Chapter 28 Examination Part 6

"The spiky-haired applicant told Jake, 'Alright, let's go!' as he shot towards the robot. A half a second later, Jake followed the young man's lead. The mechanical opponent they were aiming for, though damaged, it was still in this fight. The robot analyzed both targets coming towards it and decided to pull out all the stops. It spoke in its automated voice, 'Entering max level.' The young man smirked, 'Heads up!' he yelled to Jake, 'It's about to hit the gas with no brakes,' and he was correct. Right after he spoke those words, the robot pounced forward faster than it ever moved before. Even though its arm was damaged, the robot swung at the spiky-haired young man. But as I said before that young man was no amateur. He dodged it as the machine's blade crashed into the floor. The young man landed on the robot's back as it knelt down, then he jumped into the air once again. While in mid-jump, he yelled only two words: 'Toss it!' These words weren't for the robot; no, they were for Jake. It took the young novice a moment to realize that, but when he did, he knew what the guy meant. Without any hesitation, Jake threw the katana in his hands to his newly found partner. The sword spun in the air until it found its way into the young man's hands. But he didn't unsheathe it; he didn't even try to. Once the sword was in his hands, he smiled. Then, as he fell back down, he swung as hard as he could and hit the robot in the head. The attack dented the machine's head as it fell forward, hitting the ground. But it didn't stay down for long. The machine spun on its back, immediately getting back on its feet. It slashed at the young man, who easily blocked with the still-sheathed sword. Unlike his own rental blade, there wasn't even a scratch on the katana's scabbard. Even at its max strength, the machine was still trying to get data on the sword. Maybe this need to understand made it too slow to react when the young man spun to break through the robot's defenses. And when he did, he swung the sword upwards, hitting the machine even harder. This time, the force of the swing cracked the machine's face. The machine's head was thrown back, and as it looked up at the gym's ceiling, it caught sight of something or someone. The spiky-haired applicant saw the same thing; he chucked the sword into the air, and it was caught once again, but this time by Jake. Without needing to exchange words, Jake had jumped as high as he could while his partner put the robot in the perfect position. And when the sword was in his hands, Jake used it just like the young man, as a blunt instrument. Jake let out a battle cry as he brought the sword down on the robot. But unlike last time, the machine was quicker to respond. Jake's goal was to crush its head while it was vulnerable, but it moved too fast. As Jake brought the sword down, instead of hitting its head, it hit its forearm. The robot used its forearm to block; before it could retaliate against Jake, his partner kicked one of the machine's legs with all he had, throwing off its balance. Before it could recover, Jake threw the katana back to Spiky Hair, and he swung it again like a star baseball player. This time, the blow landed directly in the robot's chest. The force of the strike caved in the robot's chest a bit. If it was a living being, then the flurry of slashes the robot realized were out of pure fury. But the young man, without even trying, dodged each of them. Then, once again, he baton-passed the sword back to Jake. Jake struck the robot's leg; this time, his second attack was even better than the first. He put his back into it, and this time, his second attack damaged the robot significantly. The strike fractured the machine's leg. Out of what seemed like desperation, the robot swung its weapon at Jake. But Jake's partner was faster; than the strike, he grabbed Jake's shirt and pulled him backwards. The robot's attack missed its mark. The spiky-haired applicant snatched the katana out of Jake's hand; then he struck at the robot's arm, or rather, he swung at the broken blade that was still in the robot's arm. He used the sheathed blade as a makeshift hammer, and the broken blade was the nail. He hit it with everything he had, forcing it deeper and deeper into the robot's arm until the machine's arm snapped in two like a twig. Now defenseless, the robot tried to back up and make an escape, but it was too little, too late. The two young men were on it like white on rice. The two kept hitting it, treating the metal man as a piñata. They would strike, strike, strike, strike, then baton pass, then repeat again and again, over and over until the robot laid on the ground, dented and broken. The two partners stood over their defeated foe as steam escaped its broken-down body. They could hear the mechanisms within it rattling, but soon they died down. The robotic foe was defeated, and the applicants were victorious. The spiky-haired young man threw his head back in laughter, 'Yo, that was fun! I can't lie about that.' Jake didn't match his level of enthusiasm, but he did have a small smirk forming. After the young man stopped laughing, he handed Jake's sword, that he was still holding, back to him. 'So,' he asked, holding it out to Jake, 'you some bigwig or something?' 'What do you mean?' Jake asked as he took his weapon back. 'Come on, man,' he said, nudging Jake's chest with his elbow, 'you know what I mean. That sword's the real deal. It's one of the mystic blades, right? Only a bigwig could even dream of getting one. So, is that you or what?' Jake rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, 'I don't know, I guess. What's your name?' He asked out of habit. Jake nearly told him his name, but the thought of the butler Curtis ran through his head. He stuttered, then told the young man his new name, 'It's Jake. Jake… Sullivan.' The young man's eyes went big, and that made them seem like two beautiful blue orbs. 'Oh, shit! You're a Sullivan! I guessed right! You are a bigwig.' For a moment, there was a brief moment of awkwardness in the air, but it quickly left as the young man reached his hand out to Jake. But unlike their synchronized battle against the machine, he wasn't reaching for Jake's sword; he was reaching out for his hand. He wanted to shake Jake's hand. Once he realized what he was doing, Jake reached out his own hand in return. The two clasped hands, properly introducing themselves. 'Well, nice to meet you, Jake Sullivan. The name's Zack. Zack Truesdale.'"