"No, Loter, you can not join the cross-training," Rag Dowii repeated himself, crossing his arms before his chest and shaking his head sideways. He and the squad stood on the stairs before the training center while another squad walked past them.
"But, but everyone else is going. Come on, Mr. Dowii." Loter hunched down in disappointment. Key patted his back, and Glacia consoled him verbally.
Dowii pushed his shades. "False information. At least half the school is doing academic classes in the afternoon."
"But the entire squad is going."
"You will be able to join next time, alright?"
"When is that?" Loter's eyes sparkled in a zestful gleam.
"Next month."
The gleam died.
Loter followed Dowii up the stairs while looking back at the lobby on the first floor. About 30 people were there, including mentors and students.
They stopped by the fourth floor. It was an open area with teak floors and white drywalls. Along the wall were the teak banquettes, pilasters, and windows. The soft light cast by the rectangular flush mounts gleamed on the glossy wooden surfaces.
"Wow, cool place." Loter spun into the vast room, looking around. The place did have a good vibe. However, it was too empty compared with its size for Loter to really find it fascinating.
"Shoes off." Dowii nodded his head at the short shoe case and took off his black sneakers.
"Oh, yeah." Loter quickly shoved his white sneakers into the case and darted arbitrarily around the room. He found a quirky pleasure in tapping his soles against wooden planks.
While Loter was having fun with himself, Dowii casually but gently put his shoes into the case. "Okay, so—" He paused his words when he saw Loter taking off his black socks. "You don't need to take those off."
"But I want to," Loter replied with his socks lying on the floor. The forthrightness of Loter's answer had Dowii frozen for a second.
He soon restored his placid attitude. "It's alright as long as you're comfortable. Now, let's start our training, shall we?"
"Yeah, what are we going to do first?" Loter stored his socks in his pockets while bouncing on the ground.
"Since you want to spar so much, we are going to do that." Dowii extended his left hand forward with all fingers straight, held his right fist around waist-level, and spread his legs a bit with his knees half-bent.
"Wait, I don't think it is a good idea." Loter immediately took a step backward with his palms held before his chest.
"What? Do you think I'm Key?" Dowii smirked, his teeth barely showing through his opened lips.
Mr. Dowii is not even as muscular as Key. He is certainly going to be hurt.
"I don't want to hurt anybody."
"I can guarantee you most students here can hit harder than you, so stop acting like you have some sort of destructive powers," Dowii stated without changing his relaxed tone or pose.
I don't know much about students here, but I do know Hiroku has blown up a place before, and Glacia can cause earthquakes. If Rag Dowii can be their mentor, he must be stronger than them, right? Uh, I don't know. Alright, I will just perform one punch, and he will back off. I will just do one, and he will understand.
"I'm coming. Be careful," Loter took several deep breaths and said.
The final inhalation was done. The bumping of the nervous heart became the only noise in Loter's ears. He sprinted forward and punched. His eyes closed subconsciously in a flickering fear. He could almost hear Dowii's screech while his fist was still in the air.
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The punch landed. Loter sensed a softness touching his knuckles and the back of his fist. He opened his eyes and saw Dowii grabbing his fist.
The mentor's brown skin was intact. His blue cuff had no red stain, and his white sleeve was not covered in blood.
"What do you think? Am I qualified to fight you?" Dowii joked. One corner of his smirking lips was pulled much higher than the other.
"Yeah." Loter burst a smile of relief, the rest of his body still frozen from the earlier fright.
"Great," Dowii replied and flung Loter's fist aside. With this momentum, he sent the other hand forward.
The punch jabbed Loter in the face. A kick to the chest followed, sending the staggering boy to the ground.
"Get up, Loter. Quick." Dowii beckoned.
"Ahhhhhh!" Loter grunted loudly and crawled back on his feet. He threw a hand forward and was immediately dodged. Loter attempted to follow with another punch, yet Dowii grabbed his wrist while it was still rising.
Dowii struck Loter in the midriff with the empty hand. The pain was evident and accompanied by a surge of chyme. Loter fell to the ground as Dowii released his wrist.
"Have you ever learned how to fight?"
Loter lay on the ground, groaning. His vomit slid back down his stomach.
Dowii sighed and crouched beside Loter. "It might be a surprise, but I do not have any superpower. All my strength comes from training. Not everyone has the gift to gain such strength, but this is the goal I set for Key Rayth. For you, I think you can far surpass this."
Loter, still rubbing his stomach, was amusedly surprised by the high expectation. "You really think so?"
"Yes." Dowii nodded, his lips straightened in seriousness. However, this solemnity was not held long. He suddenly snickered and joked, "Well, I'm not confident in your ability. I'm confident in my skills as a teacher. Now, get up. We have to start with the basics of combat. Theories, shall we say?"
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On the second floor, the two Kayama-containing squads sat in the left lounge. To the right, two other teams were in the other lounge. A wall between them separated the four teams.
Each lounge had two sets of couches and tables. Before them, five aligned screens were affixed to the greenish-gray metallic wall.
In the left lounge, the three screens in the center depicted a cylindrical mall from different angles. The leftmost one followed Kiznaq DoLock, whereas the rightmost followed Key Rayth.
This was the cross-training: two individuals from two different squads fighting to death in a simulator within a limited space.
While Kiznaq was in his casual leather jacket, Key had himself clad in equipment. His headwear was a red, sallet-styled helmet that covered his upper face with a layer of metal and a glass windscreen for the lower face. A pair of exaggerated and triangular sunglasses was attached to the headwear as the eyeholes.
Beneath, he wore a white leather pullover and black trousers. Both attires had dark red armor plates sewn on them.
On his right forearm was a black, huge, U-shaped device affixed on his vambrace. Between the two legs of the "U" was a display panel that could be lit up. Key picked up his red-and-white grenade launcher as he entered the mall from one of the back doors.
Ramiron, alone, sat on the widest couch, laying her extended arms on the seatback. Her legs propped on the table's edge. Hiroku was in the lounge chair with an elbow on the pillowed armrest supporting his head.
Despite having more than one place to sit, Glacia stood behind Hiroku, gently fiddling with Hiroku's upper ponytail.
"Want to bet?" Ramiron asked, picking up the Cyclops energy drink beside her.
"Key, duh. We're on the same squad. I mean, Key did lose in most of the cross-training, but he's fighting indoors against Kiznaq this time. I don't think Kiznaq even has any way to fight back," Glacia replied. She stuck her head over the chair's back and threw the question to Hiroku.
After moments of silence, Hiroku glanced at Glacia's moderately interested visage and decided not to ignore her. "Key does not stand a chance."
"For real?" Glacia raised her voice a bit. Her increasing investment was directed mainly toward Hiroku's response.
Ramiron immediately answered as if she knew what Hiroku was thinking, "The last time we saw Kiznaq in action was about a year ago—"
"a year and more than a half," Hiroku corrected her.
"You think Kiznaq has learned how to bend lightning, don't you?" Ramiron appraised Hiroku's listless face.
Glacia's eyes swung between the two temporarily and said, "But Key also grew stronger. Can't he just calculate where the lightning is going and dodge it?"
"Do you think he's Dow?" Ramiron smirked, chuckling loudly afterward.
Hiroku explained further, "The lightning Kiznaq summoned is much faster than my purple one, and it takes at least a level 10 bot to dodge mine. Key stands no chance unless he is already stronger than a level 10 bot."
"We'd better pray," Glacia said.