After Dr Jiji brought Dante more plates of food than he'd ever seen in a single sitting, Julz went with Nadia to continue recovery training. With the convoy sixteen hours away, Dante wants to spend as much time as possible in recovery training before the convoy gets here with the Krix. If anything, he just needs to be able to run away without burdening the battlefield.
After the meal, Dr Jiji gave Dante a few more meds and within a few hours his mana was at a good enough level for him to stand and even stretch some of the uninjured parts of his body. But, between the surgery on his spine, and ribs and the stab wound in his leg, he still feels extremely restricted.
Running away, it is. He confirms before summoning his profile.
_ID: DANTE FORST
_HP: 36 (-64)
_MANA: 43% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 99/230
_NOTES: Surgically corrected spine and ribs. Multiple severe wounds were patched. [Expand for more]
Getting there, he nods to himself.
“Ready for some training?” Cassie enters the medical tent as Dante stretches.
“Think so,” He says, reaching for his toes and feeling a subtle pain in his spine before he touches them, “Not sure if I'll be ready in time,”
“You've done enough fighting, Kid,” Cassie chuckles, “All you need to do is hide,”
“Can't go Zo'an that way though, can I?” Dante smirks.
Cassie laughs and heads out of the tent- gesturing for him to follow along.
For the first time since he's arrived, Dante steps out of the tent to see an endless city of tents in front of him with more soldiers than he can count all busy moving different equipment and weaponry.
“Holy… did the rest of the garrison arrive?”
“Squads Two-eighty and Five-four-two arrived before you woke up,”
That's why the medical tent is so big, a chill passes through Dante as he associates the meaning.
“I'll introduce you to their Commanders and Recruits,” She says.
“Yes, Heir,”
As they approach the much larger central tent, Dante can more clearly identify the points at which the cafeteria, arena, and comms centre start and end. This setup is much more thought out and rigid- I guess that's important when housing this many troops.
Once inside, Dante can see Nadia and Julz doing Tai chi inside a small garden between the Cafeteria and the Arena.
“Grab a mat and join them,” Cassie says.
Dante nods and sees a few mats rolled up at the entrance of the garden. After grabbing one from the stack, he unrolls it beside Julz and takes a moment to get into the pose they are doing.
“No straining,” Julz says, “Keep it light,”
“Alright,” Dante nods.
“Alternate breathing between your nose and mouth. As you exhale, focus on your energy passing to the area of strain or tension,”
Julz shifts her pose, prompting Nadia and Dante to follow suit once Julz fully settles into it. Dante's never been very into Tai chi, or stretching but he's felt a positive effect whenever he's done it. The Academy taught them it's important to learn how to channel their energy through their bodies with immense control, and Tai chi is still one of the best ways to achieve that even though old humans weren't quite familiar with its purpose.
As Dante inhales, his attention is drawn to the mana within him. He can feel it scattered throughout his body and as they shift between poses, he guides its placement in his body and focuses it towards his spine, ribs and leg.
“Recruits,” Cassie's voice softly prompts the three of them to open their eyes.
“Yes, Heir,” They all respond.
“Come with me,”
They all roll up their mats and put them back with the others before following Cassie through the main tent and into the communications centre. Beside it, is a mid-sized conference room where several Zo'ans stand chatting amongst themselves.
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“These are mine,” Cassie says, “Dante, Julz and Nadia. The fourth is still with the garrison,”
A profile pops into view as one of the Zo'ans approaches them with an outstretched hand.
_RANK: FIRST TIER ZO'AN (HEIR)
_ID: ALEX LIN
_AGE: 32
_ABILITY: TUNNELLING
_SCORE: 3.2
_EXPAND FOR STATS_
“The name’s Alex,” He says, nodding his head.
“It’s a pleasure, Heir,” They all salute in response to his ID.
“Well, Cassie’s certainly disciplined you kids,” He chuckles in surprise, “But you can call me Alex,”
“Yes, Heir Alex,” They respond.
“Question, Heir Alex,” Dante says.
“Go ahead,” Alex responds.
“Are you related to Commander Preston?” He asks, noticing that Heir Alex shares a surname with Commander Preston.
“That’s correct,” Alex chuckles, “How’s it been in his Squadron?”
“It’s been great, I’ve learnt so much from him and Cassie already,”
“As I’d expect, Cassie over here is one of the best fighters I’ve ever met,”
Cassie grunts before pointing at Heir Alex’s recruits, “Are you not going to introduce us?”
“Oh, right. These are the recruits of Squad Five-Four-Two,”
The two young Zo’ans step forward before saluting Heir Cassie.
“At ease,” She says, “What’re your names?”
“Kate Wagner, Tier Five,” Kate, a young woman with blonder hair and bright blue eyes responds.
_RANK: FIFTH TIER ZO'AN (RECRUIT)
_ID: KATE WAGNER
_AGE: 22
_ABILITY: NUKE
_SCORE: 0.39
_EXPAND FOR STATS_
“Samuel, Tier Five,” The second recruit answers.
_RANK: FIFTH TIER ZO'AN (RECRUIT)
_ID: SAMUEL
_AGE: 20
_ABILITY: ARMOUR
_SCORE: 0.34
_EXPAND FOR STATS_
After taking notice of their IDs, Dante also comes to realise the truth in Nadia’s words from earlier- There are only two recruits left in Squad Five-Four-Two, even though they would have received four. It would most likely have been field time that would have killed them, considering how close to death Dante was after his first true experience in the field- However, their squad doesn’t seem to have come from combat recently, so it may very well have been caused by something else.
“From here on out, you are to take all orders from any Heirs or Commanders. This includes those of Squad two-eighty. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Heir,” All of the recruits respond.
“In the event you receive conflicting orders from an Heir or Commander, you follow the orders from your Squad leaders. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Heir,” They respond.
“Excellent, Did I miss anything?” She asks Alex.
“Sounds good to me. Make yourselves at home recruits,”
“You three, back to recovery training,” Cassie orders them.
“The two of you can go train in the Sim,” Alex says, “I’ll join you later,”
All the recruits salute and nod before heading out of the meeting room. Dante, Nadia and Julz head back to the small garden where they continue their Tai-chi. As they lay down their mats, the recruits they’d just met make their way over-
“You guys were in combat already?” Kate asks with widened eyes.
“Uhh, yeah,” Dante responds, “This is mine and Nadia’s second time,”
“Woah,” Kate and Samuel gasps.
“That’s why the two of you are Tier four already!” Kate adds.
“Tier four?” Dante raises an eyebrow before looking at Nadia- who has a similar look of confusion.
“Well, basically,” Kate shrugs whilst bringing up their profiles, “You’re both sitting on so many stat points,”
_DANTE FORST (FIFTH TEIR)
_SCORE: 0.48
STRENGTH: 5
AGILITY: 11
MANA: 23
PERCEPTION: 5
STRATEGY: 4
**39 STAT POINTS AVAILABLE
_NADIA MEHDI (FIFTH TEIR)
_SCORE: 0.6
STRENGTH: 9
AGILITY: 19
MANA: 5
PERCEPTION: 14
STRATEGY: 13
**42 STAT POINTS AVAILABLE
“Oh yeah!” Nadia yells, punching Dante’s shoulder a lot harder than he expected. “I fucking win!”
“What?” Dante grunts, rubbing his shoulder.
“You forgot already?” Nadia smirks, “We had a bet, remember,”
Dante's stomach drops as the memory returns to him- Whoever failed to get tier four first, would have to do the other's laundry until Tier three.
“Uhh, well. You’re not Tier Four yet,” He somehow manages to argue back, “Yeah, I could still pass the test before you!”
Nadia grunts in annoyance as the recruits from Squad Five-Four-Two watch in entertainment, “You won’t!”