Chapter 23- Mentorship

Chapter 23: Chapter 23- Mentorship

Arthur pushed open the steel doors and inside was a large training room. It wasn’t anything special for the most part, most of the training rooms were the same. In the middle of the room was a desk with someone sitting there, seemingly reading a small book. The two stepped inside and Alaric quickly looked off to the side for a spot to stand at. He gave a quick whistle towards Sky, who followed closely behind as he moved towards the right wall. He turned and pressed his back against it as Sky floated, wiggling in anticipation.

Arthur shot a quick thumbs up and walked up towards the desk. "Yo! Are you my-"

"Hold on." The man whispered, holding up a finger, cutting him off. "It’s rude to interrupt someone while they’re busy." He spoke softly, pushing up his glasses as he continued to read his story. Arthur simply blinked and stepped back a bit, "S-Sorry."

The room remained silent for the most part. The man lifted his eyes from the book, his eyes peering behind the lens of his glasses. He watched Arthur before pointing behind him.

Alaric jumped.

Arthur blinked and turned. All of a sudden the man was behind him! He held his book in one hand as he stood there. He lifted his eyes and looked towards the boy against the wall, "...Whose that?" He asked as Arthur looked towards Alaric. "H-Hes just here to watch... he doesn’t have a mentor class yet." He quickly explained, suddenly standing up straight.

The man slammed his book shut, the clap ringing throughout the room. With a quick shove into his pocket, he lifts his head and walks around the desk. "...Arthur Ambrose, am I correct?" He whispered, as he looked through the papers lining his desk.

"Yes sir!"

The man nodded and lifted his head. "Alright then..." he turned and walked out towards the further side of the room. "I’m sure you know the procedure?" He turned and pushed up his glasses, which were falling low on his nose. "Come at me. This is to gauge what I do and don’t need to teach you." He explained softly, pulling his foot back against the ground, assuming a stance. Arthur smirked and nodded, "You got it!"

’Right...’ Alaric thought to himself. For mentor classes, on your first day, besides the basic information they have from the entrance exam a year ago, their knowledge of their students is limited. That’s what this is for. A small sparring test to see what to base their curriculum on. An... interesting way to go about this in his opinion.

Arthur lifted his hand, "Ah, but first. If I may..." he began to point around himself, "Can I do a quick jog? It lets me warm up."

Alaric narrowed his eyes. But he remained silent.

The instructor shrugged, "Sure, do whatever you have to."

"Awesome!" The blonde boy turned and began to jog around the room. When he passed Alaric, the two met eyes and a confident smirk formed on his face. Alaric watched silently as he continued through the room.

Arthur jogged with great form, breathing in through his nose and out the mouth. The instructor wasn’t paying much attention towards him, which was great. He had passed the instructor, and jogged along the left wall. Once he was about to reach a lap, his eyes began to glow a pale silver. He turned, and his body disappeared.

The teacher lifted his head, his eyes relaxed. He sighed softly and turned, weaving a strike aimed for his head. He opened his hand and caught his fist, pulling him forward and delivered a swift palm strike to the blonde’s face. "Predictable." He mocked, before twisting his body and lifting him off his feet. Pulling Arthur off his feet, the instructor slams his body onto the ground, the impact loud. His body bounced, and power erupted from the instructor’s hand. His arm began to vibrate, and in a blink of an eye, he struck Arthur’s stomach, a large shockwave exploding from the strike.

Alaric’s eyes shot wide as he stood up straight.

Arthur coughed slightly, the wind knocked out of him. He clutched his stomach as drool began to spill from his lips. The instructor stood up straight and reached into his pocket. A small pink pencil was pulled out, and he moved to open his book. He began to slowly write something down. Arthur however, wasn’t down just yet. He pushed his body up, recovering with a push of his arms. He sprung himself back and flew backwards, which was perfect. His eyes regained their silver glow. He landed on the wall, but not before instantly launching off towards the instructor. He twisted his body and swung his leg.

The instructor lifted his eyes, and simply crouched, dodging the kick. Arthur flew back and landed on the wall again. He landed and busted out into a sprint. While he understood the test itself, he wasn’t sure what the instructor was testing him on specifically. No matter, for now... he needs to focus on landing at least one attack! His speed increased the more he moved until he nearly lost control. He dived head first. He threw out multiple strikes, but the instructor was faster. He moved, blocking the attacks. His body itself was nearly a blur, but it looked like the teacher wasn’t breaking a sweat! With his barrage of punches, he switched it up and threw a kick. It seemed like this would trip him up, until he lifted his hand and caught his ankle with the book! Arthur’s eyes widened as in an instant, a hand was shooting directly towards his face. The instructor’s hand closes around Arthur’s face, and with a forward throw his body falls backward, the blonde’s head crashing into the stone ground, a crater spiderwebbing around his head. Stars exploded behind his eyes, a hot throbbing pain searing into the back of his head.

Alaric swallowed and felt his breath catch in his throat. He watched, his fists clenched.

The teacher pulled back and stood up straight, "...Enough." He looked towards his book and continued jotting things down. "I think I have everything I need." He then shoved the book into his breast pocket and looked down towards Arthur. "...Your strategy is insanely flawed." He glanced towards the spot he first asked to jog, "Even if I didn’t know about your system, you seriously think your enemy will let you set up like that?" He questioned as he tapped his head, "Another thing you lack is combat strategy. Running directly at your enemy makes you insanely predictable. One thing you can work on while we work together." He extends his hand and lifts the boy up to his feet, even as he staggers slightly from the throbbing pain in his head. "Go ahead and take a short break, or train more if you want, it doesn’t matter to me." He turned back towards his desk, "Your real class starts tomorrow, it’ll be easy to establish a curriculum for someone like you." He said, taking a seat as he began to focus entirely on his book. Arthur sighed and wobbled towards Alaric’s spot, collapsing slightly against the wall as he slid down to sit.

"Aw man... I thought I’d do better than that." Alaric moved to sit next to him, "Don’t be so hard on yourself, we’re still new to this whole thing." He reassured, but Arthur looked away.

"I bet you’d pass yours..." he whispered, and Alaric tilted his head. "What?"

"Nothing..." he shook his head and looked over, "...What do you think I should’ve done differently?" He asked softly, leaning towards him. The staff user looked ahead and grabbed his chin gently, "Oh, um..." he thought silently. "I mean, he pretty much explained it. You were a little... too predictable. I guess... next time try not to be so obvious." He snapped a finger, "Oh! Like trying to use your speed at a distance in a way that’s unpredictable!"

"...How?"

"Like, since your whole thing is momentum based speed... you could use that to create even faster bursts of speed to close the distance faster than anyone could react to! Considering they wouldn’t expect it." He held out a hand, "Or use your speed to create bursts of wind to use as a projectile. Definitely unpredictable, and makes sure you aren’t useless at long range." He explained as Arthur blinked, his eyes glowing as if a whole new world just opened up to him.

"That’s awesome! I never would’ve come up with that..."

"I don’t know about that... I think you would, it is your system... you’d know more than me." Arthur smiled and punched the boy’s arm, "Seriously, thanks a lot. You’ve always been... smarter than me."

Alaric blinked and blushed softly, "S-Seriously..." Arthur suddenly stood, bouncing on his feet, "I feel like I have to try this out! Come on, you gotta help me since this was your idea!"

Alaric blinked and slowly pushed himself to his feet, "I guess that’s fair. Let’s do it then."