Sprinting through the dusty planes, Norbert usually ran, pushing himself as hard as he could without the purple light taking over him. Wanting to make sure he could look normal and not tap into that whenever needed.
As Norbert continued running, each time he saw purple light coming from his body, stopping and going for a walk before it faded again. Norbert made his way back to base camp. Finally, seeing the group huddled together, Norbert smiled, slowing down to a walk to ensure he would not wake anyone up at whatever time.
Taking his backpack off, Norbert sat down on the outskirts of the group. Looking around at the faces, Norbert heard people whispering on the other side of the camp. Squinting his eyes, Norbert saw the long orange hair swish under a hand. Norbert, having spotted Grosly Norbert picked up his bag carefully from the sleeping Obsius inside and made his way around the group.
Norbert, getting closer, waved his hand, receiving similar waves in return. Sitting down, Norbert looked at the little group talking to each other looking around, Norbert noticed they were the two other people at also had tried to catch up with the instructor.
Looking around, Grosly said, "Ya finally joined us, got tired with playin' with ya self?"
"I wasn't playing with myself; I was playing with Obsius", Norbert responded. Strange looks were going around the group. Norbert opened his bag, slightly tilting it so the others could look inside. There, curled up within his coat, sat Obsius, oblivious to the world.
The others were cooing in the cuteness of the little ball of black feathers with white speckles. Norbert pulled the backpack next to him, ensuring it was secure and Obsius was still sleeping.
"So, where did you pick up the little guy?" Norbert looked at the person speaking. Seeing it was the female that ran with them, looking Norbert saw she had the leather gear off, just wearing the fabric clothes underneath. Her long brown hair curled at the ends as it spooled past her shoulders.
Norbert looked at her face, trying to find something to recognise her, but the darkness seemed to infringe upon it, making it impossible to confirm seeing any distinct part of her face.
Norbert, stopping his looking and remembering he needed to answer, "On my travels around Flare-dew, I saw it within the trees, ever since Obsius has just hung around. Sometimes flying off to do their own thing but always coming back," Norbert said, quickly gulping down his nerves, needing to talk to strangers now.
"So, great runner, how long did it take you to complete the ten times?" a small voice peeped up; Norbert looked to the third person of the trio from before, having the short black hair and dark skin, the first noticed in his time at this place, Norbert realised. Wondering the geography of where this individual came from.
"I don't know how many times I did it, not as fast as you guys, I'm sure, but let's just say I stayed a little over time," Norbert replied, looking sheepishly at the ground, rubbing his head like a child caught by his parents after doing something naughty. "Anyway, before we continue, shall we share names? I'll start; hello, group; my name is Norbert," Norbert said, standing up and bowing before sitting down again, expecting the others to follow suit.
Grosly stood up, brushing the hair from his eyes with his hand. "Ya, all know the wonderful me, Grosly, who was the first back here" With a bowl Grosly sat down. Norbert doing a quiet clap in congratulations.
Looking up, the girl stood up next, whispering, "This is stupid", under her breath before lifting her chin to the world and exclaiming ", Hi, Norbert and folks, my name is Carmen." Also, doing a bow, she sat down again. Norbert also clapped for her, not wanting anyone to be left out.
The last one of the group raised his head, saying, still sitting down, "Chip and you better praise my voice every time I speak. And how many times do I need to say you only 'won' Grosly because you cheated" he grumbled slightly. Looking around, Norbert clapped, albeit much slower than the other ones. Looking around, the conversation slowly died down.
Grosly looked at Chip's tone, increasing. "Take back the words before you regret it", Grosly said, staring down at Chip, waiting for a response.
Standing up, Carmen approached Grosly before slapping the back of his head. "Really, in front of our first guest and your acting like children. Don't come crying to me if you two scare him off like the others." Carmen said before sitting back down again next to her pack.
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Both boys looked over at Norbert to judge his reaction. Holding his hands up in surrender, Norbert said, "You can both calm down; I'm not going anywhere." the two boys breathed out, and the fears that Carmen had instilled disappeared. "But it is going to cost you, though. Now don't give me those looks again; it's easy. If you're up to it, want a couple of questions answered about yourselves?" Norbert said, eyes going back and forth between the two boys in the group.
"First things that have been on my mind, how are you, not a pulp Grosly?" Norbert said, looking straight at Grosly, not moving his eyes away until Grosly began speaking.
"Well, it's a secret" with that, Norbert stood up, slowly reaching down to get his backpack, being careful. "Wait", Grosly said; Norbert slowly turned around before. "It's an ability. As you can see, that increases my toughness for a short time. Now that's all I'm going to say about it."
"And anyway", Grosly commented back, "Don't think you can keep it a secret with your glowing hands; we all saw it." Norbert looked around the group, seeing nods coming from the other two.
"Honestly, I don't know what it does. Sometimes happens when under physical strain. Received it along my travels. Now that's all I'm gonna say about it." Norbert replied, looking at Grosly.
Conceding his hands, the two of them looked back to the rest of the group. Carmen piped up, "But how long did you do the course for Norbert?"
"Well, like I said, I did it for as long as possible. When the sun started to set, I did the final run in the twilight as quickly as possible, then had to make it back here. And using my trusty navigator, I made it here when I met you." Norbert looked around. I was lying back on the ground to look up at the stars as he finished his story, looking once more for constellations he had known but finding nothing.
"So, what did the rest of you do while I was away?" Norbert asked the question to the sky, waiting to see if there was a response.
"None of your business, but if you must know what the great I did, we just rested while we could," Chip said, Norbert looking up and seeing the nodding heads between the other two trio members.
The conversation continued before, one by one, they nodded off to sleep, Norbert still just staring up at the stars.
Thinking about what the others did and if he wanted to get out of this situation, Norbert looked around, not feeling the day's tiredness before kicking in, and was watching for something to do.
Finding nothing, but at least now knowing roughly where he was, Norbert went and picked up his backpack and started walking around the camp. Letting his thoughts wander.
As Norbert came around one final time, looking down and seeing grooves in the cracked earth where he had been walking, Norbert lay down and closed his eyes. No dreams about what could be in his future interrupted him, just the bliss of sleep.
***
"Come on and get up; we gotta go to the next location!" the instructor shouted, already out of her tent and hitting people to get up.
Norbert groggily opened his eyes and slowly stood up. Stretching his back, Norbert looked around the group, the cracks and pops of it making him sigh in relief. All this sleeping on the hard ground with nothing was starting to get to Norbert. Not wanting to think about how much longer he would need to stay here.
Following Lily as she led the group out, Norbert met up with the trio. Going into a run this time again, the three followed Lily as she crossed the planes. Idly talking between the little group, Norbert asked, "Is it just me, or is your back also getting twisted out of shape?"
Norbert turned to the side, seeing Grosly and Carmen nod in confirmation, Chip not registering what they said. "Well, after the massage yesterday, my back is feeling better", Grosly said out loud. Norbert looked at him, feeling betrayed once more.
"So that's what you did while you were 'sleeping' yesterday. Wonder if you did anything else?" Norbert asked, voice slowly rising in pitch as he couldn't keep the grin off his face.
Looking to the side, nobody's face went beet red; knowing he had missed the mark, Norbert just shrugged and let the conversation take over. Interjecting here and there when he felt necessary.
And so the group continued running, Lily taking the lead once more and not stopping for anyone. Slowly, people started getting left behind, the group extending from the close pack it was previously.
As Norbert continued running with the trio, nobody was no longer talking and just focusing on breathing the fresh air with as little dust as possible Norbert looked up at the sky. Obsius is still flying strong in the air, gliding slowly down before flapping its wings again.
Norbert smiled, knowing the little bird had more life in him than before, knowing he might need to catch him again.
Still going, the group finally petered out until it was just Norbert carrying Obsius in his backpack, not wanting the bird to be completely tired in case he needed to go back, the trio and Lily.
Looking back, Lily smiled at the three of them before running again. The group continued to run for a short while, leaving nothing in the distance; shortly after, Lily slowed down, coming to a walk as she looked down and tried to find a spot.
Looking up at the small group, now following her, saying, "Thank you all for lasting this long. As it has been deemed that your endurance is enough, it is time to teach you how to use the blades on each of your waists. The first part of your training will be with other people to have a base before going up against the creatures you will be expected to face." She said, walking up and down the line of people like a drill sergeant.
"You will continue to do this training at night from here on out, under my supervision, of course, while continuing to do the rest." She stopped at Norbert, looking up into his eyes.
"Now, as there are no more questions, please take out your knives and form into two groups."
Norbert looked to the side, seeing Chip and Carmen already pairing off. Looking at Grosly, Norbert gulped, knowing he was about to have a 'fun' time as he saw the smile on his face.