Hazel eyes glared at green ones.

Green eyes peered at hazel ones.

The stare down was intense. The blue sun shone high, lighting the golden sky up as soft purple clouds rolled by. A cooling breeze poured around the two, trying to calm down the heated atmosphere, but her grace was unsuccessful as their scowls only deepened.

K.O's head was wrapped up as he smiled enjoying his red sucker.

Rockie stood opposite him with his right leg in an orange cast and bandages wrapped around various parts of his body. "No sources right?" The ginger asked with a stoic expression as he scratched at his neck. Stupid itch.

The blonde removed the sucker with a pop and licked his lips, "Yeah, that's what I said. That is unless you wanna back down." A cocky grin spread across his face.

Rockie glared with a growl, "You wish."

K.O noticed the tension riffling from the ginger and plopped the sucker back in his mouth. "After you."

Rockie smiled wide showing his dimples.

Silence gathered around the boys. No words were said, only their eyes and body communicating with each other.

Suddenly, they sprinted towards the other with their fist raised and ready.

Rockie sent out a right hook, then a left, but the blonde swiftly dodged them. K.O blocked Rockie's punch with his left arm and lifted his leg and kicked Rockie in the stomach.

Rockie stumbled back a couple of steps, holding his midsection. Catching sudden movement from his side, Rockie leaned back avoiding the incoming fist. He turned and kneed K.O in the stomach, 'Payback bitch'.

K.O fumbled backwards taking in deep breaths.

"No doing that." Rockie angrily barked.

K.O smirked, "You know I can't control it. Scared it'll make things tougher?"

"As if slick. It just means I get to kick your ass twice as hard."

"We'll just see," K.O outstretched his leg and kicked Rockie in the face. The kid skipped across the dirt. K.O dashed after, then towered over him with his leg raised up.

With widened eyes, Rockie quickly rolled over as the foot stomped down. He swept K.O's feet from under him. While K.O was freefalling, Rockie jumped up and drove his elbow into K.O's chest, driving him to the ground.

"Gah," K.O yelled in pain. He closed his eyes and gasped for the second time and focused on healing his bruised body.

"Hehe, I guess this means I win." Rockie said victoriously, standing tall with a grin.

"You wish freckles. I'm not done yet."

"Just give up and admit I'm better than you." Rockies' grin widened.

K.O growled, "Never" and leaped into a handstand and propelled his legs around. He caught Rockie in the side and the kid once again skipped across the ground with dust trailing him.

Rockie shot up on shaky arms coughing, then glared over at the blonde. He was sick and tired of being kicked around.

"Cheater. I had already won."

"I wasn't out. Rule number one moron, never get too cocky during battle." K.O said, hooking a finger around the sucker stick in his mouth, which remained intact throughout the fight.

"No, rule number one, shithead." Rockie countered, getting to his feet. When he was standing, he looked seriously at K.O, "Never underestimate Rockie K! Aah!" He ran at the blonde with a battle cry. K.O retaliated, doing the same until they met going blow for blow trading licks. K.O got Rockie in a headlock and they toppled over and started wrestling across the dirt.

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8

Training day

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King chuckled at them as he walked towards the two. "Alright you two. Break it up." He said, reaching down and pulling the fighting boys apart.

Yanking them to their feet, the boys dusted themselves off.

"Aw King, we were just getting started," Rockie whined.

King grinned at his boys, "Getting started for what? The two uh you looked like tusslin' pups. Was mediocre at best."

"Mediocre?!" Rockie and K.O shouted.

"You need to get your eyes checked old man," K.O laughed. "You might miss something."

"Yeah, like these babies." Rockie said, patting his arm and flexing his small muscles.

"GaHahaha," King and K.O burst out laughing, leaning on each other for support and wiping tears from their eyes.

Just then, a pink blur zoomed by and crashed into Rockie, sending him down to the ground on his back.

Rockie groaned in pain, then opened his eyes to the weight on his chest. Sitting on him was a young boy who had tan skin with wavy, orchid hair and purple eyes. He wore a white shirt, which had a black skull print on it, a black, long-sleeve underneath, orange shorts, and black shoes. His eyes were watery and his chubby cheeks were red.

The boy sniffled, "I just got back and the first thing I hear is that you've been hurt. Are you okay?"

Rockie smiled at him, "I'm good, Trit. Well, I was before somebody decided to practice pouncing."

Triton's face frowned up before he looked down at their position. His eyes widened and he quickly jumped to his feet. "I'm so so so sorry. How much did I hurt you?" He fretted helping Rockie to his feet. The kid was only a head shorter than Rockie (Rockie is really short).

"Don't worry, tyke. You already know I'mma beast."

K.O snickered, and Rockie glared at him.

Triton rubbed the back of his neck with a chuckle, "My bad. I'm glad you're okay. And hey K.O," then he walked over and hugged King, "Good morning dad."

"Morning Trit." King said, hugging the boy back tightly. Releasing him, he looked at the three. "Alright young lads, we've come to an agreement to start having mandatory training days. I am about to whip you lot up into young savages like your dad." King said, beaming a toothy smile and thumbing to his puffed out chest.

Rockie raised a brow, "Like you? I bet I can take ya."

King's face fell, "You talk a lotta smack, boy. How 'bout you put some earnings to your bullshit." King looked at him poised.

"Ey, I can beat yo ass anywhere, anytime." Rockie snapped back.

King chuckled, "And hey, I'll make it easy for you. You can team with K.O."

"I don't need him" "I'm good" Rockie and K.O said at the same time.

"If ya'll can get me down and, um, oh yeah. If you can manage to take my chain, then for a week you can tag along on my missions." King said, reaching down and flashing a gold necklace from under his shirt.

"And if we lose?" K.O asked.

"No point. We ain't losing." Rockie growled, then ran at King. King quickly pulled Triton behind him and kicked Rockie back. Rockie slid a few feet on his back.

"Wooohooo, fight." Triton cheered laughing as he ran to some white bleachers to sit and watch.

Rockie sat up and looked at King, "Sources or no?"

"Whatever you want. Give me all you've got." King answered.

Rockie smiled, "Okay, let's rock it."

"Pacious" K.O blasted an air ball at King.

The master did a one handed cartwheel dodging the ball.

Rockie jumped to his feet and charged at King swinging. King blocked every punch, taking steps back as he laughed at the kid's attempt to knock him down. Ruffling Rockie's hair, King reached behind the ginger taking the hem of his shirt in hand and pulled it over his head. The kid yelped. He shoved Rockie back.

K.O ran up and high-kicked at King's head from the back, but the man grabbed the blonde's ankle then slung him overhead. K.O broke his fall and landed on his hands, then kicked his legs back and forth slinging air attacks from his feet at King.

King merely slapped them away, sending the balls flying out sporadically.

"Whoa," Triton giggled as he ducked his head from an incoming air ball.

Rockie struggled to fix his shirt. When he finally got his head through the hole, he growled then ran at the master with an electric aura.

"Honey dive" electric bees shot from Rockie's hand and buzzed at King.

BOOM. BOOM. King jumped away, but they continued aiming for him. He lifted out his right arm and it glowed silver before his hand formed into a giant steel shield. The bees collided against the metal.

K.O and Rockie rushed King from both of his sides. King smiled at the boys, 'These boys. They never learn'.

King chuckled as K.O ran in from his right with his arm drew back, and then King kicked out his right leg. K.O saw the foot coming towards his face, but he was moving too fast to stop. He was taken by surprised when the foot instead passed his face, wind nicking his cheek.

King hooked his foot behind the blondes neck and pulled him down, causing him to stumble out around him right into Rockie. The ginger, however latched onto the stumbling boys' shoulder and leapfrogged over to King.

King caught Rockie's face in the palm of free his hand. Rockie yelped as he clawed at the arm holding his face captive. Turning the shield back into his arm, King reached up and poked at a spot under both of the squirming boys' armpits.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Rockie felt a weird tingle shoot through his arms and then nothing. He couldn't feel his arms at all as they dangled like noodles.

"Che- cheater!" Rockie wailed from behind the palm, "Let me down you jerk."

"Okay," King shrugged and then tossed him into a trying to be stealthy K.O, who was creeping up behind them.

The two crashed into a tangled heap on ground.

King let out a loud laugh and placed his hands on his hips as he looked at them with a grin. "Was that it? I haven't even warmed up yet." Catching movement from his side, he looked over to see his wife with a few other members filing outside, watching them.

Nara's face was unreadable, just what King needed right now. He took a breath, "Hey babe. I wasn't too rough on them was I?"

Nara looked at him pointedly, folding her arms over her chest. Silence spread throughout the air as everyone seemed to hold their breath. "No," she finally said then a sly grin split her face, "not rough enough."

"Don't matter," Rockie grumbled, struggling until he'd managed to sit up. "You're still a cheating jerk."

"Hey, none of that." King said sternly, pointing at Rockie. "And it was a fair fight. There were no rules on the table."

"I want another round."

"I want in on this." Maya chirped walking towards them. The entire guild was outside at this point.

King smiled, "Alright, how 'bout a lil' four-on-four. Maya can team up with you two and you can pick another person."

"Can I at least get a break?" K.O gasped, resting his hands on his knees.

"Quit?" King asked, lifting a brow, then grinned when the blonde frowned. "Ya'll game?"

"Give me my arms back." Rockie yapped, swinging his body and flapping his numb arms.

King chuckled as he stepped towards the boy. "The ziynn pi pressure point," he softly said placing two fingers in between Rockie's eyes and pressed down slightly, "when pressed just right has the power to kill your enemy," then he pinched the boy's cheeks. Feeling slowly returned to Rockie's limbs. "And to heal them."

"You gotta teach me that." Rockie said, rubbing his wrist and working the kinks out of his arms.

"One day."

"Is it okay if I join in on your game?" Nara asked, blinking her eyes innocently.

"Me too. I'm game." Alche said.

"Sure, a game of old school vs new school. Ivy, come join my team too." King called out and a lady stepped out and walked to join the group.

Ivy had caramel skin with light blue hair, shaved on one side and straight on the other, and light blue eyes. She wore a black leather jacket, a purple tank, navy jeans and black boots with spiked soles.

"We got Champion then." K.O stated, gesturing for the yellow boy to join them.

"Wish me luck," Champion said to Queen and another girl, giving them a wink, causing the other girl to blush, before walking to join in. The rest of the guild took a seat on the bleachers.

The two teams faced off, standing opposite each other a few feet apart.

"Alright," King announced loudly, "the only rule is to give it all you've got but remember to have fun." Everything went silent. "Go."

Ivy swiped her arm outward, and instantly a wave of sand flew out and covered the kids.

Champion, however, jumped into the air. His arms glowed an intense red and then flames wrapped down them. He punched his right arm downward and a giant flame beamed from his hand.

Nara lifted her arm and a purple magic circle appeared before her palm, then a monster yellow spore ball shot from it. The spore collided with the beam and exploded into powder.

Maya, K.O, and Rockie shook the sand from their bodies.

"Dustin" Maya yelled then grabbed the gavel when it formed. She ran for King.

"Alright princess, bring it on." King cheered hopping in place excitedly.

Maya positioned Dustin like she was holding a gun and twisted the handle. Beams fired at King.

King quickly turned his right arm into a steel blade and then stabbed it into the ground. He broke a chunk of ground and lifted it up. He spun and kicked the chunk and it flew straight for Maya.

Before it could hit her, Champion dashed in front and chopped it in half. Suddenly, a bullet hit him square in his chest and exploded, sending him reeling back.

"You're with me," Alche said, holding up a blue pistol.

Champion broke his fall and landed to his feet on the ground. He stomped his foot and then flame pillars broke surface heading towards Alce.

The man grinned then shook the pistol he was holding and with a click it transformed into a purple double barrel shotgun. He grabbed it with both hands and took aim, then pulled the trigger releasing two silver energy bullets. Spinning around the other, the bullets smashed through the flames and cancelled them out.

Champion jumped to the side as the bullets wheezed pass.

Rockie clapped his hands together and electricity danced over his body. "Powerline" swiping his arms out a static line flew at Ivy and Nara.

"Move stupid, I got mama." K.O growled, shoulder bumping Rockie.

"No, I want mama." Rockie growled back, shoving K.O with his palms.

"Now boys," Nara said, then started to raise her arm. A gold magic circle appeared above her and she reached into it and pulled out a long, gold axe hammer. When the strike reached them, Nara swiped the axe up, slicing and dissipating it. "What have I told you about sharing."

Ivy spun and then punched her fist down onto the ground. A giant sand fist shot from under the boys' feet and punched them high in the air.

In a blur, Ivy flashed up to the falling boys. She flashed in and punched at Rockie, but he blocked it with his elbow, then kicked at her hip. She reached down and grabbed his ankle, stopping his kick, and flipped him back.

K.O high kicked at her head, but she quickly did a spin kick, meeting his leg calf to calf. He lifted up his left leg and kicked at her stomach. She blocked it with her palm and K.O pushed off and air flipped back.

"Pacious" Ivy dodged the air ball and it slammed into Rockie and sent him spinning back again.

She flipped forward and brought her foot down on the back of K.O's head and then back flipped and stomped on Rockie's back and both boys crashed towards the ground.

Nara summoned a giant red spore and the boys fell through. A cloud of white powder rose up.

Dustin met with steel as Maya and King fought. They were going at each other, both at an equal, and King was surprised that Maya was keeping up. His heart swelled with pride.

He swiped his blade out and Maya jumped back, "I see you've been practicing."

Maya swung Dustin upward, but King met her halfway swinging his blade down, "I learn from the best."

"Well," King said, taking a swing at Maya who met him with a swing of her own, "Keep learning, princess."

King pushed off then flash stepped backwards. He lifted his left arm and his hand started to glow a dark green. A white magic circle formed before him and sparkles sprung from it forming a huge steel fan. It started spinning and the strong current blew Maya off her feet.

"Rope chain hope chain" a wooden chain sprung from the magic circle that appeared over the fan and Maya latched onto it. Keeping her grip on Dustin, she pulled herself up a bit before wrapping the chain around her right hand and letting go.

Using one hand, she tossed the gavel into the air "Woodworks 94: King Kong smash" and snapped her fingers. The gavel hovered overhead. Her and Dustin started to glow brown and then the gavel grew ten times its size. Dustin arched back then hammered down crushing the fan.

King dodged and fell back on his ass, then looked up at the giant gavel with wide eyes. "Whoa. She does learn from the best."

Alche shot at Champion with the shotgun. Bang. Bang. Champion thrust his palms out, putting up small, translucent barriers to block each shot. Then a red magic circle formed under Champion. At the same time Alche shook his shotgun. Click. A bubblegum pink baby AK took its place.

Alche aimed and blasted sharps beams at the teen. Champion kicked a fire ball at the beams and a yellow hue surrounded him.

"Fire lord Red" a red, flaming serpent-dragon stretched from the sigil and flew-slithered out, gulping down the beams and zoomed towards Alche.

He continued shooting at the fire-dragon before diving out the way when it snapped at him and slithered on by.

Alche jumped up right when the fire-dragon was making a u-turn for him. He grinned then held up his arm and pulled his trigger finger, only to see his palm empty. "Wha..." his eyes widen and he frantically patted and looked around until he shot a glare at the fire-dragon heading straight for him.

"Gimme my damn gun back," he growled and then grabbed his other pistol from his left leg holster. Click. It turned into a red colt revolver with a barrel as big as a trash can. He aimed at the dragon.

The barrel started to glow then a giant energy canon ball shot out and smashed through the dragon. Boom. Crackle. Alche ran over and caught the AK before it could hit the ground.

"Oh yeah," Alche cheered with a smile, then stopped to sniff the air when he smelled something. "'S somethin' burnin'?" Scrunching his face up, he looked over his shoulder to see a grinning Champion lighting his butt up with a flaming thumb.

"Holy Arithe, it's a fire," Alche screamed, leaping into the air clutching onto his burning ass.

King chuckled as he watched them, then looked over at his wife.

The powder cloud fluttered to the ground as Ivy landed on her feet.

Rockie burst from the spore and dashed at Ivy with a bolt of lightning in his right hand. Ivy grabbed at her left hip and swiftly pulled out her sand dagger. The dagger and the bolt met in sparks. The two started clashing.

"This is new, shocky," she acknowledged with a smile then she pushed him back, knocking him off balance. Rockie lifted the bolt then hammered it down, but Ivy continued blocking his every move.

He clenched his jaw, 'She ain't even fighting for real.'

"Stop playing with me," he growled swinging the bolt harder, but Ivy just laughed and then a gush of sand erupted under him and took him up along with it. In a flash, a bolt landed at her feet and exploded. Ivy flipped back just in time until she was standing next to Nara.

K.O glared at Nara, "So you're just going to stand there?"

Nara blinked at him and then slowly smiled, "Worry about yourself, thank you."

He gritted his teeth, then grinned and held up his palm. Air started gathering on his palm forming a small tornado. He slowly started to circle his hand. "Twis-"

"Butt out," K.O was cut short as he was tackled by Rockie. The collision caused the two sources to meshed together and a huge electric air tornado was sent hurling Nara and Ivy's way.

The women barely had time to think as they quickly dodged it. The tornado barreled out into the forest, electrocuting trees and animals as it went.

"Woo," King cheered, clapping his hands as he stared at the attack crashing through trees. "Now, that's how you do a magic combo." His body was suddenly jerked forward. He looked down and saw a grinning Rockie clutching onto his chain.

"Hehe, I win." Rockie chuckled before suddenly his eyes rolled up, and he was falling. King grabbed the boy. Quickly checking him over, he sighed with a smile when he found the boy still breathing.

Nara swiftly took Rockie from King's arms and hugged him tightly to her chest. "I knew this was a bad idea."

"He just went at it too hard. He'll sleep it off." King waved it off. "He's a strong kid."

Nara cut her eyes at her husband then marched off towards the clinic with Manna following.

"Looks like someone keeps pissin' the Mrs. off." Alche sung gleefully as he strolled by the master.

"She'll get over it. She's just overreacting." King stated surely of himself.

"Oo, careful there chief," Ivy said, grinning slyly at the master. "The Mrs. might catch word and have your balls for dinner."

Alche let out a deep chuckle, "Make some good ole ball soup."

King laughed then huffed "Brats," and walked towards the bleachers, patting K.O on the shoulder along the way.

"Alright everyone, class is now in session." King proudly announced as he came to a stop. The others on the field went to take a seat.

"What you just witnessed from Rockie and K.O is what we call a magic combo. I know. Corny name, right? It is a magical combination between two or more magical beings. What happen is the sources come together, almost melting into one to create a powerful spell. It can be quite useful, however, it can also be fatal to a weaker magic. But in order to understand the dynamic of a magic combo, you have to know what a source is. So, what is a source?" The master asked.

Some of the kids raised their hands up. King pointed to Triton. "Let's hear it, buddy."

"A source is an energy ball in all magics." Triton answered.

"Ooo, close. Belle," He pointed to the water magic.

"A source is the magical and spiritual energy that all magics possess." She said with a smile. "It's because of the source that we are able to produce magic spells."

"Rightio! The source is the powerhouse to making our spells a reality. If a non-magic were to say a spell, nothing would happen because they lack a source. When a magic chant a spell, their physical and spiritual energy link together into the source giving us the power to cast magic. Being a magic and knowing magic are two different terms that most people get mixed up," King lectured on to the children.

The mini doves sat, paying attention to King with various expressions.

King continued, "Remember, magics only make up a handful of Arithe's population. Anybody born with magic automatically is deemed a magic, however knowing magic is not only understanding how your body move, but also other magics. It's about becoming one with your source on a spiritual link. In order to be efficient in combat, you've gotta know everything there is to know about how magic actually works."

King looked back at Belle just smiling, "Okay, but that was easy. How 'bout this. What is the soul of the source called?"

Belle's smile slowly fell as confusion took its place. King's smile grew and he looked around at everyone. "Anyone?"

"It's the Eeti Gilie." Pretty Boy answered.

"Thank you, Pretty Boy," King said. "Th-"

"The Eeti Gilie, a.k.a the soul of the source, is a deeper power within all magics," Pretty Boy interrupted. "By tapping into your magic soul, it's like becoming completely whole with your source making you stronger. Faster. Hell, better all in general, or so I've heard," he chuckled. "It takes a lot of practice to do, even I'm nowhere near close to mastering it."

"Thank you, PB." King said through clenched teeth.

The teen just shrugged his shoulders.

"I didn't even know that." Alce said, elbowing Ivy. She just rolled her eyes.

"PB is right. It's like, how can I put this? The ancestors were connected heavily to their spiritual side and found that our source has a soul." King tried to clarify, but he received confused and intrigued looks. "It's kinda hard to explain, but they believe that the soul is like a spiritual entity within magics. Just like the blood pumping through our body, so does a spiritual link that flow along with it. The Eeti Gilie was founded by a wizard named Jezibel Umayadi. He studied a lot on how a magic work down to each detail and is pretty famous for his findings. He even wrote a manuscript, titled A Magic's entity, but we'll talk deeper on that another time." King looked up into the sky to see the setting sun. "Well, it's been a long enough day. How 'bout we call it in."

Everyone got up and started heading inside the guild. Ricky came up to the master's side.

"We ready for this?" the man asked, puffing on his cigar.

King looked at him, nodding his head, "We can only find out."

... Brain Break ...