Sparring

Platoon 3A in room 5 was humming with busyness at 0500. The sun wasn't even up yet. The four men were getting ready for their first day as soldiers, not students, not children.

Unforeseen circumstances have forced the seniors of high school to put away their childish ways of thinking. At any moment they can be given orders that could put their lives in jeopardy. When your life is held in the balance, you grow up or die.

Eric walked into the restroom to brush his teeth. Smith was already there brushing his teeth. Eric went to the sink next to him. Pull out his toothbrush and put toothpaste on it. He wet it, and just before putting it into his mouth, he looked over to Smith.

"We need to talk about yesterday. About the fight," Eric said quietly, so Hurst and Vincent wouldn't hear him.

Smith didn't say a word. He nodded his head with a sad look. He was hoping since the day passed and Eric didn't say anything that it could just be forgotten. But he knew that was a long shot.

They were all standing in the bedroom, placing their sabers and sheaths on. They also made sure their private rank patch was on their uniforms. This was symbolic to show them they are no longer students or children anymore. The feeling was surreal to them now standing there.

Hurst didn't say a word and went straight to the door. He didn't talk much. He was always the person who was silent and observed everyone else. He is what people call an introvert.

"I guess we should go line up," Eric said, following behind Hurst.

Vincent and Smith filled in line behind Eric. The left the barracks. They were the first ones out. The other rooms were not far behind them.

When they reached the yellow line, others were already lining up. Corporal Jones and sergeant McKenny, along with four other sergeants, were there waiting for them. Room 5 of Platoon 3a found their place and stood at attention.

The higher-ranking soldiers wait for everyone to show up and line up. It was only a few moments. All the while, soldiers knew they needed to be prompt at being here today. There was a surprising urgency in Lieutenant Carter's voice yesterday.

Corporal Jones was the one who stepped up and spoke to the crowd.

"Swordsmanship and martial arts are necessary fundamentals in fighting. You all have powers, but you can only use so much power. Eventually you will run out. While you are recovering your powers, you are a sitting duck."

She unsheathed her saber from her left side.

"You, when you can defeat your opponent with this, do it. If you can defeat them with a punch, kick, or whatever, do it. Even if you infuse those things, it costs less radiation power (RP) to do it. Conserving your RP will save your life. Now let's begin."

After Corporal Jones explained the actions she was taking, the other sergeants mimicked her movements so all could see. They showed them the proper stance they should hold with their right foot forward. How to step forward and backward. Instructions on six basic slashes were given, along with one drill that incorporated all six slashes.

Once they had the proper technique down, like how to hold your arm and move your wrist, they were told to do the drill until their arm fell off. It took them close to four hours to get the technique perfect, and they spent another 2 hours working on the drill.

After four hours, they were allowed to take a twenty-minute break. Cold water became the best friend to all. Everyone's hair was soaked from sweat.

"How is your arm? Vincent asked Hurst.

"My forearm is on fire," Hurst replied.

"I love swordsmanship, but who would have thought that it was so much work. We are supposed to spar after this. It's not going to be as fun as I thought it would be."

"Are you backing out? Are you too tired? I thought the great sword master Vincent would beat all of us," Eric said, trying to get him all riled up.

"Woah, woah. I didn't say that. I said…."

"Mmhmm," Eric said, cutting him off, trying to get under his skin.

Sergeant McKenny teleported to all the spots the trainees were at, taking a water break.

"It's time to start sparring. Find your partner and begin right away," McKenny said to each group.

It was the saddest group that you ever saw to spar. All the swings were large and overexaggerated. It was apparent that the forearms of the trainees were sore. It was for sure a muscle they did not work out often.

It looked like they never had any training. It would have made a normal person think they have wasted their time trying to teach them. Corporal Jones and the sergeants expected this. The lesson they were being taught through this session was to bear the pain and to power through.

Their sloppy sparring ended with an announcement for lunch. Most of the trainees never physically trained for anything particular. This lunch time was very quiet. They were all busy eating. Food was their only focus. They all worked up an appetite. Even the girls didn't care how they looked while eating.

Once again, Sergeant McKenny popped out of nowhere to each group.

"You have thirty minutes left; take this time to rest. Partner up with someone in squad and line up," he said robotically to each group.

Squad 5 of platoon 3a did that exact thing they were instructed to do. They slipped out of their chairs and laid on the grass. Once the other trainees got the message and saw what they did, they followed suit.

Once their time was up, they all lined back up on the yellow line. The other sergeants and corporal Jones were already waiting on them. Instead of corporal Jones stepping up to talk, this time it was sergeant McKenny.

"Follow my instructions to the T, and listen up; I will not repeat myself to you. Is that UNDERSTOOD?" Sergeant McKenny exclaimed with authority.

"Sir, yes, sir," all the trainees replied.

"You will head to the training center and spread out with the partner you have picked from your squad. You all will begin sparring. No sabers this time. Just use your powers and any physical attacks you want. We will be observing and giving combat advice at the end. DISMISSED!"

Everyone turned around and headed to the training center. Everyone was walking in their squads. Eric decided to take this as an opportunity to make a request. "Since we are not dueling with sabers, can I spar with Hurst?"

"I'm fine with it," replied Hurst.

"No, eventually we need to see who the strongest is in this squad. We already have an idea how strong you and Smith are. Nobody knows about Hurst yet," Vincent said defiantly.

The real reason is that Vincent thought of himself as the weakest and really wanted to show that he was stronger than someone. That was just the best excuse he could come up with on the spot.

"Well, if that is the case, why don't you fight Smith? He beat Acer. He is supposed to be the best in our class. I have sparred with you and Smith. I want to test out my shadow powers on someone else that you 2. Plus, you can duel him first with the sabers. No one will be able to stand up to you in your superiority in swords," Eric said with a slight chuckle.

Another reason for wanting to spar Hurst that he did not mention. He wanted to hurt him for being one of Acer's lackeys. Unless you teach these people a lesson, they will never learn.

"Ok," Vincent said with disappointment that could also be seen in his face.

Once the trainees got to the training center, they got in place and waited for the sergeants to show up. All the sergeants, including corporal Jones, teleported into the training center. It startled the trainees. They expected them to walk in, not teleport.

All the sergeants had their hands on Sergeant McKenny's shoulder. Eric assumed that for him to teleport others, he had to be touching them. "That's good information to hold onto for the future," Eric thought.

Eric has trust issues with everyone until they are proven to be trustworthy. The way this world is, you must be that way. Sadly, not many people have proven themselves. Eric can count on one hand how many have, and he still has fingers left over.

The sergeants took their hands off McKenny and spread themselves around to keep an eye on all the trainees.

"Begin!" McKenny yelled out.

<New 40 Quest: Defeat opponent. EXP>

<Optional: Kill opponent. Double EXP received>

The system message popped up, surprising him.

"I'm not going to kill someone," Eric thought to himself, realizing that the system is darker than what he expected.

Eric snapped out of it. Wasting no time, he started moving his shadows.

<Shadow Manipulation Activated>

His shadows floated up in the form of hands. He then sent the set of hands toward Hurst. Seeing this, Hurst balled his hand up, and then rock formed around his hands. It looked like he had a small boulder for a fist.

Once the shadow hands arrived at him, Hurst punched at the shadows, doing a one-two punch combination. After he hit the shadows, they faded away but appeared again in the shape of hands right away.

<-2 RP>

<-2 RP>

<61 65>

Eric noticed that he was losing RP points for when his shadow was attacked, so he decided to call back his shadows. He didn't have a lot of RP points to waste. He also made note of the fact that even though Hurst punched through them, his shadows did slow down the punch.

Once the shadow started traveling back to Eric, Hurst started to move his arms around. One arm moved like it was signaling for me to come to him, and the other moved like he was pushing something forward.

The ground under Eric's feet started to move. It was shifting him toward Hurst. Then a pillar of Earth was coming out of the ground at an angle, moving, with such speed, straight toward Eric's chest.

<Shadow Step Activated>

<-5 RP>

Eric reappeared at the end of his shadow to his left, getting out of the way from that attack just in time. To Hurst, it looked like he teleported out of the way.

"If I am to win this, I need to pin his shadow down. Wait, I need to link the shadows for a chance," Eric thought.

He started to run around to the right side of Hurst. Hurst seeing his strange movements, he got into a fighting stance, and his eyes followed him.

"I'm almost there," Eric said under his breath.

Hurst had to turn his body to the left to keep his opponent in front of him. As soon as he did, Eric started running straight at him. As he drew closer, Hurst twisted his back foot, looking like he was about to throw a punch.

<Shadow Step Activated>

<-5 RP>

<56 65 RP>

Eric got his shadow to touch Hurst's and appeared behind him. Lifting his leg up to stomp on his shadow, Hurst already turned around."

"You're too late, and there is no way to even reach me," Eric thought confidently.

Hurst's punch was fully extended when Eric's foot landed on his shadow.

<Shadow Pin Activated>

< -10 RP>

<46 65 RP>

"Its over!" Eric yelled, breathing heavily.

But the punch kept moving. No, it wasn't the punch. It was the boulder around his fist that kept moving. What Eric didn't notice was the boulder separated from Hurst's fist, creating its own shadow. That shadow wasn't pinned.

It landed right into Eric's sternum. It lifted him off the ground. He landed hard and gasped for air. The wind was knocked out of him with that boulder hit.

<-10 HP>

<30 40HP>

The shadow pin was broken, and he was released from its bind. He caught himself with his footwork from falling forward. "Now it's over," Hurst said.

Eric's shadow stretched to his shadow and then twisted upward, trying to take over his whole body.

<-2 RP>

<-2 RP>

"He must be stronger than Vincent; he is eating away at my RP," Eric thought, getting up and trying to breathe.

This was his chance to do something. Eric had his shadow pick up off the ground. And he threw a punch, hitting him in the stomach. It was like hitting a brick wall. People with earth powers can harden their flesh.

<-1 HP>

<29 40 HP>

The skin broke on his knuckles; luckily, there was no blood. Because he leveled up, his body was a tad stronger now.

<Scan Activated>

<Name: Alexander Hurst>

<Class: Novice Mage>

<Power: Earth>

<Level: unknown>

<23 25 HP>

"Ok, I did do damage. I need to distract his hardening and teach him a lesson," Eric thought.

<-2 RP>

<-2 RP>

Eric's RP kept going down from Hurst trying to break free.

Eric commanded his shadow to wrap around his neck and start choking him. The shadow had already wrapped around the rest of his body. Hurst hardened his neck to keep himself from getting strangled.

Eric started throwing pouch after punch. Hitting hurst this time was a little softer but not much. Each punch hurt, doing damage to himself but even more damage to Hurst.

Eric saw that his RP meter kept going down, and his own HP too. But Hurst's was going down faster. He kept punching, but he started punching faster. If Hurst got free from his shadow, Eric knew he would lose.

Once Hurst's HP hit five, he spit up blood and yelled, "STOP! YOU WIN!"

<Quest Complete>

Eric called his shadows back, and Smith fell to the ground. Two sergeants rushed over. One of the sergeants picked Smith up, while the other one said, "Take him to the medic."

The sergeant that gave the instructions looked over to Eric and said, "That was an interesting fight. I've never seen shadow powers before. You may have gone a little overboard, but there is no such thing in combat."

The sergeant noticed the blood dripping from Eric fists. "You might need to see the medic too. But before you go, the only advice I can give you is don't be so predictable. That's why you got hit by the boulder punch."

Eric nodded in confirmation, then headed toward the medical center. He wasn't too far behind the Sergeant and Hurst. He took this as an opportunity to check out his system notifications.

<Quest 40 Reward: EXP>

<New Quest Reward: +1 Defense>

<60 80 EXP>

<Attack: 8>

<Defense: 9>

<Dexterity: 7>

<Stamina: 8>

<Radiation: 10>

<19 40 HP>

<8 65 RP>