“At the end of the year, class exams are held. Exams include all subjects you have been studying, even using your battle morph. The gym exam is set up where students of the same class are randomly paired to fight each other, and judges are appointed to rate how well each student performs. Winning the battle is only a bonus, because the judges’ scoring is what determines whether you pass or not.
“So I take my exams, and I passed runes and alchemy fairly well. As for biology, I did horrible and barely failed. Then came my gym exam, and I was set against a guy named Dante Goros. We fight, and he tears me apart. The judges had no choice but to unanimously decide he passed with flying colors, and I sunk like a rock. With two out of four classes failed, I was forced to be held back, so here I am with you guys this year.”
Matt and Rose are stunned, trying to understand his situation. Rose asks, “Where is this Dante?”
Sean surprises them by stating, “I just fought him. The guy in the orange coat.”
Matt is trying to feel sympathetic for his friend, but is interrupted when a fellow classmate shoves him. Wondering what the problem is, he turns to see Prof. Serpanz looking at him. She says, “Matthew Calamos, you’re next.” So he comes forward and views the possible foes before him.
Matt already knows he doesn’t want to fight Dante, and he feels he may not be as successful against the Golem guy. So he points to a blue-haired woman among the intermediates and says, “I choose you.”
The woman wears a white dress with blue outlines and short skirt. Also wearing a smirk, she steps forward and tells Matt, “I may be beautiful, but I’m quite lethal in my battle morph. I’ll try going easy on you.” She then morphs, her hair becoming snow white and her dress becoming a sky blue, the skirt and her shirt’s sleeves frilled at their ends like frost.
In response, Matt enters his battle morph. Out of a flash of black energy, he reappears with a knight’s suit of pure black, plate and mail armor minus a helmet that gives off a strange sense of power. While the freshmen are in awe of his form, Prof. Serpanz gives the word, and the battle begins when the woman summons a large block of ice with a spell and pushes it toward him in a rapid acceleration. Sean mostly covers his eyes again, groaning, “And here comes Matt’s beating.”
As the ice cube slides at him, Matt shows no sign of panic, no fear in his eyes. Like Rose before him, he is one with the warrior inside. The armor of his left arm twists and hollows out into a gun barrel, and he aims at the ice cube.
A burst of black energy bullets flies from the gun barrel, shatters the ice cube, and smashes into the Magician, hitting her in the chest and exiting out her back with yellow, spraying wounds. She falls over from the impact of the blows, shocked at how the bullets had not only destroyed the ice cube but also did so much damage to her.
After she gets back on her feet, she looks forward to find Matt sprinting toward her, his rifle gone and an immense, dark energy sword, almost as tall as himself, sprout from his right hand. Having time only to watch with dread, she stands still while Matt spins and swings the sword forward through her. A split second after the cleaving slash, a gushing of orange energy precedes her legs being cut off, the lower halves vanishing in bursts of light and the rest of her collapsing upon the floor.
The freshmen, intermediates, and Prof. Serpanz, are dumbstruck. Even Rose is amazed, almost breathless as she stares at him in his dark armor. Matt lets his black sword fade out, and charges up a magic spell in his left hand. Lying face-up and cringing from the massive damage upon her, all the Magician can do is look up with pleading eyes when he turns back around, but it is no use. A merciless Matt aims his glowing palm toward her, calling out his spell’s name:
“Blastion!”
A sphere of black energy, much like a cannonball, fires out from his hand and crushes the Magician’s chest, releasing a large explosion that cracks open the ground. A red demorph flash mingles with the black flash of the explosion, and the woman is found lying unconscious on the seared floor, her body sprawled out like a lifeless puppet and her face pale with shock.
***
The faces on Prof. Serpanz, the freshmen, and the other intermediates, even the one named Dante, are very similar to the unconscious woman’s. Matt demorphs and walks back to the freshmen, himself becoming confused at why they are staring at him.
Looking at Rose and Sean, he has a face asking what’s the matter. Rose tries to smile and speaks for herself, “That was incredible.”
Sean mutters to himself, scratching the back of his head, “This is going to be one interesting school year.”
Chapter 2
Rough Introductions
***
As gym, and the school day, comes to an end, Matt, Sean, and Rose make their way toward the gym exit along with the other freshmen. Except for Matt and Rose, they had all lost their battles. Sean is flustered from Matt and Rose’s performances, as he tells them, “This is great, marvelous, extraordinary, even! I’m the guy who doesn’t know how to fight, and my roommates are the class superstars!” He then laments, “Spirits, why? Why do you torture me like this? How long will I suffer!?”
Rose asks, trying not to laugh, “Well, are you sure you don’t know what your powers are?”
Sean sighs, slumping, and replies, “I thought I had it before, because I’m a Brawler type Alkalian, like my older brother. So I figured, like him, my punches, kicks, and slams would play out on their own and do damage. But it doesn’t happen for me! I’m just some freak without any fighting powers.”
As the three reach the exit, and Rose is about to say something, they hear Professor Serpanz call after them. “Rose Alamence! May I have a word with you?”
Wondering what she could want, Rose tells Matt and Sean, “Go on ahead, I’ll catch up.” She turns around and goes back towards the professor.
Matt and Sean enter the main hall and go along with the flow of students leaving the building, where Matt asks Sean, “Have you even tried training?”
Sean mumbles, “My family couldn’t figure out what I should do, and I’m not desperate enough to make me someone else’s problem! Let’s face it, I’m a hopeless cause. But enough about me! What Alkalian type are you?”
Caught off-guard from the switch, Matt says, “What am I? Oh, um, I don’t know.”
Sean stops his walking abruptly. They have reached the main entrance of the building, as students continued walking or jogging past them. He turns back to Matt with an unbelieving face, and asks, “You don’t know what your type is?”
Matt shrugs and nods yes. Sean is then the one who thinks his friend has a problem. “Who could not know what their battle morph is!? Didn’t your parents tell you? Did you ever wonder why your morph is different from others? Do you even have a clue what you are, with those superpowers of yours!?”
Before a stammered Matt can answer, Rose rejoins them. Having heard Sean’s outburst, she asks, “What’s going on?”
Sean replies in a wise-guy way, “Well Rose, we have quite the irony standing before us. An Alkalian who fights with full knowledge of his strength, but doesn’t know what Alkalian he is!”
Matt regains his voice and replies, “Wait, listen! My parents trained me on how to handle combat, so I figured out my powers as I learned to fight. But when I asked my parents what my battle morph was, they wouldn’t tell me anything, except I was special.”
Sean remarks, “Oh yeah, you’re special all right!”
Before he can continue, Rose interrupts, “Now hold on, Sean, at least he knows how to fight! The real problem here is you!”
Sean’s absurd attitude deflates, and he’s gloomy again. “What can be done about it? No one’s going to help me, the loser of the class…”
“We’ll help you.”
Sean looks up to the warm faces of Matt and Rose. Feeling guilty, he moans, “But it would be unfair if there was nothing I could do in…” Suddenly, inspiration hits him, and he says, “Scratch that, there is something I can do in return! You both trai
n me, and I’ll help you fit in with the way this school runs! I can help out Matt with runes class, and I’ve lived through the culture of the student community already, so I can tell you about all the important people and such.”
“Wait, how the school runs?” Matt asks. “What do you mean by that?”
“Ah, yeah, uh, how do I give you a quick idea? Okay, you remember that little speech Professor Kaystone gave yesterday? Well, half of it means nothing. The students here do not treat each other as equal peers. Not only do you have the hierarchy of classes, with seniors at the top and freshmen at the bottom, but you’ve got the individual students known as ‘boss students.’ ”
“Boss students?” asks Rose. “Why are they known as that?”
“The boss students, usually seniors themselves, are the self-imposed leaders of the community, dear Rose. Whether they are of noble heritage, wealthy backgrounds, superior skill with their battle morphs, or any combination of those three, they use those qualities to win favor or fear from the other students and control them. In fact, some boss students literally fit the term ‘boss’ by running their own small gangs of loyal students, who go around competing for the majority of the community’s respect and occasionally getting into rumbles with each other.”
“So, the boss students are pretty much the most popular students in the school?”
“Yah, pretty much.”
Matt asks, “And just who are these so-called ‘boss students?’ ”
“Well, I’d love to tell ya here and now, but…” He looks around at the crowd of students moving by them, and then says in an undertone, “It would probably be better to tell you back at the cabin. See, the boss students may even have spies moving about, always listening for the latest piece of gossip about them.”
It takes a moment for Matt and Rose to understand what Sean means, but they soon understand and nod in agreement.
“Right, so, what’s our next plan of action? Ah, I know! Matt!” He snaps his fingers at him. “Head back to the cafeteria and go get our dinner.”
“Our dinner?”
“Yes, our dinner! At the end of the day, after classes, they start taking orders from students for their evening meals, and then they deliver them out to their cabins to be shared by the students in each cabin. So, for tonight’s meal, get us a pizza or something. Pizza sounds good.”
“…What’s a pizza?”
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?” Sean roars out. “You don’t even know what pizza is!? Did you grow up under a rock or something!? Unbelievable, man!”
Matt, Rose, and students yet moving by them jumped back from Sean’s outburst, and the other students move on, casting disgruntled looks at him, while they wait for him to calm down again. “…Sorry about that. I’m prone to random outbursts, if you haven’t figured that out yet. But anyway, just go ahead and order some pizza, you’ll know what it is by tonight, I swear it! Meanwhile, Rose and I will head out to the open fields and do some training.”
“Uh, actually, I’m sorry, but I may not be able to help train.” As Matt and Sean look to her, Rose explains, “I agreed that every day after class hours, I would stay with Prof. Serpanz and work out with her. I don’t know why she’s interested in me, besides how well I did today in combat.”
Blinking curiously, Sean says, “Oh, that’s all right, all I need is Matt here! Plus, while he trains me, you can help me with assignments and studying. Just because I’ve already been a freshman and taken some of the classes doesn’t mean I’m any better at them. Oh, and while we’re at it, I can find out what Matt’s battle morph is! Yeah, no problem!”
“Ah, okay. Well, I guess I’ll see you guys later.” She waves good-bye to the two men, and turns around and heads back to the gym.
Sean turns back to Matt and says, “Alright, Matt, we’ll go get that pizza cooking, and then we’ll head out to the fields for some training! Sound good?” When Matt doesn’t reply, his gaze fixed on Rose as she walks away, Sean glances between them before waving his hand in front of Matt’s face. “Matt, you still here?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, that sounds fine.”
“Alrighty, let’s go!” He takes off down the hall, nearly empty of student traffic, and Matt is slow to respond before hurrying after him, casting one last look at Rose before she vanishes behind the gym doors. As they disappear around the corner further into the building, someone steps out from the shadow of another corner, near the building’s entrance, on the other side of the hall from where they had been speaking. The young man known as Dante, his presence having gone unnoticed, was listening in on them the whole time, smoking from a cigarette. He blows out a cloud of smoke from his nostrils, his emotionless expression yet locked on where Matt had gone.
***
Back in the gym, Rose walks over to Prof. Serpanz, who is stretching her limbs in warm-up while waiting for her. Coming out of a standing hamstring stretch, she looks to her and says, “Welcome back. Do you mind if we started out with a little jog? Say, ten laps around the arena?”
Rather than being flabbergasted at the suggestion of so many laps around the far-and-wide circumference of the gym floor, Rose shrugs and replies, “No, that’s fine by me, professor.”
“Good. And, you won’t mind working out in your casual attire, for today?”
“Uh, oh, no, that’s no problem. Here, let me just put this away.” Her hands reaching up to her chest, she takes the amulet hung around her neck and tucks it under her shirt.
Having had her eye on the amulet, Serpanz asks, “So, according to your amulet there, you’re a proud member of the Alamence clan, from Riaquen?”
Looking back to her, Rose nods. “Yes, that’s right.”
“What kind of Elemental Artist are you?”
“Um, ninjutsu with the botanic, er, plant, element.”
“I see. And how capable are you with your martial arts?”
Giving herself a quick stretching, Rose chuckles before answering, “Well, I don’t mean to boast, but many have been surprised to know I’m well versed in ninjutsu techniques not just in my battle morph, but in my human form as well.”
“You can use your martial art outside of your battle morph? No kidding?”
“Heh, yeah. Ever since I chose it to be the martial art of my morph, I’ve trained and studied it vigorously both in-and-out of morph, from my childhood to this very day.”
After a moment of regarding her, Serpanz nods in satisfaction. “Well done, then. It’s good to know there is still at least one ‘true’ Alamence in today’s age.”
“ ‘True’ Alamence? What does that mean?”
“Well, as I recall it, all members of the elite Alamence clan of Riaquen had to be masters of their martial arts, both in-and-out of morph. Am I right?”
“Oh, uh, yes, that’s true. But that was mainly because we were in the middle of a blood feud with the, the…” When the thought of what she was about to say makes a connection, she gasps and looks apologetically at Serpanz. “Professor, I am so sorry! I didn’t even think of it until just now, but you must be from…”
“The Serpanz clan, the hated rivals of the Alamence clan that were eventually kicked out of the feudal states. Yes, I am a descendant of the Serpanz, as my last name states. However, the discord between our families went right along with the era they were in, the Age of Chaos, and so should mean nothing in today’s world. Don’t you agree?”
Relieved that she has no grudges, Rose smiles and replies, “Agreed. This is a time of peace, and all of that is in the past, to be learned from and not repeated.”
“Exactly, Rose. In fact, I think it would be nice to have the two of us, whose ancestors were bitter foes, become friends and bridge that infamous gap between us.”
“Ah, yes, professor, I think that would be nice.”
“Excellent. Alright, let’s do this warm-up.” Following beside her, the two women begin jogging at a steady pace by the walls of the arena. A moment passes with them jogging before Rose resumes the conversation. “You
know, with the way you intimidated me and the rest of the class, I thought you were going to be a rough instructor. But, I can see now that you’re actually not that rough. Er, professor.”
Laughing at the risky compliment, Serpanz returns, “You can just call me Orcra, Rose. However, don’t make that conclusion about me so soon. As I told the rest of your class, my job is to make your skill in your battle morphs near perfection. And that is especially directed toward you.”
“Me? Really?”
“Oh, yes. I can tell that you’re already well-toned, in human athleticism and your battle morph’s skills. However, I think you can be better in both. Rose, I intend to work you so hard that you will be able to outmuscle, outrun, and outfight not only the other freshmen, but higher classmen, and possibly even me. Do you understand?”
“Uh, yeah. I understand.”
“You have a problem with that?”
“…No. No, I don’t. In fact, I think I’m actually looking forward to it. This can be another step in my endeavor to become one of the greatest Elemental Artists of the century, so I will appreciate any way you can make me stronger.”
Smiling at her humility and honesty, Serpanz says, “Glad to hear it. So, if you’re not afraid of the challenge, let’s pick up the pace.” Before Rose can think of objecting, she is already pushing onwards at a brisk run, and she has to speed up to stay with her as they complete one lap around the arena with nine more to go.
***
About a half hour later, Matt and Sean are out of the campus building and by a small group of trees in an open field. The evening is clear and warm with a light breeze. Setting his book bag down by one of the trees, Sean asks Matt, “So, whatcha think of the library?”
Alkalians Page 5