Dojo

Crunch...crunch. The gravel crunched underneath Ethan's feet as he walked forwards. He stood in front of a large Japanese style house. He could see a pair of large white translucent sliding doors with wooden planks lying perpendicularly to one another over the entire structure- a shoji, as it was called in Japan. There was a large, triangular roof on top with black tiles placed on top. This place was a Japanese dojo.

Thump...thump...creak. The wooden steps creaked underneath Ethan's feet as he walked towards the door. Creak! Slide! Ethan stepped into a small, musty room as he looked around. The entire place was covered in walls of dust. There were cobwebs hanging around in the corners. So many, that Ethan wouldn't have been surprised if there were arachnoid monsters in this place.

Creak....creak. A-choo! Ethan rubbed his nose as a wave of dust fell on his face. "Cough...cough...cough" This place was spooky. The piles of dust and hanging cobwebs made it look like a haunted house. Too much. Almost as if somebody had set it up this way on purpose.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Suddenly, he heard a noise next to him. He turned around. Beep! Beep! Beep! There was a boy sitting on a wooden chair with both of his feet lying on an old wooden table. Beep! Beep! Beep! "Yes! Level 2's complete!" He pumped his fist into the air in celebration.

Suddenly, his eyes met Ethan's. "Hi! Welcome to the Combat Club!" His voice dropped down, losing all enthusiasm until a boring husk was left in its place. "How may I help you today?" Ethan winced. Damn. That voice was way too sleepy.

"Ahem...Hello, I've come to join this club." The boy's silver eyes glinted as he stared back at Ethan. "This club is invite only. Do you have an invite?" At this point, Ethan could imagine that many people would laugh at the silver haired boy. An invite-only club in a dilapidated room? That was laughable. After all, who'd want to be invited to a place like this?

"Yes, I do." Ethan dug his hand into his pocket as he pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. Crumple...crumple...crumple. He unfurled the page as he placed it in front of the silver haired boy. "Hmmmm." His silver eyes perked up ever so slightly. "It's in a really bad condition."

He picked it up as he eyed it carefully. "Well, seems legitimate. Follow me." He sighed, placing his phone back on his wrist unhappily. Creak! The chair creaked underneath the silver-haired boy's weight as he swung his feet of the table, jumping onto his feet. It was oddly graceful. Yet, his same old sleepy expression didn't change the entire time.

Creak.....creak. He walked towards the back of the room opposite to the door as the sun's dimming rays fell on top of him. Rustle...rustle...Rustle! He rustled through some old sheets, throwing up some dust into the air. "A-choo!" He wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve as he continued exploring the thick sheets.

"Since you have an invite, you are eligible to join the Combat Club, the best club in KGS." Not even modest about it, huh? Well, he wasn't wrong. "The Combat Club focuses on improving the combat ability of all of its members, both Physical type and Mage type awakeners."

"A-choo!" He sneezed violently, pausing his sleepy, professor-like boring voice. "Of course, the existence of this club is a secret known to few. We don't want terrible pieces of trash clogging our club with rubbish." Suddenly, his fingers curled around a dirty wooden lever. Creak! He pulled back as the gears behind it groaned at creaked.

Clat....clat....clat. The wall slid up slowly as the entire room started shaking slightly. Clat...clat....whoosh. Ethan could see a white pair of wooden doors, just like the ones he had used to enter this room. But these were much cleaner.

"Follow me." Slide! The boy slid the doors apart, revealing a large corridor paved with dark brown wooden floorboards. The walls were laced with translucent white paper and had wooden planks arranged perpendicular to each other, just like the sliding doors. It looked like a perfect recreation of a Japanese dojo.

Creak...creak...creak. "The reason why the Combat Club is better than the other clubs is because we have much better facilities, better teachers, and a overall abundance of order that other clubs lack." Beep! The silver haired boy pressed a button on the wall, revealing a transparent panel. "Take off your shoes." Ethan removed his shoes, placing them inside. Beep! The wall turned white again. Ethan wondered if he'd ever see his shoes again.

Creak! "So, as I was saying. The Combat Club is very well ordered." He continued. "Case and point- every single member of our club is organised according to various grades- The six kyu and the dan." Creak...creak...creak. The silver haired boy walked down the hallway without stopping as he passed by many doors.

"These grades are also named according to several colours. White, yellow, orange, green, blue, brown and black." Ethan nodded. Karate. These grades were based on the levels in karate. "White belt to brown belt go from the sixth kyu to the first kyu. And black belt is called dan."

Creak...creak...creak. "Oh, I forgot to mention. All people who use their invites are members of this club. So, you're a part of this club. Compulsorily. " He yawned loudly. Ethan shuddered slightly. He was being forced into the club. Well, not like he was going to leave either way.

"Anyways, where was I? Ah yes, the grades." Creak...creak...creak. "So that's the basic information about our club. You'll be placed in the sixth kyu for now, and slowly you can unlock higher grades until you reach dan. Then, you'll get to fight against Sensei."

Sensei. The leader of the Combat Club. Darius White. The same blood supremacist teacher who'd talked about rotation the same day Ethan had finally grasped how to use a kusarigama. He put his hand on his weapon. It probably wasn't a coincidence. But, knowing Darius, why would he let a 'commoner' like Ethan be admitted into the club?

Creak...creak...creak. "This is my office. Please follow me inside so that I can complete the registration procedures. Then, I'll be able to start working on Level 3." Creak! The silver haired boy swung the door open as he walked inside. Creak...creak...creak. There was a sign on the door. Ethan squinted his eyes, trying to make out what was written on it.

"Nathaniel Chase," he murmured. "Yes, that is my name. Perhaps I forgot to introduce myself. You may call me Nathan." He gestured at the door. "Now, if you would kindly follow me inside." Tap...tap...tap. "Please give me a moment." Ethan stood silently as Nathan sat opposite to a holographic computer.

"Let's see.....Ethan Miller....Class 10....F rank potential." He yawned loudly. "Seems like you were really invited." He glanced at Ethan. "Here." He pushed forward two decks of cards towards him. "Choose your code name from these. Take one card from each deck." Ah, yes. A code name. All members of the Combat Club were never revealed their identities to each other. It was a mechanism to uphold their code of honour, so that no member would use their status to abuse others.

"Choose quickly. I need to start trying to crack level 3." Talk about impatient. Shuffle...shuffle...shuffle. Ethan sifted through the first deck. Ice, metal, wind.... All of these cards represented one element or another. Which one should he choose. Lightning? No, that seemed too flashy. Water? No, that was too mellow.

He picked up the other deck. Maybe he'd get some inspiration from this one. Goblin, arachnoid, snake.... This deck represented monsters. Ethan smiled. Naming himself after his worst enemies? That was amusing. Perhaps he should choose something he wanted to kill in the future.

Suddenly, he pulled out an orange coloured card. A large, reddish orange monster with a pair of mighty wings that stood majestically. Its head contained two sharp horns. Its red eyes glowed with rage as it seemed to stare back at Ethan. Ba-dump...ba-dump...ba-dump. His heart quivered slightly at the sight of this monster.

"Here! I'll choose these two." He handed Nathan two cards. "Fire. And Dragon. Alright. Your name will be Burning Dragon." Beep! Beep! He tapped away furiously with one arm, resting his head on another as he stared at the screen boredly. Beep! Shhhh!

Suddenly, the computer whirred as machine parts started to move rapidly. Whirrr! Beep! Beep! Shhhh! "Done! Take this." Nathan pulled out a red mask, throwing it towards Ethan. He caught it with both arms, holding it as if it was a precious object.

It was a dragon mask. Small horns protruded out of the side, branching out from two slits where his eyes would fit. The entire mask was covered in glittering orange-red scales that reflected the light slightly. He placed it on his face. It was a perfect fit.

"When do I have to come here?" He glanced at Nathan. "You can come whenever you want. The lesser you come, the better for me." He yawned widely. "But you've got to come here every Saturday. That's when all the members gather here. Along with Sensei."

He glanced at his watch. Speaking of which. Sensei wants to meet you right now. Go to the third door on the right just outside this room. Nathan got up as he headed towards the door. Creak...creak...creak. He tapped on one of the doors. "This is the room. Head inside."

He started walking towards the exit. "I'm not coming with you. I've gotta guard that darned door for now." Of course he wasn't. But Ethan didn't want to face Darius himself. "Haaahh." He breathed heavily as he stood in front of the door. Well, hopefully nothing bad would happen to him.

Slide! "Well, it seems like the newest member of our club is here." Ethan could see a man wearing a blue goblin mask as he sat with his feet folded right in front of a small table. "Come in, come in! No need to be afraid." Wait a minute. This voice was weird.

Creak...creak...creak. Ethan stepped onto the carpeted floor as he walked inside slowly. "Burning Dragon. Nice to meet you." The man took of his mask as he revealed his face to Ethan. Ethan froze. This wasn't Darius. He was sure that Nathan had sent him to see Sensei. So why was this man here?

"Hello! I'm the head of the Combat Club. Most people around here call me Sensei. But my actual name...." he stared back at Ethan ".....is Edward Henrick."