Fan Fiction ❯ The Goddess Sagas ❯ Training Game ( Chapter 1 )

Shadows Of The Goddess

By: Mimi Sakura

Opening Song: Holy Light

Things that have physical shape, aren't all there is to it

If you clear your heart, you can see lots of things

Naze kono yo ni umareta no ka

Wakarazu nakitai yoru mo

Hitomi wo nee tojiru nante

Mada sukoshi hayai yo ne

On nights when you feel like crying, wondering

"Why was I born?"

It's still too early

To close your eyes

Holy light sotto yami wo terasu yo

Asu no michi oshieru you ni

Holy light douzo yuuki wo kudasai mirai e no

Holy light, shine softly in the darkness

And show us tomorrow's path

Holy light, please give me courage, to face the future

Toki ni wa kanashii yokan sae ataru keredeo

Shiawase sagashite doko mademo tabi wo shitai

There are times when only sad premonitions come true

But I want to travel everywhere, searching for happiness

Kotoba dake ja tarinakutte

Dareka to surechigau hi mo

Kokoro wa minna atatakai tte

Mada watashi shinjiteru

Words aren't enough

On days when I pass someone

I still believe

That everyone has a warm heart

Holy light sotto sekai terasu yo

Chikyuu wo daite mamoru you ni

Holy light douzo egao wo kudasai eien no

Holy light, shine softly illuminating the world

Embracing the Earth, as if protecting it

Holy light, please give me a an eternal smile

Holy light sotto yami wo terasu yo

Asu no michi oshieru you ni

Holy light douzo yuuki wo kudasai mirai e no

Hontou no eien no

Holy light, shine softly in the darkness

And show us tomorrow's path

Holy light, please give me courage, to face the future

True courage, eternally

Chapter one: Training Game

Two boys stood on the cleft side, lightning streaked the sky about, silhouetting to figures, one sat on the ground while the other stood over him, looking down him, grinning, eyes as pale a blue as eyes could be.

"Come on, Ryan, is this the best you can do?" A tall boy around the age of eighteen teased, watching him with his arms

crossed around his chest. The moonlight cast down on his dark hair and pale skin making him seem

ghastly in the night.

Ryan looked up at him from where he sat on the ground, bleeding from several small cuts that appeared all over his body.

"Not a chance Keith!" He snarled pushing himself to his feet, removing a sword that hung from his side. He charged forward

at Keith who barely dodged the attack in time.

"Ha, ha! Ryan, you got to do better then that!"

"You--!!" Ryan charged towards Keith at full force, his sword drawn.

Keith extended his hand out in front of him.

"Fire spear." The boy grinned mercilessly as spears of fire magic blasted forward from his hand.

Ryan cried out in pain falling backwards from the blast, smashing into the rocky ground.

"You lose, Ryan..."

Ryan cried out as Keith's boot hit him hard in the stomach knocking all the wind left in his body out, then with another blow

everything began to get fuzzy and then black.

"Rya! Rya!"

A loud sugary voice greeted him awake, and he forced his light blue eyes opened and immediately found himself being

showered by the licks of a wet tongue.

"Mara..." Ryan muttered. "I asked you not to call me that pet name."

"But Rya!!" Mara moaned loudly pulling away from him, her tongue still slightly sticking out of her mouth in mid-lick. "It's

sounds sooo totally cute!"

Ryan looked at her and sighed.

Mara Trail, a overly sweet cat-girl. She was loud at times and sort of a ditz but he had to admit he liked her, but only as a

friend, not in the way she liked him. Always getting catty whenever another girl met eyes with him. Even though Mara was easy

on the eyes, with her cute short curly orange hair, brown skin, black stripes and cutely large cat ears that took the place of a

human's regular ears, he would not ever think of her as a girl friend, not when all he could think of her as was a little sister even

though she was only an year younger then him. But he really didn't want to hurt her feelings because she was his best friend ever

since he arrived at this school when he was really young. He knew he cared about her, maybe he did even love her in that way,

he couldn't tell, he did not remember exactly what love was, he supposed that happened when you grew up without the

affection of your parents or anyone for that matter, and the only love you knew you felt for a person was for your little sister,

and how different could love be from each other, how could you tell which love was which?

"Mara, I don't feel that well...can I please be alone?"

Mara frowned. "Well, you shouldn't feel well right now! I told you not to got up against Keith, he fights so dirty! You can get

your training a better way then that! Heck if I didn't arrive when I did you would probably be dead now!"

Ryan laughed slightly. "Yeah, Keith always had a soft spot for you."

"Ryan, do you think you'll be able to go to class today? If you want I can tell Mr.Tarlos that you still hurt from your training..."

Mara trailed off but Ryan silenced her with a shake of his head.

"No, It's all right Mara, I'm fine, I can go to class. I don't want Keith to think he did me in." Ryan got to his feet and got out of

the bed stretching his arms he reached for his school uniform which laid scattered on the floor of his dorm room.

"Mara." Ryan told her looking towards the door.

Mara rolled her eyes " It ain't like I never seen you naked before, remember that time at the lake?"

Ryan blushed crimson as he remembered. They were on a training mission and he had went to take a bath in the lake, as soon

as he was undressed and about to get in the water, he spotted Mara on the other side climbing out of the lake, also totally

naked. They both saw each other and began to scream. They weren't able to look at each other for days but Mara got over the

embarrassment and brings it up every time he wants to be alone to get undressed. But Mara got the hint and finally left the room

to save him embarrassment and time.

Ryan pulled on the itchy blue pants and matching blue shirt, around his waist he tied a green sash which marked that he was a

4th class student. He ran his hands threw his golden blond hair lazily and looked in the mirror, a large scar spread across his left

eye, his fingers touched it in disgust and then he cursed.

"Damn that Keith."

"So, you finally decided to join us Ryan?" Mr.Tarlos announced as the boy walked into the room in the middle of period.

"Sorry I'm late, sir." Ryan bowed his head.

"We were going over who will be joining us for the next mission, your lucky I'm in a good mood today or else I would deduct

your points for being late. Take your seat."

"Yes sir." Ryan sighed taking the last empty seat next to Mara.

"The next mission is to a temple called Anju, it's supposed to have some really powerful old relics from the ancient days!" Mara

whispered to him in a hushed voice.

"Miss. Trail! This is not a gossip room, please stop talking to Ryan." The teacher glared causing the cat-girl to shut up

immediately.

"All 4th level students who have gotten at least over eighty points will be joining us tomorrow in our mission, those completing

the mission with ninety or more points will achieve 5th rank."

"Wow, 5th rank, you can find out the secrets of the gods they say, it would be a honor to achieve such a rank, but hardly

anyone makes it-"

"Miss. Trail!" Mr.Tarlos snapped. "Minus five points for speaking after I told you to stop!"

"Awww...as if my points weren't low enough...!"

"I will now call out the names of those coming on the mission."

The chubby teacher took a sheet of paper off of the top of his disk and began reading off the names.

"Terri McGee

Richard Moysa

Rose Caraway....."

A few more names were called then

"Keith Soun ...

Mimi Sakura

Karl Cabrera

And finally Ryan."

"WOW RYAN YOU GOT CHOSEN!!" Mara exclaimed throwing her arms around him, the class began to laugh and Ryan

just turned red in the cheeks as the cat-girl began licking his face.

Keith eyed Ryan angrily as he watched the cat girl's display of affection and then he turned away.

"Mara! No kissing in the class, please leave immediately!" The teacher order pointing to the door.

Mara glancing over at the teacher still hanging off of him and mouth opened in mid-lick. She watched the teacher's stern face

then released her grip on the boy beside her. Mara sighed and kicked the desk with her foot.

"Fine, don't let a girl congratulate the one she loves! Brute!!" Mara turned away and stormed out of the room angrily.

Ryan just slapped his forehead as the class began to crack up.

The last class of the day had finally ended and Ryan was just leaving when he was stopped in the hall by his friend Mimi.

"Hey, Ryan...your very strong...um I was wondering...before we go to the mission tomorrow, if you could help train me a

little...I...well...I always wanted to get to 5th rank, and I don't want to blow this, do you think you could--??"

Ryan paused for a moment looking at the girl in front of him.

Mimi Sakura, she was a quite and shy young girl and the kind most people would love to be around but she was often left out

because of she was a half breed between an fairy and a human. Half-breeds weren't well liked or accepted. He knew this

because he was a half breed himself. A cross between a human and an demon. He looked regularly human except his ears

were slightly pointed, his teeth were sharper and had two small pointed fangs and a long furry brown tail but other then that he

could pass as human. He looked more like his mother he supposed, even though he could barely remember his mother. So he

could really feel for Mimi, and he liked being around her because she was always so shy and sweet, but Mimi refused to be

anything more to any boy then a close friend because...well, he really didn't know why but he did not really care. Mimi was a

close friend of his but he would never think twice about being anything more with her because...well...she was always putting

herself down and/or feeling sorry for herself. He just couldn't stand living or going out with a girl like that, let alone the mess

there children would probably be, a mix between a human, fairy and a demon, that would just lead to weirdness. Mara

sometimes got a little jealous of Mimi but he would just explain the reasons about why he would never go out with Mimi over

and over to Mara to calm her down, and finally he thought Mara got it threw her thick skull that Mimi was only a friend. And

now Mimi and Mara were getting along fairly well with only arguments every once in a while.

"Um...Ryan...?" Mimi's voice broke his thought, and he looked over at the small fairy girl startled.

"Huh...?"

Mimi rolled her large pink eyes, and began to twist a strain of dark pink hair around her fingers, her wings twitched slightly in

irritation.

"I said, will you help train me?"

"Sure, whatever, just make sure you got your weapons, you don't want to use up all your magic training."

"Ok Thanks, I'll see you in an hour. Meet me in front of the training center." With that Mimi ran off down the hall disappearing

from view.

Ryan began to walk towards his dormitory when he felt a hard thug on his tail to see his ten year old sister Parfait grinning up at

him, holding his tail in her hands. Ryan smiled and ruffled her hair. Parfait was a cute little girl, with large green eyes and red

hair, her ears and teeth were pointed like his and she also had a tail like him, except that unlike him her eyes were narrow and

she had claws and the ends of her pointed ears were furry. Infact most of her whole body was covered in short brown fur but

her ears were VERY furry. Ryan figured that she looked more like there fully demon father, with the green eyes and red hair,

claws and fur, but she certainly did not act like a demon...well...maybe she did sort of act like an imp. Parfait was always

getting into trouble and was just a bundle of energy.

"Mara told me that you are going on tomorrow's mission." Parfait smiled. "Is it true?"

Ryan grinned shaking his head 'Mara's already telling everyone...' "Yes it's true Parfait"

"Wow! My brother may be a 5th rank student! Then none of the other kids will pick on me!"

"We're so happy for you Ryan." Mara smiled walking up to him, a grin placed on her dark face, she warped her arms around

him giving him a lick on the cheek.

"Thanks, I really can't believe I get to go on tomorrow's mission, I mean, eighty points, it's really hard to get that many points."

"I know, there were only ten names called, I wish I could have came with you but I'm still a far way from getting to 4th rank,

I'm still only on 2nd rank" Mara frowned looking down at her yellow sash. Needless to say Mara was not a good student.

"Ryan, I've heard that these missions are really dangerous." Parfait said worriedly. "Be careful..."

"Be careful indeed." Keith said suddenly walking up to them.

"Keith, you Meanie! Your hurt my brother yesterday!" Parfait glared up at the tall boy with daggers in her eyes.

Keith laughed. " Don't get your tail in knot imp! Your brother's just fine,, right? But he wont be after tomorrow, I heard that

there are suppose to be some real black magic users there. It'll be a real fight, unlike that little training that knocked you out

yesterday."

"You fought dirty Keith!" Mara hissed. "Your not suppose to hit your training partner when they are down!"

"Mara, Parfait, forget it. I'm thankful for the fight, It showed me just what real battles are like." Ryan said not removing his eyes

from the other boy.

Keith grinned at Mara and then Parfait then back at Ryan. "It'll be interesting to see how you do."

Ryan growled at the boy as he turned and walked away. Keith Soun, was a human with a real bad attitude. He was spoiled

and always tried to get his own way, he practiced dark magic and always wore clothes that praised the dark gods. He never

wore his school uniform, not even in classes. He always wore a pair of dark leather pants, and a black trench coat that read in

the back in big red letters just above a large creepy looking red cross

"Sora Ma'harta."

The old ancient words from dark sorcery which translated to "The darkness lives" and he never wore a shirt, probably just to

show off the red Pentagram tattoo on his chest along with the nipple piercing. And no one could quite ever understand why he

was Head-master Jabora's favorite.

"That guy is so mean!" Parfait mumbled putting her clawed hands on her hips.

"I wonder why he always treats you so mean Rya, but you know he is right, the mission well be tuff and I also heard the rumor

about black magic users in that area...perhaps you should train a little before tomorrow, and after your done meet me and Par in

my dorm room ok? We'll go for a little picnic."

"Ryan is was going to go train with Mimi in an hour, so can you show me some of your spells, Mara?" Parfait asked the cat girl

with pleading eyes.

Mara's face turned kind of funny and she glanced at Ryan with worried and sad eyes.

"You asked Mimi to train with you and not me...?"

"No, no, no, no!" Ryan protested cursing Parfait in his mind for opening her big mouth.

"She asked me to come to the training center with her because she wanted me to help her train so she would be ready for

tomorrow."

Mara frowned then nodded her head. "Ok, but if I see any fairy dust on your clothes...but I trust you, I know you love me too

much to cheat on me. I'll see you in a bit ok?"

The cat-girl licked his face and walked away with Parfait. Ryan ran his hands threw his hair and headed back to his dorm room

with a sigh.

His clothes laid sprawled out on the bed and he quickly got changed into his black jeans, and green short sleeved shirt along

with his black gloves. Ryan knelt down beside his bed and removed a long blade that laid inside of a clear plastic case. All the

students at 'Marlo Magic Guild' had there own weapons, assigned or brought with them to the school. Ryan had gotten his

weapon from...well he didn't really remember, none of his memories were to clear but he knew that he had arrived hear with it,

and that it must have came from his parents.

Ryan glanced at the clock on the messy counter in his small room, it was an half-hour before he had to meet with Mimi, that

was enough time to relax for a bit. Ryan threw himself back on the bed and before he knew it, he was drifting off into a light

sleep.

_Dream_

'No...not this dream again...' Ryan thought as he stood in an area full of mist and fog. Almost every night he had this dream...it

was driving him nuts, it was like a part of his memories was screaming out to him whenever he saw the images of the dream but

they were always just out of reach, leaving unclear thoughts nagging threw his mind. The boy forced himself to watch, as if in

hopes that this time he would be able to figure something out.

A young beautiful yet ragged looking woman was traveling threw a desert of snow, in her arms she held a young baby hiding it

from the snow storm with a small dirty looking blanket. Next to the woman walked a little blonde boy, who paused to talk to

the woman. However the image was blurry and it was hard to make out the figures.

Like every time the boys mouth would open but the words he spoken were forever mute to Ryan's ears.

FLASH

Like last time and every time before, a flash of white light filled his vision and the image changed slightly, The woman was

looking over her shoulder in terror at something behind her.

FLASH

The young boy was on the ground, laying there looking as if he had fallen, his eyes were wide and filled with horror.

FLASH

This was the final image in the dream. The woman was laying on the snow, her breathing hard, sweat gushing from every pour,

a trickle of blood came from her mouth when she spoke, her voice still mute. The blonde boy stood crying holding the infant as

the woman lifted up her hand and wiped some tears away from his eyes and then she reached to her side for a sword

and....and....!

-End dream-

"Ryan!" Mimi shouted as the boy sprang forward from the bed looking around himself in panic.

"Wha-Huh?" He looked around himself in confusion only to get snapped out of it by Mimi.

"You ok Ryan? Your sweating all over...did you have a bad dream?" The fairy asked concerned.

"Huh...no...I'm all right...Mimi! Oh I'm sorry did I over sleep? I'm really sorr-"

Mimi smiled and shock her head silencing him. "Oh, no biggie! People always forget to meet me places, it's probably because

I'm so small, but it's really sweet of you to apologize like that."

This was one of the things that made Mimi one of his best friends, she never got mad. Being that he and also Mara on some

scale were her only friends she didn't do anything to put there friendship in jeopardy. But as he said before she had to start

thinking more about herself, she thought she was weak and easily forgotten about because she was small...well...small was a

understatement actually. Mimi was a fully developed sixteen year old but because of her fairy blood was only the height of an

average eight year old child. But still...she should stop putting herself down.

"What time is it? " Ryan asked climbing out of bed.

"It's 5:00, two hours since you were suppose to meet me, but we can still go, if you want to, I got my battle clothes on and

everything.

'Battle Clothes....' Ryan smiled to himself. All the kids at the magic school were allowed to make or get themselves an outfit of

there choice to wear in battles. It was interesting to see what some students came up with, and Mimi's battle clothes were one

of the strangest. A pale pink little no-sleeved dress, the bottom of the skirt shaped and designed a lot like the petals of a flower.

She also wore matching light pink boats with dark crisscross pink straps, and a belt of daisies around her waist which held the

dress tightly around her small curvy body. The only thing the wasn't pink on her outfit were the long white gloves she wore, but

that was it, heck even her pretty little wings were shaded a light pale pink.

Mimi puffed her cheeks out and studied him with narrow eyes. "Are you laughing at my battle clothes again?"

"No...no...no...." Ryan protested but only received the same sour look from the fairy girl.

"Well...yeah..." Ryan admitted. "It's not because it doesn't look nice on you, It's just that it looks more like a...a ballet costume

rather then a warriors uniform."

"I told you! My mother wore it went she went hear, and so did my grandma, it's tradition!"

"Ok, Ok, let's just go, we don't have all night." Ryan said trying to stop this before Mimi went back into the long and boring

story about her grandma and her mothers boring adventures at this magic school when they attended here.

"Aw, crap..." Ryan muttered as he and Mimi walked towards the training center and spotted Keith leaning up against the wall

as if he were waiting for them.

"So, Ryan...you took my advice, hmmm?" Keith smirked glancing at him threw those piercing eyes of his.

"Oh hello, Keith." Mimi nodded politely. One of Mimi's faults, she always thought there were good in people and was always

overly kind to everyone...even if they did call her 'Tinker-bell" every time they saw her

"Hello Tinker-bell, what are you too doing here late at night? You know the training center ain't good for that sort of thing."

Ryan could feel his face heat up and knew he was as red a ripe tomato. Ryan glanced down at Mimi and nearly almost began

to burst out laughing. Even her blushes were pink! And he guessed if that rotten prick Keith wasn't there he would have started

to laugh.

"We...we are not in love!" Mimi hissed. "We are just good friends, Keith...!"

"...You better be, because if your keeping Mara from me just to hit on some other girl you in serious shit." Keith threatened

grabbing Ryan by the shirt.

"You, prick-face..." Ryan snarled.

"You didn't just come out here to tease us did you!?" Mimi exclaimed, trying to use anger to hide the fear in her voice. It

worked to hide the expression in her voice, but the fear could be easily read on her puny little face.

"Actually, I was just waiting for Arisu and Nagisa." Keith replied letting Ryan drop to the floor.

"Lord Keith!"

"Master Keith!"

Two voices chimed from down the hall.

Keith grinned. "That's them now."

Ryan let out a disgusted sigh.

Arisu and Nagisa,' the bitch twins.' The two girls looked exactly alike except for eye color and there battle uniforms. The first

twin was Arisu, short jet black hair that looked as if it had been cut with a weed whacker and dark blue eyes. She was dressed

in a short white bar-like top, and a pair of tight white pants. Blue ribbon was tied around her waist, the ribbon added color to

her uniform as well as hold a dagger close to her side. Around her wrists were tied to long pieces of the blue ribbon. Arisu was

plain and a tom-boy. Nagisa on the other hand was as girlie as one could get. Her hair was also cut in the same ridiculous style,

and instead of blue eyes her eyes were a misty gray. Instead of wearing white she wore a black uniform but except for the

color it looked just like her sisters. Red ribbon was tied around her exactly like her sisters blue ribbons, and the dagger was

also the same brand too. The only other difference between the two were what they called Keith. Arisu called him 'Master

Keith' and Nagisa called him 'Lord Keith.' They were the only ones in school that really liked Keith, and were the guys only

friends. They loved and respected him so much they came up for those names for him, it sounded as if they worshipped him.

Then again maybe they did, and if they did, Keith sure as hell wasn't complaining about it.

"Nagisa, Arisu, what took you so long?" Keith asked the twins as they hung off his arms like little children hanging off there

father for protection and/or comfort.

"Sorry Master Keith." Arisu apologized bowing her head slightly.

"Forgive us Lord Keith, we didn't mean to make you wait." Nagisa whimpered, as she mimicked her sisters bow.

"It's all right, but don't let it happen again." Keith warned as he turned back to Ryan and Mimi.

"So, Ryan, why not we have a little contest?" Keith challenged, a smirk spreading across his face.

"Contest? What kind of contest?" Ryan asked not sounding at all sure of what Keith meant.

"We will go inside in teams of two, the team who defeats the most monsters in the training center wins."

Ryan frowned for a moment, not to sure what Keith was up too. The proposal seemed honest enough but knowing

Keith....trusting him, even in simple matters was a foolish thing to do.

"...So Ryan...should we?" Mimi asked waiting for his answer.

"....Are you scared Ryan?" Keith teased, a mean grin spreading across his face.

"...NO!!" the demon-half growled, his tail fluffed up as it reacted to his anger.

"Did I make you mad?" Keith still said in the same tone as he pointed at the others tail.

Ryan narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "I accept your challenge, but you better not cheat like you did in

are training session!"

"Cheat!?" Keith gasped pretending to be insulted. "I'm soooooooooo hurt that you would accuse me of such a thing, believe

me, I wouldn't have to cheat to beat you."

"You think so...Come on, lets go, we don't have all night." Ryan ordered threw clenched teeth, impatient to get this contest over

and done with.

"Ok, so Tinker Bell is your partner? I guess I'll have to chose one...now who will it be?"

Keith turned to the twins who bowed as the boys gaze drifted over them.

"I want to go with you, Master Keith." Arisu said with a half pled.

"No, I want to go with you Lord Keith!" Nagisa exclaimed, taking a vicious glare at her sister.

"There is only one was to settle this..." Arisu said, turning her cold stare onto Nagisa.

"Yes...the best way to decide important decisions like these." The girlie twin agreed.

Mimi and Ryan watched in confusion and shock as the two ' big bad bitch twins' began to play rock, paper, scissors.

"Rock, paper, scissors...! Rock, paper, scissors...!" The twins continued to chant over and over, always coming out with the

same sign.

"...This will take awhile..." Keith sighed, running his hand threw his hair. "It always ends up like this."

"You mean they always do this to decide things?" Mimi asked, her voice sounding amazed.

"Rock, paper, scissors...! Rock, paper, scissors...!"

"How long those this usually take them?" Ryan irritably.

"No more then a couple of minuets ....mostly..." Keith trailed off watching the twins.

"Rock, paper, scissors...! Rock, paper, scissors...!"

A HOUR OR TWO LATER

"Rock, paper, scissors...! Rock, paper, scissors...!"

A crowd had by now gathered around the small group, bets were beginning to be made on how many more tries it would take

the twins.

"Rock, paper, scissors...! Rock, paper, scissors...!"

"Ryan...maybe we should just go in...I don't think those two will ever come up with something different." Mimi yawned.

"Yeah..." Ryan grunted as he got off of the floor and began to walk towards the entrance to the training center.

"Hey!! Where do you think you two are going!"

"Sorry Keith, but we don't have time to play games like this." Ryan replied not once looking back at the angry boy.

"Rock, Paper, scissors....!!!"

"They finally got it!!"

Mimi and Ryan turned around to see who finally won.

"Nah, nah! I win, I get to go with Master Keith!" Arisu mocked.

"Awww..." Nagisa whimpered. "I wanted to go...no fair...what do you say about best two out of three?"

"Oh dear god no!" Keith screamed, and before the twins could start again he grabbed Arisu and drug her by the back of her

shirt towards the entrance.

"Nagisa, go get a drink and something to eat, we'll be awhile." Keith called back to the sniffling twin.

"I have no money...." She trailed off still sniffling because she lost.

"Here! Don't spend all over it!" Keith threw his wallet to the girl who beamed happily,

"THANK YOU LORD KEITH!!" She called as the two groups disappeared into the training center. "IS IT ALL RIGHT IF I

STOP AT THE STORE IN TRISU TOO!!?"

"There goes all my money..." Keith whimpered sadly

No matter how many times he entered the training center Ryan was always amazed by the size and looks of this part of the

school. It appeared like a huge jungle, trees and lush mossy grass surrounded them, the roars of wild monsters were heard

echoing around them. The most creepy thing about this place was that you could get really hurt, but of course the monsters

were tame enough not to kill the person. As were the same with the students, they were not allowed to kill the monsters only

battle them. Away to tell if they had been defeated is when a monster gave up it would surrender and back away. The place

was very large but at least when you reached the end of the maze there was a door that lead to a small room everyone called

'the reward room' which had food, drinks and books for those who had just finished the jungle maze to relax with, in that room

was a door leading to the outside of the school. It had a magical lock on it so it could only be opened from the inside. This lock

was placed on it so kids couldn't just go in the back of the school, open the door and use all the goods inside of the 'reward

room.' Without doing any of the hard training.

"Ok, Ryan, we will battle the monsters, if either you or Mimi KO it then the point goes to you, if Arisu or I KO it the point goes

to us, understand?"

"Yeah, ok Keith." Ryan agreed and the group began to walk threw the jungle waiting for one of the monsters attack.

"So...Arisu, how are you? I did not see you in awhile." Mimi smiled trying to make conversation.

Arisu eyed her critically before answering in a cold tone. " Me and Nagisa went to visit are mother."

Mimi smiled cheerily. "Oh that was nice, was it her birthday or something?"

"No, funeral." Arisu answered emotionlessly.

Mimi's cheerfulness faded in an instant. "Oh! I'm so sorry--!!"

Arisu shot her a bitter look. "For what? For 'bringing back painful memories?' don't worry about that, I'm glad she's dead."

"But--!! He was your mother!" Mimi exclaimed her eyes wide with shock.

Arisu narrowed her empty eyes at her. "You'd be wise in the future not to question my feelings got that 'tinker bell.' "

Mimi bit her lip and backed away from the other as Arisu pointed to her dagger as warning.

Ryan glanced at the two girls out of the corner or his eye, he always knew that Arisu was a grade 'A' bitch but he never thought

she was this bad. Glad that her own mother was dead, he wondered if Nagisa felt the same way.

"Hey!!" Keith hissed at him, hitting him in the shoulder. "Pay attention, look!"

Ryan looked over to were Keith was pointing. 3 dukie scrubs and 2 wolfos were surrounding them.

Ryan took out his pocket race analyzer and pointed it at the two monsters. The Pocket race analyzer or AKA T.P.R.A. was a

machine the was invented in the hidden city Angeles. A city so advanced, the mechanical wonders inside could not be even

imagined by the most creative person in the world they say.

T.P.R.A. DATA BASE INFORMATION

Dukie scrubs: Dukie scrubs, beings made out of wood, they don't have very long life spans or brains because they are nothing

but wood. They don't have much power or intelligence and there defense is low, however there speed is what makes them hard

to defeat. Dukie scrubs attacks are 'Dukie Seed' they spit dukie seeds threw there large funnel like noses. It is said that the

seeds are inside of the dukie scrub and can be used for attacking or can be planted and another dukie scrub will be born.

Dukie scrubs are week against fire and from falling from high heights.

Wolfos: Cursed humans who have become blood thirsty wolfs. They have advanced human skill, speed, intelligence and

power. However there defense is not very good, so they will often be taken down rather quickly however they hunt in large

packs with there own kind or mixed with another weaker race. Wolfos are week against water attacks and good old fashioned

knives and swords.

Keith grinned at Ryan running his hand threw his dark hair. "Heh...this will be a piece of cake."

"..." Ryan nodded and turned his attention to the wolfos. The dukie scrubs he didn't have to worry about, they would be easily

taken care off by Mimi since she could fly and since dukie scrubs were week against fallen from large heights...and Keith would

just use his fire magic. The wolfos though would be harder though. In the wild they had killed many people but hear they were

only trained to train the students. When they saw that the students was weaker then them they would back off.

"Hey...what's with these Dukie scrubs...?" Mimi blinked. "There eyes...they are red..."

Ryan looked at the monsters noticing that Mimi was right but he did not have time to dwell on it before he heard his name being

screamed.

Before Ryan could even scream he felt himself being pinned to the ground, and before his eyes he could see one of the wolfos,

it's eyes were bloodshot and it's teeth were dripping with saliva.

It was then that everyone knew that there was something seriously wrong with these monsters. They were acting as if...as if this

were a real battle in the wild, they were out for blood.

"Ryan!!" Mimi cried and began to run towards him but was thrown backwards as one of the Dukie scrubs shot her with a large

dukie seed which got her right in the stomach.

"Damn it!" Keith cursed as they were surrounded by the remaining monsters, stopping them from rescuing their comrade.

Ryan screamed as he struggled to free himself from the wolfos grip. The beasts teeth were almost around his neck. All what

was keeping them away from his flesh the fact he was kicking the monster as hard as he could , but it wasn't doing much

damage considering the angle he was at.

The hot breath of the wolfos on his face made him want to puke. It reeked the smell of blood and flesh. It was sickening. He

could hear the attacks going on around him, as the others tried to reach him and destroy the murderous monsters. But he knew

they wouldn't make it in time, if he did not do something fast he was going to die!

He felt something at his side grow hot and he gripped his fingers around it, it was his sword. With the skill only a demon could

possess he removed the sword from his side and rammed it threw the wolfos right lung. The beast backed off allowing him to

get back on his feet.

He was shaken as the wolfos fell in a puddle of it's own blood but not as surprised as he was when he looked down at his

sword which was glowing with a soft purple light which began to fade away.

"Ryan! Are you ok!?" Mimi cried running up to him, her eyes darting all over his body to make sure he was all right.

"Y...Yeah, I'm fine, what about you guys?"

"We beat them, but what the hell was wrong with those stupid things! We better not get points deducted for killing them!" Arisu

growled cleaning off her dagger as she put it back in it's ribbon belt. Her white clothes had spots of blood on it which made her

seem even more evil then she already was. But then Ryan noticed her leaning over in pain and saw blood dripping from her

body.

"...Ryan, your sword...it was glowing with some sort of magic. Did it ever do that before?" Keith asked studying the sword with

curiosity.

"No...but now it not the time to think about it, we should get out of hear...the monsters in hear have gone mad."

'Don't you even care that your friend is bleeding to death?' Ryan added to himself.

Keith nodded and turned towards Mimi.

"Tinker Bell, use your magic to heal us, we might run into more of those monsters on are way out of hear, we need to be in top

condition."

"Right." Mimi nodded and closed her eyes. She began to glow golden and her weapon 'the fairy staff' appeared in her hands. It

was a long pink rod with a sliver crystal at the top in the shape of a blooming rose. The staff had some great sleeping and

healing powers not to mention some trance and fairy attacks. Mimi raised her staff in the air, as she flew upward above the

group and then swung the staff downward with both hands like a little kid trying to hammer a nail in with a heavy hammer.

A golden dust drifted over them and suddenly Ryan could feel all his strength coming back and the small wounds he had

suffered was healing up. Hopefully... he lifted his hand to his face but to his disappointment he could feel that the scar was still

there.

Keith grinned at him, catching the other checking out his face. "I never knew you cared so much about your face Ryan."

Ryan turned crimson and looked at the ground trying to avoid the others mocking gaze.

Mimi landed back onto the ground, her staff disappeared and she panted tiredly.

"I used my most powerful healing spell, because I know that you got badly hurt Arisu, that wolfos clawed your stomach up

badly, your lucky Keith defeated it when he did or else it would have clawed you open." Mimi said looking at Arisu to make

sure she was all right.

"I suppose you want me to do something for you now." Arisu replied bitterly.

"....I don't want anything..."

"That's what everyone says...no one helps others for nothing."

Mimi frowned and turned to Ryan. " Come on, I don't want to train anymore, this is just dangerous."

The rest agreed and headed towards where they came in.

"WHA----!!!" Arisu exclaimed as the door to the training center refused to open.

"Hey--!! D...don't tell us we're locked in..." Mimi said nervously.

"Ok then, I won't tell you." Keith replied.

"But-why? Who locked the damn door!" Ryan hissed as he began to lose his temper.

"Doesn't matter, not until we get out anyway." Arisu sighed walking over to Keith's side.

"It seems like we have to go to the exit. But that is pretty far from here, we just might lose are lives if we venture forward, but

on the other hand if we stay hear and wait for the door to open chances are that we might starve to death before or that the

monsters will track us down hear, and in this small area we won't be able to fight back. Let's take a vote, who wants to stay

hear?

Mimi frowned and then raised her hand. "I don't like the idea of killing more creatures even if they did turn evil...and anyway it's

dangerous."

Keith looked over and Ryan and Arisu. "What's your vote?"

"Anything you vote for Master Keith." Arisu smiled dreamily as she starred at him.

Keith rolled his eyes and turned to Ryan. "You. What's your choice?"

Ryan thought for a moment. "Sorry Mimi, but I think it's best if we go to the exit. As Keith said if we wait hear to long those

monsters will come and get us, and since it's so small in this part we won't have any chance of avoiding there attacks."

"That's three against one, let's head out. You can stay hear if you want, but if you get killed don't blame us." Keith said coolly

and began walking away with Arisu clinging at his side.

"Sorry, Mimi..." Ryan apologized.

"It's ok...I guess it's the better choice anyway..." 'After all...what can a stupid tiny little fairy-half like me know'

They had walked for almost hours but had not ran into any more monsters, not live ones anyway. To most of there horror all

threw the jungle was the bodies of the training center monsters laying scattered about, ripped into small meaty strips. It was so

horrible, that Mimi was beginning to get tears in her eyes.

"We are almost there, I can see the room up ahead." Keith pointed to a small white building the size of a garage which was

coming into there view.

"...I hope this door is not locked too..." Arisu mumbled.

"Don't even think that." Ryan warned.

"I wonder what got all those monsters back there though..." Mimi trailed off.

Keith opened his mouth to respond with some sort of thoughtless comment by was stopped by the sound of a huge roar that

shook the earth.

"What was that!?" Mimi exclaimed falling on her butt as she was knocked off her feet by the violent shaking.

The group looked around for the source then...

"OH FUCK!!" Arisu swore loudly, her face draining from color. The group followed her terrified gaze and then felt the same

terror engulf them. Even Keith was pale and trembling at the sight before him. A huge T-Rex was coming towards them.

"How in the hell did a T-Rex get hear!? I mean...um...aren't those instinct?" Keith asked turning to the others as if he wasn't sure

dinosaurs were suppose to have died thousands of years ago or not.

"I...I...oh boy...what do we do now!?" Mimi stuttered her tiny face turning pale.

"What else? We fight." Keith replied removing his gun-blade from his side.

"Are you crazy!?" Ryan exclaimed.

"Don't call Master Keith crazy!!" Arisu snapped.

Keith hushed the angry Arisu with a swift motion of his hand and turned to stare at Ryan threw intense eyes.

"We can't run, that thing will get us before we get to the exit, and we can't take off back towards the entrance since it is

probably still locked. That thing is going to get us sometime. We might as will do this while we are at full strength."

Ryan hated to admit it but Keith was right. Running from this thing would not do much good, they'd still be trapped in this god

forsaken training center, with the beast that would eventfully sniff them out.

Ryan nodded and drew his sword. "Your right. Let's show this thing what we're made of."

Keith grinned and began to shout at the approaching T-Rex. "YOUR IN TROUBLE NOW!! TASTE THE COLD STEEL OF

MY BLADE!!"

"Master Keith..." Arisu trailed off, her face showing nervousness.

Keith glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, the look was sharp but not angry.

"What?"

"We...we have to think this battle plan threw some more...we can't just fight...we'll get...killed..." Arisu explained nervously.

"I see your point, but I can handle this thing."

Ryan frowned at the other boy. "Must you be so arrogant all the time? Look, we need to come up with a plan."

Keith sneered at him in contempt. " Fine, chicken-wuss! You come up with a plan, see if it works."

Ryan took a step backward in surprise. "M...m...me...? I...you want me to come up with a plan?"

"What's wrong chicken-wuss? To hard for your small mind to handle?"

Ryan growled, his tail fluffing up in anger. "I can come up with a plan! Just you watch!"

"Well, you better come up with one...NOW!!" Mimi shouted pointing upward in terror. The T.rex was standing right over them.

"Mimi, use one of your trance spells!" Ryan instructed, his voice sharp as he shouted in terror.

"I...It's to powerful right now, we have to weaken it first!" Mimi informed.

"All right then, we'll attack, Mimi when we weaken it enough, use a trance spell to make it go away...this seems to be the only

live monster left in this whole place...we'll need it alive if we're going to find out what happened here." Keith ordered, Mimi

nodded and began powering up her trance spell.

The fight was ruff. It wasn't even 5-minunts into the fight before Arisu was slammed by the beats tail and rammed up against a

tree, spraining her leg in the process. Needless to say, she was out of the battle leaving only the two rivals left to battle the

monster.

Ryan could not remember how he got each bruise and injury when they neared the end of the battle but he knew he was setting

in a puddle of his own blood right now. His whole body ached and he could barely fight anymore, even Mimi was forced to

give up powering up her trance spell because Keith was also nearing his limit.

"Aiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee!!!" Mimi's cry echoed off the ceiling as she was rammed full force by the beasts tail and smashed painfully

into the small building. Chips of cement fell off of the well painted building from in impact of the blow, Mimi slumped to the

ground in a pitiful heap.

"...I'm sorry...." She apologized before closing her eyes.

"Mimi...." Ryan mumbled, trying to push himself off of the ground.

"Argh!" Another cry echoed around him and he saw Keith desperately trying to block a flame attack that came out of the

monsters mouth. The flame was huge and he didn't know just how...just how someone could stand a attack like that for so

long. Then finally Keith's defense gave up and the attack finally did it's toll. With a cry Keith crashed onto the ground and lay

unmoving.

'I'm the only one left to fight...If I don't do anything...we all will die...I can't...I wont let that happen...'

Ryan forced himself to his feet and gazed up at the huge beast, and slowly removed his blade.

'...But if no one else could beat this thing...how can I?' the thought entered his head making him hesitate.

'believe...believe in yourself...belief...Ryan...' the words of a young woman entered his head. He knew he heard them before

but he could not remember from where or who but the words filled him with a new courage and his sword began to glow a

brilliant purple.

"I may not win, but I got to try!" He exclaimed as he leapt into the air. His demon-blood allowing him to jump the full height as

the monster. The beast only looked up at him puzzled as the sword came slashing down on it.

Keith opened his eyes, his vision was blurry at first and his mind was foggy but soon both his vision and mind cleared up and he

looked around himself, his eyes widening at the sights before him.

The dinosaur was laying split into two separate half's. A pool of blood around the size of a large swimming pool had formed

under the dispatched giant.

'Who done this...Ryan...? But...he couldn't have this kind of power...! No! I won't accept it!'

"Hey, your up now...that's good. I'm glad I regained my strength while I was knocked out or else I wouldn't have been able to

heal you.... Or anyone else. Ryan's going to be getting up soon, it'll just take a few minuets for the affects of my healing spell to

work. Arisu should be getting up about no---"

"MASTER KEITH!!!" Arisu cut Mimi off as she leapt into the mans arms. "Your still alive!! I knew you would beat that thing!!"

"I didn't beat it..." Keith replied almost shamefully his voice thick with anger.

"Oh!?" Arisu gasped surprised.

Ryan began to cough causing the others to turn and look towards him. The boy was just pushing himself off the grass and into a

setting position. After a few questions and some meaningless talk the group finally was ready to leave.

"I CAN'T WAIT TO GET OUT OF HERE! FINALLY!!" Arisu exclaimed running ahead of the group and towards the

building.

"Thanks for healing us Mimi." Ryan thanked while Arisu was busy turning the knob to the door.

"No problem." The fairy-half smiled at him to closed her eyes. "But I'm very tired...as soon as I get out of hear I'm going to

bed..."

"...Guess we didn't complete are contest, but we sure as hell got more then the training we bargained for." Keith looked over at

Ryan and was about to say something when Arisu shouted to them.

"Master Keith! The door is unlocked! We can escape!" Arisu beamed and stood there waiting for her 'master.'

Keith grinned. "You go on a head Arisu, we'll fallow soon."

Arisu quickly obeyed and ran into the small white building as Keith turned back towards Ryan and opened his mouth to speak

but was silenced by Arisu yet again. But this time however it was not a cry of joy it was short startled terrified burst.

The small group hurried towards the building and swung open the doors. They all had different reactions at what they saw

inside.

Arisu was standing still, as if in some sort of shock, her hands covering her mouth and her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

Mimi screamed and slowly sank to her knees and began to sob loudly at the sights, while Keith just stood staring in horror and

disgust. Ryan shock his head in a desperate attempt to clear the image from his head...but before he knew it he was over

powered by it and threw up. In front of them laid the scattered, mutilated remains of a boy a few years older then them.

Everything was hacked to bits except for one thing that still remained intact, and that was the bright red sash that laid torn from

the uniform. And everyone in the school knows what a red sash means. 5th rank.

End Of Chapter 1