Chapter 17

M.T.C.

“You got this, Janet!”

“Fuck you, Travis! Fuck! Aw shit!”

“Watch out, Janet!”

“I know! Stop distracting me! Shit, Shit, Shit!” Janet had been fighting The Bandersicul for about two minutes with mixed results. They had put her against a fresh Bandersicul that still had all its appendages, but Janet quickly remedied that. She had severed four of its eight legs and one of its two tentacles. Janet honestly embraced the spirit of the training exercise better than I had. The whole reason we were fighting a dexterity-based creature with our Mana suppressed was to learn how to cut down unnecessary movement.

Janet had taken a good number of cuts all over her body for her commitment, but I could see her start to improve visibly over the last two minutes. When the match ended, it happened fast. Janet took a deep cut to the back of one calf, followed up with a swift slash to the neck that left arterial blood spraying. She had to clamp her hand down on the wound to stanch the bleeding and was forced to end the match.

“Fuck! God damn it, loser! Loser! Get me the fuck out of here!”

“Oh, come on, Janet. You’ve got this. Don’t give up. You can do this!” Eikman looked at Janet, bleeding out on the ground, and gave her a thumbs up.

“God damn it, Eikman. Howsmer, get me the fuck out of her!” The Bandersicul was closing on Janet, and if Howsmer did do something soon, Janet might die. I thought about breaking into the enclosure to save her, but I knew I wouldn’t make it.

“Howsmer, what the fuck are you waiting for!” Yelled at the man. I was about to start panicking. Then, Howsmer flipped out a small control device and clicked a button on it. The Bandersicul, which was moments away from eviscerating Janet, froze in mid-air and started spasming. Howsmer then opened the enclosure door and ran in with a long hook on the far end. Howsmer got the hook close to The Bandersicul, and a flash of lighting connected the creature to the hook. Howsmer then dragged the creature off to a cage and locked it up.

I ran into the enclosure right behind Howsmer and fed Janet a healing pill that Howsmer threw me. Seconds after, the blood stopped its flow, and shortly after that, her neck wound sealed shut completely. Janet must have still lost too much blood, or maybe the healing pill took it out of her because after most of her wounds were healed, her eyes fluttered, and Janet was down for the count. Once Janet woke up, we rested for about an hour, and then each of us went at The Bandersicul again. It was then rinse and repeat till we were both dead on our feet, and the healing pills had lost most of their effectiveness. I don’t know how we made it back to the inn, but we did, and we passed out.

The next morning, we met Eikman at his home. Surprisingly, Howsmer was there helping Eikman set up what looked like a bunch of land mines, but each one was two feet in diameter. They were thin and looked to be made of metal. As Janet and I approached the fence surrounding Eikman's muddy training field, Janet called out two of the two old men.

“What the fuck are you old bastards doing? You trying to blow us up now?”

both Eikman and Howsmer looked over at us with questioning looks on their faces.

“Blow you up? What are you talking about, you crazy girl? Honestly, kids these days, you know?”

“It’s good you're here. This was the last one, and it’s finally ready. We’ve been working on this all morning. This is a mobile training circuit. You can buy these arrays or rent them and then lay them out in different designs to change the circuit to accommodate the training you're trying to accomplish. For example, we set this MTC up to train your movment speed and your timing, two things that will have the lagest impact on your matches coming up in the next few days.”

“How is that a training device? It just looks like a bunch of oversized land minds?” As Janet finished her statement, Eikman let out a burst of Mana. I felt it with my ability of Mana Manipulation, and the Mana quickly infused into each disc. Magically, a glowing, partially see-through, fully functional obstacle course popped into existence. It was amazing, and Janet stopped speaking, and we both hopped over the fence to get a closer look. I walked up to the closest piece of the course and instinctively raised my hand up to touch it. I half expected my hand to pass right through it, but it stopped as my hand made contact with the structure. It was like touching glass but with the feel that wasn’t slippery. It was crazy.

I was mesmerized, so when the mud ball hit me in the ear, I was taken entirely by surprise. Then there was a second splat, and Janet let out a sputter followed by,

“What the fuck! Who the fuck is trying to die!”

“Oh good, I’ve got your attention. I know you locals have probably never seen anything like this, but these kinds of constructs are used all over the globe, so get used to them. Now, this is what I will be doing today. You will run this circuit till you puke your guts out, haha.” Eikman explained, then laughed at Janet and I pulling mud out of our ears and hair.

“So, who’s first.” Said Howsmer with a smile. I just looked at Janet like you know this is gonna suck, right? Janet slapped herself in the face, shocking everyone except Eikman, who squealed a bit in joy and then clapped a few times. Then Janet spoke with a determined look in her eye,

“Let’s fucking do this.” Then she punched her fist into her palm, the embodiment of determination.

Janet decided that she was going to go first today and now stretching it out.

“You're fine. Just go at it all ready. Come on.” Eikman was bouncing on his toes with anticipation.

“Calm down, old man. I'm ready. Let’s do this. So what’s the goal here? Make it through the whole circuit without getting hit?” Janet asked Eikman. Eikman started laughing.

“What?” Janets said, confused at his reaction.

“Well, if you can make it all the way through this circuit without getting hit once, you would definitely have won, but let's start with just trying to stay within the bounds of the circuit. See those glowing lines on the ground there? Those are the circuit's boundaries. If you leave that boundary, your run is over. Got it?” Howsmer answered Janet as Eikman had his hands over his mouth, trying to stifle his laughter. While Eikman was still working to pull his shit together, Janet started her run.

Stolen story; please report.

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I knew I was fast. Fuck I thought I was fast. I'd considered myself somewhat agile. No, I'm super agile. Janet, get the fuck out of your head. These obstacles are just fucking ridiculous. Not get hit, what the fuck was I thinking. I can’t even count how many times I’ve been hit now. Howsmer was right. I’m barely able to stay within the boundaries.

This is crazy! Okay, next obstacle, keep it moving, Janet. This was what, number four? No, fuck! That was only the second? Shit! Come on. Fuck! Damn it, a semi-transparent fist hit me in the side of the face, and then ten more did, and I was thrown out of bounds ending my first run.

“Fuckin shit!” Oh, great. Now I was covered in mud, of course.

“Janet, you okay?” Travis had run over to check on me, but I was fine. It was more my pride that was hurt than anything else. This fucking obstacle core was insanely difficult. I wouldn’t let this fucking thing beat me. I’m fucking Janet Kats. I’ll make this circuit, my fucking bitch god damn it! It was time to answer Travis, he was starting to look concerned.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I just thought I’d have made it a bit farther than I did, you know? But fuck it, ill get further next time. You ready? It’s your turn now.” I took the hand Travis offered and pulled myself to my feet. He had no idea what he was in for. The training circuit was much more intense than I had first thought. If we were going to run this thing all day, then we might be fucked for our fights tomorrow. As I thought about that fact more, I decided it was something worth bringing up.

Travis was doing some last-minute stretches, so I figured now was as good a time as any. Maybe it was also a good call to ask about our recovery for tomorrow before Travis ran in there all amped up and fucking got hurt. I’m sure Howsmer doesn’t have an endless supply of those healing pills he gave me. Shit, Travis was about to start his run.

“Hey, one second, Travis. Before you start your run. Eikman, we told you that we have our first fights in the Coliseum tomorrow. Are we going to be all worn out? Shouldn’t we, like, be resting or some shit the day before a fight. Am I wrong?” Eikman and Howsmer looked at each other before looking back at me. Then Eikman replied.

“Well, the simple answer is no, Haha. Ha, ha, no, but seriously, there's a pill for that. You’ll laugh when you hear the name of the pill, too. Ha, ha, it’s called The Fighters Slumber, Ha, ha.” Eikman finished laughing.

“Fuck yeah. There are some upsides to this fucked up world. I bet it cures a hangover as well, ha.” Travis said, a little too happy to hear about this good night’s sleep in a pill. I was pretty excited as well. It meant we could train all day. Spend as much time as we could improving ourselves, then still be able to fuck shit up tomorrow.

“Well fuck then, let's do this.”

“And Im keeping track of what you’ll owe Howsmer for the pills, too, so don't worry about trying to keep all those big numbers straight in your heads. Just focus on training today.” Eikman informed Travis and me while smiling earnestly.”

“Wait! How much do we owe as of now?” Travis asked Eikman.

“Yeah, same question?” I asked Eikman.

“I mean, pills aren't free. Let’s see it’s up, too…” Eikman paused while he dug through his rags, pulling out bits of paper here and there. Howsmer cleared his throat before loudly whispering in Eikmans ear.

“Pisssst, Eikman, fifty silver, and forty coppers.” Eikman didn’t respond. He just nodded slightly before looking back at Travis and then myself.

“It’s up to fifty silver and forty coppers, now I remember. I was going to let you pay after your fights. We’re training now. Travis, go, come on, move it. We don’t have all day. Well, I guess we do, but that's not the point. Come on, Travis, we don't have all day!” Eikman finished, almost yelling. Travis had face-palmed at Eikman's word, but then he looked at me, shrugged, and started walking over to the training circuit.

Eikman, that motherfucker. He was definitely going to get a piece of my mind. After Travis is done,

“Come on, babe! You got this!” Oh fuck, did I just call him babe? Shit.

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Shit! That fucking hurt. Janet wasn’t lying. This circuit was something else. There were climbing obstacles, hanging obstacles, balancing obstacles, and many more. In total, there were twenty different obstacles in the circuit. It was kind of like that TV obstacle course show, except you did not only have to complete the obstacle but also avoid all the shit trying to smash your face in. Oh, and there was a Mana cancelation array, so you know no abilities.

It was, let's just say, difficult to just stay on the circuit, let alone finish the entire thing. I made it to the third obstacle, just as Janet had. Then it just became too much, and I got smacked in the face while hanging from my fingertips, and it was game over. I hit the ground hard, but it was my face that hurt the most. That fucking fist had come out of nowhere and smacked me right in the jaw. Then, when I was disoriented from the first punch, I got hit at least ten to fifteen more times.

Most had been directed at my face as well. So when I hit the ground, I covered my head instinctively. I stayed like that till Janet placed a hand on my shoulder, causing me to flinch and then relax when I realized it was Janet and not another fist.

“It’s just me. Come on, get the fuck up.” Janet said as she offered me her hand with a smirk. I took the offered hand and pulled myself back up onto my feet, then tried my best to whip the worst of the mud of my clothing.

“Thanks, that circuit is fucking crazy. I don’t see us finishing it today. Even that third obstacle is stupidly difficult.” I said as Janet and I returned to the start of the circuit once more.

“Fuck! You're telling me, but I honestly find it a bit exciting to test myself like this, you know? Really push my skills? Plus, with the Mana suppression array active, there are no tricks and no magic. It’s just you against the machine or, well, magical array, but tomato, tomato.” I thought about what Janet said as we reached the starting point of the circuit. She had a point. This was an opportunity to push my body's limits and see what I could accomplish. As I pondered, Janet started her second run.

We started to progress further through the training circuit, but eventually, we would be tossed off at some point during every attempt. By five o’clock in the afternoon, Janet and I were each able to reach the tenth obstacle. I had made it to the eleventh twice, and Janet made it there once, but I could tell I was reaching my limit. Maybe I was just mentally exhausted, or perhaps I had gotten to a point where my increase was too incrementally to satisfy my gluttony for improvement. Either way, I got more and more frustrated with every run. I decided I needed to take a step back and just meditate to calm my mind.

I found a spot to sit on one side of the training yard. It was a barely standing bench, but it could bear my weight, so I figured it was fine. It was better than sitting in the mud, at least. I shut my eyes and began the process of calming my mind. It was only minutes into the process when I heard Janet cursing.

“Fuck you, mother fucking ass! This fucking thing will not beat me. It will not beat me! Ahh!” I couldn’t help it, I started chuckling. Janet heard me and looked over in my direction. They shot me a sarcastic smile, then flicked me off. That only made me laugh, but then Janet was returning to the start of the circuit to try again. It was only on Janet’s fourth run that I noticed something.

Janet was on the eighth obstacle. She had passed this obstacle many times by now, and I could tell she was just trying to go through the motions and get to her real goal of passing the thirteenth. She was about halfway through the obstacle array, a mix of monkey bars with gaps you had to swing and let go of to reach the next one and then balance beams that you would have to jump between to reach the end of the obstacle. While you were doing this, you had to fight spirit-like beings that looked like ghosts, but they didn’t hit like one.

It was during Janet’s switch from the monkey bar part of the obstacle to the balance beam section I saw it. There was a pattern of the attacks, and it had just changed. As I sat there and watched Janet run the circuit, patterns in the attacks began appearing everywhere. It was all patterns. Not necessarily perfect patterns, but it was there. When Janet was at the thirteenth obstacle, I lost the patterns for a while. They just became too iritic, but as I sat and watched, slowly, a pattern emerged. It was longer and more complicated, but I could see it, and then I frowned.

As I watched Janet dance through the obstacle, she was unknowingly, flowing with the pattern I was seeing. Slowly, she began to fall out of the dance, and I could see it. I could tell she was going to get kicked off the circuit... Right... Now.

“Mother fucker!” My mouth fell open slightly at the shock at what I had just seen and predicted. Holy shit, what the fuck just happened? I had to try. I had to find out. I had to make a run. I stood up, dusted myself off to the best of my ability, and walked over to the starting line.