Building Bonds
Gregor stood in front of his new Squadron for their second day of training. In his pocket, his hand played with another new thing. Last night, after informing him of their upcoming march, the Major had taken Gregor to get his Assessment Card updated
Name: Gregor Greatwood
Tier: C
Body: S Rank
Mind: A Rank
Spirit: A Rank
Affinity: N/A
Abilities:
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Aura Control
Blessings:
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Battle Meditation
His conflicts at the dock had managed to push him past 25 Kindles, and into the lower threshold of the C-Tier. When he had met the administrator for the Assessment, he informed Gregor that he had Kindled exactly 31 times so far in his life. Gregor was also supposed to bring the rest of his Squadron along before they were to leave Marineford.
So far, Gregor hadn’t noticed much difference between D and C Tier. In fact, he would say there were no discernable distinguishing features, except for a slight improvement in reading opponents movements. Still, Gregor’s body was powerful, and that was enough to have left his Squadron laying in the dust and dirt once more.
“Again. This time, I want to see a better attempt at covering each other when your Squadmates make an aggressive maneuver. Now… begin.”
As usual, Gregor let his Squadron initiate the contest’s early stages and take advantageous positioning. Realistically, it was the only time he could accurately gauge their improvement, as once Gregor went on the offensive, their formation would crumble. That was the point, after all.
As he watched, Larry and Arasaka engaged him directly again. However, this time, their approach was measured, and they chose to attack from a coordinated angle instead of separating. Gregor approved, against stronger opponents using the spacial advantage superior numbers provided was crucial.
As Larry swung his axe with force, Arasaka would duck into the openings he left, letting the tip of the Greatwood Squadrons spear pierce forward with no hesitation. Normally, this would have prompted Gregor to back up, but Aerie and Jerry had lain puddles of alternating water and acid, and Gregor had no desire to test either.
Leaping up in the air as he did during the first drill, Gregor was immediately met by a Bear Claw from Amar, forcing him to parry, and letting Logan teleport directly behind him, and Lucius and Sophia to cover his landing. It was a well worked operation, that would have worked… had they faced anyone other than Gregor.
Instead, Gregor activated his Aura Ability, and stiffened the air around him, slowing both himself and Logan’s descending training sword to a halt. Lashing out with his own wooden sword Logan, Lucius, and Sophia fell to the ground. Once Gregor landed, the rest shortly followed.
“Good job everyone. I may even let you off without a third day at this rate.” Gregor stated with a smile.
A chorus of grunts and groans met his cheer.
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By the end of the second day of Gregor’s training, Logan was feeling more alive than ever. That was because of the pain bringing awareness to places on his body that he wasn’t aware existed, making Logan hyper aware of his own mortality.
Jerry had kindly offered to check up on the Squadron after the day's training, applying salves and compression bandages to help the recovery process. Of course, the recovery process was still likely to take most of the week, but every bit helped. At least, Logan told himself that as the poultice stung over his scrapes and cuts.
Still, Logan kept repeating that it had been worth it, because Gregor had decided to move on to a different training regimen tomorrow. Their new Captain had claimed it was because of their improvement, but Logan could tell it was due to the imposed time constraints.
Instead, starting tomorrow Gregor was going to pair the Squadron off and have them fight in one on one battles. He explained that the majority of fights ended up breaking into one on one combat eventually, so it was an important fundamental skill, to be prepared and practiced against any type of opponent. With the variety that the Greatwood Squadron had to offer, they could achieve meaningful practice on that.
Logan had been paired up with Aerie, and frankly had no idea how he would go about beating her in a fight. The limits of her Divinity were completely unknown to him, so any planning Logan processed would be guesswork at best. Staring across the field at her, Logan shook his head.
If he wasn’t going to make any progress on this front, he had other work to do. Thanking Jerry for his help, Logan went to track down two other members of the Greatwood Squadron.
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As Logan sat with Sophia and Lucius outside the barracks, they tried to impart knowledge of sign language to him. So far over the last couple of days, little progress had been made.
“Wait, so this is the sign for ‘left’?” Logan asked.
Logan formed his left hand into an ‘L’ shape, and then made an outward motion with his arm. At his motion, both Sophia and Lucius gave him a nod. It had been in this fashion that Logan’s learning had progressed, with Logan saying words, and them miming back the duo’s motions.
They had also managed to co-opt some paper, and an ink quill, but Logan had run into an issue with that as well. Although he had never even considered it because everyone he met had spoken English, when his Squadmates went to write out their thoughts, Logan realized he didn’t know the written language.
He had pieced together that the alphabet was similar to the one he was used to, but all of the symbols they used as characters here meant nothing to Logan. Deciding to focus on Sign Language first, the trio had discarded that method of communication, and just relied on Logan to drive the progress forward.
“Ok, ok, I think I’m starting to get the hang of this. Let me try the sentence again.”
This time, Logan went through a whole series of motions, arms and hands moving in sync in front of his chest.
‘Go forwards, and go left to get into the barracks.’ Or at least, that’s what he was trying to say. When Logan looked at Lucius, the man was just smiling and shaking his head, before he signed the one word Logan could immediately recognize at this point.
‘Wrong.’
“Well, heck. Let me try one more time.” Logan wasn’t about to give up that easily.
At his insistence, the three of them stayed out and worked on Logan’s improving communication skills for hours, until they could barely stay up, after a brutal day of training. Still, all three of them retired for the night with smiles upon their faces.
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Amar had a smile upon her face as she sat with her current company. Her new Captain was seated across from her, even if it was hard for Amar to think of him like that. Seeing someone you had grown up transition to a position of authority was hard to adjust too, after all.
“The food here for the officers is given a bit more effort, so I thought you might enjoy eating some better fare.” Gregor said, while looking away.
Amar wasn’t going to point out that he was blushing while he said that, too. She thought it was cute.
“Well aren’t you a charmer? Thanks for thinking of me.”
“Ah, well… I hope you enjoy it, then.”
And she did. Although the food wasn’t terrific, it had a level or preparation that the mass made meals of the mess hall couldn’t match. A thin cut of steak, with roasted green beans and fresh bread adorned her plate, all of it quite well made. Still, she kept having her attention drawn back to Gregor.
She hadn’t realized it, being separated from him in the Frear Squadron, but Gregor’s presence made it much easier for her to relax. Maybe it was the reminder of home, but something about his company made any tension fade from her chest.
“Uhh, has training been alright so far? Not too intense?” Gregor queried nervously.
Amar managed to give him a glare.
“Well, my head certainly has gotten stronger from your attacks at least.”
Gregor had the decency to look embarrassed. At least Amar had managed to get some reward out of the pain. The smile was still warmly covering her face.
“I’m… sorry? I’ve been trying to be gentle with you, at least.”
“Oh, just me?”
At that, Gregor suddenly stood. He was clearly flustered.
“I just remembered… actually the Major was looking for me, I should really be going.”
As her new Captain rushed away from the scene, the smile on Amar’s face just grew.