Heaven, Hell, and Everything in Between

Chapter 8: Training Partners

CH.8 Training Partners

That night I asked Shikia if my friends could train with me and the simple answer I got was, "Maybe, because if they are brought here with you to train, you would be adding to the many troubles they already face." she looked me in the eye and continued, "Are you willing to put that on their shoulders?"

"Yes, because it is what they want, not just me." I said, "They want to be trained so they can help me in the coming battles I am sure to face. If for nothing else than self-defense if they are attacked."

Shikia conceded the point, but gave me a final warning, "I cannot guarantee they will be chosen by a weapon, if they are not, than to train them would be pointless, for they would surely be killed without one of our weapons."

"I'm sure they will understand." I said. I walked over to the Battleschool and greeted Rocko. We got right down to business, and I worked extra hard so I could impress my friends the next night. I told Grace and Ricky at school the next day about what lay in store for them in Heaven. They weren't too happy about having the chance of not getting training anyway, but they both sucked it up and enjoyed the few hours they had before the hard work began. That night I had the honor of introducing Rollo to my friends, and both of them were taken aback by his goof-off nature, which I had grown used to. Grace, the diplomat I thought she would be, was the first to break out of the shock and talk to Rollo. "So when do I get to see the Armory?" she said, always straight to the point.

"Don't worry," Rollo said, "you are here to not only see if you get to train with Mr. Marco here, but to also watch him train to see if you even want to get training from us."

"Of course we want training!" Ricky said, "Why else would we be here?"

"You may not be so certain after you see what we put Sam here through every night." Rollo warned.

We walked over to the Battleschool and once we were inside Rollo directed Grace and Ricky over to one side. "Wouldn't want you getting hit by accident would we?" Rollo asked.

Both of them shook their heads and took a healthy step back. I looked at them and gave them a thumbs-up. Both of them waved in reply. I couldn't talk with them because I would be too busy training, but after we would see if they still wanted to join me on the floor. I called out my sword's name and it grew in my hand to its true form. Grace, who had never seen my sword transform, gasped out of reflex. Ricky, who had, simply waited for the main event. Rocko walked out of his office, took one look at my friends, and simply ignored them for the rest of the training session. We started slow, as usual, but I had a feeling that Rocko was calling the moves a little slower than normal so my friends could keep up. He picked up the pace quickly though, so pretty soon I was flying about the field at my usual frenzied speed. I never once looked at my friends, I didn't have time in between moves, but when I stopped, I looked at them and saw a look of total amazement mirrored on their faces. Rocko gave the signal to stop, and I walked over to my friends, who apparently had the exact same question on their minds. "Are we going to be able to do that when we train!?" it was Ricky who asked first.

"Maybe, but these moves are meant for the sword, it may differ depending on what you get." I answered.

"Will our weapons change shape like that when we don't need them?" Grace asked next.

"Yes, but it differs from weapon to weapon." I said, "It depends on what you prefer and what the weapon prefers. It mixes to make a false image of what it looks like so you can have it with you in plain sight."

"That is so cool!" Ricky said, "I wonder what I'll get for a weapon."

"Don't expect anything," I warned, "you may like a weapon, but the weapon makes the final decision on whether you can use it or not." My friends followed me to the Armory, and as soon as we walked in the door, both of them stopped to stare at the huge array of weapons and armor available to them. I told them what Shikia had told me about how to let the weapon chose them and they were off like a shot. Grace headed to the bow section, while Ricky raced over to the sword section, probably wanting to get a better sword than I did. Grace walked slowly along the bows, until I heard a loud CRACK! and realized she had been chosen. I ran up to see what she had gotten and nearly tripped over her sprawled body on the floor. She was in the process of getting up, and a quick check showed a lump on her forehead and an elegant silver bow lying across her chest. I realized the bow must have tried to fly into her hand, but missed and hit her in the head instead.

"Having a little trouble miss?" I asked with sarcasm, "Or are you taking a snooze on the job?"

"No dunderhead," she said, "I may just have a concussion from this bow."

"Well at least we know you can train with me." I said.

Ricky had just come running up, obviously hearing the loud crack I had heard. He looked a little dejected, and I saw he didn't have a weapon in his hand. "None of the swords like me," he wined, "you got one, so why not me?"

"Simple," I said, "the sword may just not be the weapon you fit best with. Try one of the maces or pole-arms one of them may choose you."

As soon as I said it, Ricky was gone again off to see if he could find his weapon. It wasn't long before we heard a loud ZAP! and a slightly quieter OW! We ran up to see what the problem was, and as soon as we saw him we fell on the floor laughing. Poor Ricky looked like he had been struck by lightning! His hair was sticking up on end and was black as soot, and he was swaying on his feet with a mace in his hands. As we controlled our laughter with some difficulty, he turned to us and said "I think it chose me, I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure it chose me."

That had all of us rolling on the floor, and as soon as Rollo walked up and saw Ricky, he was down on the floor with us. I think we laughed for ten minutes before we got control of ourselves. As we got up, Rollo said to Ricky, "I have seen some funny choosings, but that takes the cake by far!"

"Yeah," he said, "I'm not sure if it was choosing me, or trying to barbeque me for dinner."

"Oh it chose you alright," he said, "It just decided to have some fun with you as it did so. If I don't miss my mark, I would say you would do something similar given the chance."

Ricky thought about it for a second, "I bet I would, come to think of it."

"You guys can start training tomorrow night," Rollo said, "and I'll even watch to see if there is any fun to be had."

I knew this was not a good idea and told Rollo, "Thanks but no thanks, Rollo, I think my friends would like to start training without your pranks messing them up."

Both Grace and Ricky agreed, and poor Rollo was left high and dry. He took no offence and quietly said to me as we left for home, "I'll get them later, no point in wasting my best pranks on the first day." I resolved to give my friends fair warning to watch their backs and keep an eye out for booby-traps at training. We went home to our respective beds and got up the next day totally fresh. I had a feeling this battle I was fighting would be much better with someone at my side, and now I had two friends to help me for better or worse.