? " Vondrel snarled

"Meet me when you're ready block head " Stelio said while walking away

Vondrel looked at Miss Abby's figure which was disappearing from sight before deciding to go with Stelio

"I have to get close to him so i can find out how he is was able to activate the heirloom " Miss Abby muttered to herself.

" I need to make him strong enough to be able to wield it. Otherwise, those geezers would kill him."

"Hey wait up, just tell me everything already I'm starving" Vondrel said to Stelio

"Well... all i want to tell you is.... " Stelio stopped

"Why did you stop? " Vondrel questioned

"Step on that board over there and i'll tell you what you are meant to know" Stelio said

"Hmm" Vondrel hummed as he stared at the robot suspiciously. Seeing that it wasn't ready to proceed without him following his order, he sighed and stood on the board while expecting information about his and his friends opponents.

"Okay...what i want to tell you is that, I'm not telling you anything about my trainee. No advantage for you... get lost. " Stelio stated and immediately pressed a remote he was holding.

Before Vondrel could retort and react, the board moved with speed upward toward the exist. He was flung out of the gate, crashing hard against the ground and sliding further away.

"Damm"

Vondrel gave a stiffled curse as he tried to stand up from his awkward position.

'i will surely have my revenge on the robot'