Of Good & Evil

III. Becoming Stronger

The next morning, the guild-mates woke up, performed their usual morning routines, and headed toward the training room to begin the team training Judais seemed to believe they all needed before they could begin working on themselves. They weren't sure what the training would involve, how working as a group would impact them individually, or whether the ominous memories Xenon mentioned of almost dying during the first few training sessions with Judais would be the same thing they were about to experience.

Whatever risks there may have been, each one of them was willing to take the risk for the prospect of getting stronger and to unlock whatever this soul skill was that each of them apparently possessed. The entire group shared a combination of excitement and worry as they headed toward the training wing to see what the day had in store for them.

Each of them emerged from their rooms at their own pace and waited just outside the wing leading to the living quarters in order to head to the training room together. Scopes, Time, and Hardy emerged at nearly the same time. They sat on the marble floor and waited for Passion and Xenon. About ten minutes later, Xenon emerged from his room and strolled down the hall toward the others. The four of them sat and waited. They were waiting for what seemed like a long time. Just as they were starting to worry, Passion stepped out of her room. She walked down the hall and joined the others without saying anything.

The five of them walked at a moderate pace. They because they were excited, they wanted to get their as soon as possible, but because they were nervous about what the training might involve, they were willing to take their time. Everyone was experiencing conflicting emotion; everyone except Xenon. Xenon looked mad.

Passion noticed and asked, "Hey, what's wrong with you?"

Xenon sighed and said, "I don't want to share."

"Wait," Passion said confused, "what do you mean?"

"Everyone is going to get his training," Xenon grumbled, "It was just me and him. I was getting strong."

"You've improved a lot," Time said, "I'm sure you'll keep getting better."

"That's not what I mean," Xenon fumed, "I was making progress with him."

Passion, realizing what he meant, rolled her eyes.

"Ooooooh," Scopes said, "I get it."

Hardy and Time began to laugh. This helped to lighten their expectations slightly with everyone except Xenon. He continued to brood as they walked toward the training room. As they walked around the corner of the wing, the training room came into view. To their surprise, Judais was already waiting on them, standing in the middle of the enormous training room, waiting on them.

They walked in and formed a line. Judais walked up to the group and stood with his arms crossed. He had a somewhat annoyed look on his face. Scopes was attempting to determine what was wrong, but didn't dare to ask.

Judais closed his eyes, took a breath, and said, "I have rigged the sparring dummies so that they will not collapse if they are not hit with the same amount of force at the same time." The group looked to the area behind Judais to see the sparring dummies glowing red.

"Your first exercise is simple," Judais said, "Take them down."

The group readied themselves, gathering their energy and examining their targets. After a few moments, Judais said, "Go," and the team lept forward. Xenon immediately disappeared, rushing forward faster than could be seen, and started beating up the sparring dummy. Passion forward what appeared to be a rainbow-colored dust cloud; when it hit the sparring dummy, it exploded. Time struck the dummy in the center with his palm as blue energy flowed into the dummy and surged out of either side. Scopes turned both his hands into a hammer surrounded by ice and smashed the top of the dummy downward. Hardy threw a punch forward, causing the sparring dummy to shoot backward into the wall, slamming into an invisible shield.