First Day
As Captain Frear had her Squadron line up, Logan’s body ached. He was starting to regret training all night as the rising sun blared directly in his eyes. Logan desperately wanted to shield his eyes, but didn’t want to draw attention. He stood on the far left of the line, so might be able to get away with something.
Maybe if I disguise it as a salute…
“Name, recruit!”
Suddenly Logan recognized that Captain Frear was in front of him, and was doing roll call.
“Uh, Logan Brewer… ma’am”
Even though she gave him a glare, Logan seemed to pass muster just barely, and Captain Frear moved on down the line. Jerry and Larry answered, and then the Captain moved onto the other man who had been in the barracks last night. She called for him and he answered as Lucius, with no last name.
This was enough for the Captain, who moved down the line to the woman’s half. First up was Amar, which brought her presence in this Squad back to his mind. How did she fit the requirements to end up assigned here?
After Amar, came a few other people Logan hadn’t met properly yet. Next was a young woman with pale cyan hair, who introduced herself as Aerie, who was in turn followed by Sophia, a tough looking middle aged woman.
Then, second to last in line was another woman with startling white hair like Amar. It was hard to tell her age, but she appeared to be young, with shorter, cropped hair. Her given name was Lexie Lockhardt. Last in line was Arasaka, who introduced herself.
That made Logan realize that this exercise was likely for the recruits, not Captain Frear, who had known at least some of these people's faces before today.
“Listen up, I will not remember either your name or your face, so I will just call you all ‘you’, ‘punk’, or maybe ‘shithead’. If you cannot deal with that, you do not belong in the Legion, and I will personally ensure you never make it in. Do we understand each other?”
Well. Looked like Logan had gotten the wrong thinking there.
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Gregor’s morning started out more relaxed than the previous. He had heard the trumpets, but they had been located far enough away that he just rolled back over and got some more sleep. After another hour or so, he had rolled out of his cot, and gotten dressed for the day, before heading out for breakfast.
He had found it in a private cafeteria, where Gregor met Major Micah also enjoying a meal. Gregor joined his new mentor, and together they feasted on a heaping plate of eggs, thick cut bacon and toast. Many minutes after greeting each other, more words were exchanged.
“-Burp- Ah, that was a good one. Love the bacon we get from the sea hogs, really juicy stuff. So, what do you want to do today?”
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“I, uhh, wasn’t expecting to be asked.”
Micah gave him an exasperated look.
“I took you as my apprentice because you clearly have direction, but need to be supported. I don’t want to hold your hand, but I’ll guide you if you get too off path. More importantly, what do you think is the next thing you need to fill in your gaps?”
“I… don’t have anything that empowers an attack, so I can’t always translate my strength onto larger and more durable opponents.”
“So ability training, huh. I’ve got a couple of good ones you might like. You just use a single sword, yeah?”
“Uh, yessir.”
“I told you, just call me Micah.”
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As the two of them walked out into a training yard, Micah began to explain to Gregor about the ability he was going to try and teach him. The result didn’t sound complicated, but the process was confounding Gregor.
“You have to focus on your being, really focus on letting it radiate out. Let it feed out into the air.”
Gregor was trying to do what Micah was instructing, but it felt like the complete opposite of what his Codex had been instructing him to do for years. He could feel the flow of his essence, but every time Gregor tried to direct out into the air, it just looped back on its tracks.
Still, he tried. After a little while, Micah left Gregor to sort it out on his own in the training yard, and Gregor stayed there for hours sitting and meditating. The first thing the Major had told him about this particular ability had stuck with Gregor, and he wanted it.
‘This ability is in general use, so anyone can use it regardless of affinity. All it does is create an aura based off of your spark, so its use is entirely decided by your own potential. Would probably be a good fit for you to start off with, kid.’
At this point, Gregor’s spark was half physical, so he was interested in what his aura could accomplish. That was why Gregor was still there sweating as the night fell. Finally, he felt his essence slip out of his body and into the air.
Suddenly, Gregor could feel the space around him, like an extra limb. Strangely, he could also see and hear and taste from the air that he controlled, and he felt his senses overwhelmed. Gregor fell to the ground, and vomited, any control of the working vanishing and freeing him from some of the sensory overload.
Unfortunately, laying in vomit wasn’t much better, and Gregor quickly rolled out of the noxious puddle.
Success had never tasted so vile.
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“Time for a day one tradition people!” Captain Frear shouted at her Squadron.
All the people who had been here for a while groaned, while the new recruits just looked confused.
“Mission day again Captain? You never let us get a break.” Jerry complained to the Captain.
“Of course not, you bums might as well go hunt food if you’re just gonna sit around here. So up and at 'em, today’s target is a pair of Salt Kings that have been spotted along the coast, too close to Langst Harbor to tolerate.”
At that, the Captain motioned them all closer and showed them a map of the area. Marineford was slightly to the Northwest of the town, and closer to the sighted Beasts. It would be a quick trip before the fight, at least.
“Remember, as Salt Kings are Beasts, you only have to drive them off to complete this mission. Normally, we wouldn't even bother with them, but they are close enough to interfere with local fishermen. I won’t coddle you, so only expect my help unless it's obvious you are about to die, and maybe not even then.”
“Alright, that should cover it all, let's head out!”
The Captain had already turned and begun the march onto the thoroughfare. Left with no choice but to follow, her Squadron fell into ranks and began to haphazardly march after her. They certainly weren’t coordinated or intimidating, but they cut an interesting profile as the group left the military camp and started on a beated road.
As they left, Logan’s nerves rose. Once again, it felt like it was much too soon for him to see combat, but there was no other choice. At least this time, his group was a bit larger and better prepared than his last endeavor.
And, it seemed they had a bit more experience on their metaphorical sleeves.
Jerry asked the group, “Since we are going to be fighting together, why don’t we introduce ourselves and our skill sets while we have the time?”