-Day 3 of the mountain palace.

-4 days until second encounter.

Rev wakes up before the bell this morning and goes to open the window. The cold air rushes in and Rev shivers. He jumps out and lands in the garden. He walks around for looking closer at all the different plants. The source is quick, dense Rev notices. Then the bell begins to ring and Rev rushes back to his window, wind blast up and shuts it close. He opens his door and follows behind the others to the courtyard.

“LINE UP” Bron yells out.

“Am still sore from yesterday,” Bane whispers as he stretches.

“Well, lucky for you, Bane, you will be the target for today's warm up,” Bron tells Bane.

“What!..but- “Bane tries to say.

“No arguing. You better get ready,” Bron says.

Rev smirks “let’s get this over with already” he says

“Eager as alway I see,” Bron tells Rev.

In moments notices the game begins with Rev dashing up. Shun and Pine stay back with Bane, and Shane follows Rev’s lead. The two circles him while Pine creates a vine rope. Bron is straight to action, wind blasting at Rev. Rev is quick to dodge, but Bron as tries to get close he wind blast Rev away and dash’s to the ground. Rev is sent flying to the mountainside. He stops himself from crashing into it, but now he is quick a ways away from the courtyard. Shane is in a slight panic and Bron can sense it. He creates to stone staffs in preparation. Shane and tries to use the vine rope to tight Bron down, but he uses the staffs to catch the vine rope and pull Shane close and thrusting the staff into his stomach. He then looks at Shun and quickly dodges the water orbs. “Almost there,” Rev thinks as he rushes back to the courtyard.

“I can’t just watch anymore,” Bane says.

He creates a stone pillar that shoots out from the ground. Bron smile and catch’s catch’s one and sends it bolting right back at Bane. Pine forces Bane to duck, pulling him down as fast as he could. Then he looks up and smiles, seeing Rev is back in the fight and he seems pissed. Rev waste to no dashing toward Bron with a stone staff in hand. He had seen Shane's movements before, how he increased the speed of his movement. He tried to replicate the acceleration. Try to move fast and fast as he drives the stone staff into Bron's leg. Rev was too fast for Bron to react. The sudden spike in Pane cough my him off guard he falls to a knee. Rev creates a stone wall in front of him and quickly coats it and pulls it crashing down onto Bron. At the same time, Rev wind blast Bron toward the wall. The collision only further throws Bron off balances. Rev the dash onto Bron’s shoulders and prepare a stone spear and aims to at the back of his head. Bron feels the sharply pointed end.

“Don’t move,” Rev says, his words searing into Bron’s ears.

Bron raises his hand. “I give up” Bron has declared defeat.

Silences fell upon the students and all who are watching from the palace. Rev cancels the cast and gets off Bron’s shoulders. The stone spear falls to the ground.

Bron smiles and breaks the silence. “it’s been a while sense I’ve been brought to surrender. I can tell you none of my current students have come close.”

“So we won?” Band asks?

“You did indeed” Bron confirms

Rev starts to clear the rubble. The others are still in a state of shock. “I never thought Bron surrendering was even a possibility,” Pine thinks. Shun goes to help Shane up.

“We won bro. Rev…um..he made Bron surrender.” Shun says, still in disbelief.

“…Rev did what?” Shane ask still only half conscious.

Bane walks over and picks Shane up and put him on his back. He walks him over to a bench, while Shun gets him some water.

“That kid is something else. The way he moved. I could barely keep up with how fast he was casting. All I could do was stand there and watch.” Bane tells Shane.

Shane sits up, and a faint smile hits his face. “I used to be content with how I was, but seeing Rev. It’s like he’s like a fire in me. There will always be someone stronger Bane. I wouldn’t let it get you down. All it means is that we need to be putting in more effort.”

Bane looks at Rev. “You're right, we still can get stronger. We must get stronger…” bane says.

Shane puts his hand together and starts to pray. “Twin gods, I pray for strength and recovery.”

Shun returns with water. “You feeling better? “Shun asks Shane, while handing him a cup of water.

“Yes I am, thank you,” Shane responds.

“LINE UP” Bron yells.

They get up and get in line.

“It has come to my attention that the training must be elevated. We will now be doing to rounds of the warmup. One at the start and one at the end. We will still do are three laps and source control training. Do I make myself clear?” Bron tells the students.

“Yes, sir!” They respond.

They begin their run. “Two round how will we survive” Pine asks.

“All it means is more training. We should be thankful,” Bane says.

Pine sighs “maybe for someone as durable as you.” Pine responds.

“Your plenty durable,” Bane says, giving pine a friendly slap on the back.

“It should be fine. I mean Rev did make Bron surrender today. How bad could one more round a day be?…” Shun says.

“I would agree, but we don’t all have the same stamina as Rev. By the end of our normal training, we will be much more drained.” Shane tells Shun.

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Bron comes running up from behind with a smile. “complaining wants me to get any strong. So get a move on. The day is still young.” Bron tells the other, while he runs after them.

They all increase their pace and Shane even sees Rev in the distances. They make an effort to catch up to him. Pine starts to fall behind, but Bron pushes him toward. Shane mages to catch up to Rev and stick by him for 2 laps, but after that he slows down. Rev ends off the third lap with Shane finishing a few moments after.

“Your persistent at least,” Rev tells Shane.

Shane catches his breath. “thanks…I guess”

Rev looks out to the mountains, then up at the sky. “It’s just something Ein used to tell me.” Rev says.

He smiles for a moment, but it quickly fades. The next to finish is for both Shane and Revs surprise is Bane.

“Your faster than you look,” Shane tells Bane.

Bane is completely spent. He drops to his knees as he gasps for air. Bane rolls over onto his back as he takes a breath.

“How are you not tired” Bane asks Rev.

Rev looks over that Bane “Ein used to make me run for almost the whole day when we were in the jungle. This is pretty easy compared to that,” Rev tells Bane.

“A whole day of running…I can’t even image that.” Shane thinks. A few moments after the other finish. With Bron yelling at them to keep going faster and faster. Bron goes to the middle of the courtyard. Letting the other catch their breaths for a moment.

“LINE UP” Bron calls out.

They get into line. “We will be doing some source control training, then moving into another round of the warmup. Remember, you will not alway be at full strength when are called to protect.” Bane tells the students.

They begin their source control training. Pushing and pulling against each other’s. They would take turns against Rev. He would point out the weak points in their movements. Tell them a different way they could protect themselves against a source attack. Or different ways to attack with source.

“It’s all about how fast and accurate you can be with your source flow. Ein told me you should start with accuracy, then you can try to see how fast you can move it after.” Rev tells the others.

Bron nods his head in approval. “Well said Rev.” Bron says.

They finish up their source training. Now a little less tired than before.

“It’s time, Shane. This time you will be the target. You better get ready.” Bron tells Shane.

They begin with Bron, wasting no time in his attack as he dashes forward. Bane makes an effort to stop him, but it is to no avail. Bane it should shove to the ground by Bron. Shane makes a dash away. Shun tries to hit Bron with a water orb, but it is easily dodge. The water orb hits the ground. Rev dashes by and coats the puddle of water. He pulls it around him and slingshots it at Bron's eye. He tries to kick him in his stomach, but it’s like kicking a thick stone wall. He instead windblast off of Bron’s stomach. The shock wave sends Bron onto his back. Bane gets up more tired than before. He doesn’t immediately go in. He is now waiting for an opportunity. We’re he can be more useful. “I need to just wait,” Bane thinks. Bron quickly gets up and searches for Shane. He spots him on the other side of the courtyard. He notices that Rev is out of the courtyard. Bron quickly takes her middle of the courtyard and takes a breath. He cast walls around him and Shane and closing it off with a roof. Shane is now trapped with Bron in a quarter section of the courtyard. The walls are not much higher than Bron is tall. There is no longer an Escape to the sky. He dashed towards Shane and a game of cat and mouse commences. Rev breaks a hole in the wall and enters the court's yard. He tracks the movements of Shane and Bron. Bane comes in from the whole Rev created. Pine and Shun are still in the outside.

“Get the others. We can trap Bron,” Rev whispers to Bane about the rest of the plan.

Bane leaves to get the others. Rev is quick to help Shane as he sees he’s movements are getting slower. Rev dashes around the walls to pickup speed and grabs Shane as he’s about to get caught and dashes him to the corner. Bron follows them, and Bane and the other come out of the corner. Rev creates one wall behind Bron. Slitting the square room into a triangle. Shane is taking out the whole and Pine with pre-made vine Ropes charges Bron. Something Bron never thought he would see. Bron tries to move out of the way but is caught by the vine. It seems they are coated is Rev source. As they cling to Bron's body tightly. Now Bane goes in with hand to hand combat. Bron only has one hand to defend himself while the other is tied down. Bane punches him in the stomach and Bron sends one to his head. Bane mange’s dodging it and Rev catches Bron's extended arm in a stone trap. Bane steps back to Reveal Shun behind him, casting water orbs. He shoots them at Brons feet. Pine wraps around Bron once more and charges at him. Bron breaks the ice at his feet, but it’s too late.

“Tag! “they all say in unison.

Bron let out a breath. “It seems I’ve been caught.” He says with a laugh after.

Rev lets him free of the stone and vine trap. They look around at the walls created.

“How about we clean all this up tomorrow?” Bron suggests.

The students all nod in approval. “Alright then, feel free to go get some food. Training is over for today.” Bron announces.

They go out of the whole Rev created and tell Shane the good new.

“We all got him this time. He said training is over too.” Shun tells Shane.

“What about the cleanup?” Shane asks.

“Told us we can do it tomorrow.” Rev says as he runs past them to the dining hall.

“Is it even possible for humans to reach that level of stamina?” shun asks.

Shane smiles. “only one way to find out. I have no problem being the first.” Shane tells Shun.

They all make it to the dining hall where they see Rev is already waiting in line. By the time they make it over, Rev is getting his food handed to him. They get their food and take a seat next to Rev.

“Thank you twin gos for the meal. We will not let any go to waste,” Shane prays.

They begin to eat. “That was a good plan you came up with Rev. I could of never thought of it. At the time I felt like I had no time to think of something like that,” Pine tells Rev.

Rev eats the food in his mouth before he speaks. “Ein always told me to make a plan to. What was it…to stop you from having to make split-second decisions? Something like that.” Rev tells Pine.

“I just feel too overwhelmed with what’s happing to even consider something like that. Saying you're going to do it is one thing, but actually doing it in the heat of battle is another.” Pine says.

Bane nods in agreement. “You're always moving around. How do you ever have time to catch your breath?” Bane asks.

Rev finishes his food and gives a confused stare at Bane. He then looks over at Shane. “Shane runs fast to why don’t you ask him all your questions?” Rev says as he gets up from the table.

“Well, it’s just…your obviously more advanced than us…” Shane tells Rev.

“Am no teacher” Rev says as he walks out of the dining hall.

“I guess you're not…” Pine says.

An Awkward silence falls upon the dinning hall. As everyone that’s was listening turns to look at Shane and the others. Rev makes it back to his room now, finally away from the unwanted chatter of others. He goes down the garden and is spotter by a family face.

“Rev!” Lilly calls out as she runs to him.

Rev turns around to see Lilly rubbing at him. He looks past her for her mother.

“Why are you here alone? Where is your mother?” Rev asks.

Rebecca, surprised by his concern, comes up behind him and reaches out to pat his head, but stops herself.

“Am right here. No need to worry.” Rebecca says her voice as soothing as always.

Lilly clings to Rev and he can’t bring himself to push her off. “I could hurt her if I did,” Rev thinks to himself. So he stands there looking at Rebecca for help.

She smiles and gently pulls Lilly away. “Come on, Lilly, did you ask if you could do that?” Rebecca asks Lilly.

“But…it was just a hug,” Lilly pouts.

“It’s fine…it just surprised me,” Rev says.

Lilly turn to Rev with a sparkle in her eyes. “I what you did yesterday. It was so cool you were so fast! I wanted to watch you today, but momma said I couldn’t.” Lilly tells Rev.

“Yes, it was very impressive, but also quilt… violent, to say that least. I did hear what you did today… congratulations.” Rebecca tells Rev. The underlining fear flaring you in her voice.

“Thanks…” Rev responds.

Lilly looks up at the both of them, confused. “What did you- “Lilly is cut off.

“Come on, dear, we should leave Rev alone am sure he’s plenty tired after today.” Rebecca tells Lilly.

“Momma…” Lilly says, looking back at Rev. She waves goodbye.

Rev awkwardly mimics her motion. Rev lets out a breath as he leave. He sits under the tree and takes a much need nap. As he pulls in source from around him.