The Crow Code

Arc 2: The Toothpick Test: Chapter 7

Chapter 7: A Toothpick?!

Recap:

"Who is 'she'?" We both asked in annoyance.

"A-Rank Number 18: Titanium Fist."

>>>

"Titanium Fist?" I exclaimed.

"A-Rank Number 18!" AJ's jaw dropped.

"That's right. She's ranked 18th out of 2097 A-rankers in the world." The receptionist smiled.

"Hold up," AJ interrupted, "She only joined last year and what rank did she start at?"

"B-Rank Number 70. Out of all the Heroes in history, she's one of the fastest Heros to rank up in such a short amount of time." The receptionist added on.

"Holy s*** that's more than 3000 ranks she climbed to get to there!" I felt as though my heart was shot with a bullet a hundred times. That's some scary ranking up. 

"Yo AJ," I called out to him.

I take a glance at him. He was frozen from shock. Most Heroes only go up about 100 ranks a year but Titanium Fist went up 3000 ranks in a year! That feat could be the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest butt-naked.

"You two," Golnaz yelled from the other side of the receptionist desk, "thank you for waiting, your ID's and Exam session is ready. Please wait half an hour for your examiner to get prepared."

I poked AJ on the shoulder snapping him back to reality.

"Is the stuff ready?" He asked.

"It's been ready you turtle."

"I'm a hedgehog, not a turtle." He laughed.

"Shall we go?"

"Sure."

We left the receptionist desk and headed inside to the main area. It was empty. My eyes wandered around to find a massive group of people surrounding a training room. There was still half an hour before the exam so I decided to take a good look at what was happening. AJ followed along and as we approached the crowd an object comes flying our way. As the object becomes more visible, I realized that it was a muscular guy that looked to be in his twenties. The muscular guy's eyes seemed to be filled with shock and horror.

"Help me!" He screamed in midair.

The crowd's eyes followed the trajectory of the muscular man as if they were watching a holographic movie. Once the man was about a good three meters from the ground, instantly, the crowd moved away revealing the hard tile floor in which the man landed face first right near AJ and my feet.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Quick, let's flip him over!" AJ said.

With the help of a few bystanders, we managed to flip the guy over. He was out cold.

"How sad," one of the bystanders said sympathetically, "he couldn't even last three seconds or break her defense."

Less than three seconds?! I silently exclaimed.

"That Titanium Fist must be a beast," AJ muttered.

"That explains why her examinees are much stronger than those in their rank," I said.

"Titanium Fist is not known for her offensive power but her defense is one of the most unrivaled. The scariest part is, we've never seen her attack first or use her Hero Weapon."

>>>

Hero Weapons are weapons designed by the blacksmiths in the Workshops. Heroes submit their designs to the Workshops and the smiths there will create the weapon. Depending on the rank, a Hero will have multiple Hero Weapons; however, the limit to the number of Hero Weapons a Hero can possess is seven. Any more than that will take a toll on the Hero's body since Hero Weapons run of the Energy generated from the Hero's body.

>>>

"Alright," a female voice boomed from the center, "who's up next?"

AJ and I forced our way to get a better look at the figure. As we approached the heart of the crowd, there was a girl standing on top of a transparent platform. She wore a short pink and purple Chinese dress that went halfway to her knees. Her short black hair covered her right eye and her long ombré socks went above her knees. She seemed to be about 167cm with heels and around seventeen years old.

She turned her head and scanned the crowd for her next victim.

"Hey, you two!" She pointed at AJ and me.

"Us?" I asked looking at AJ in confusion.

"Yeah, you." She nodded.

"Is there something you want?" AJ asked politely.

Suddenly a smirk formed on her face.

"Can I get one of you guys to spare with me?"

The crowd around us gasped in complete shock.

"Titanium Fist actually is challenging those guys?" A bystander whispered.

"I've never seen them here so they're probably new." Another whispered.

"Well, they're screwed if that's the case. They're probably not even going to last three seconds if she only uses 'that'." The first bystanders replied.

AJ and my mind went blank. It hasn't even been ten minutes since we stepped in, voila, a top rank hero asks one of us to spar with her. How crazy! We might just get beaten to a pulp even before our own exam starts. AJ glances at me holding up his fist.

"Fine," I said rolling my eyes.

"Rock, paper, scissors..." AJ started.

By the end of the word scissors, both of us showed our hands. I had rock while AJ had paper. 

"Good luck, bro." AJ gave me a fist bump with a hint of concern on his face. 

"Thanks." I smiled. 

I took off my blue uniform jacket and rolled up my long, white-collar, shirt sleeves as I walked up on to the training center stage. Titanium fist jumped off the platform she was standing and placed her hands on her hips. 

"Welcome, fresh meat, to the training center." She smiled. 

Although it looked small from outside of the glass, the training room was this vast white space with hidden cameras to capture the stats of the Hero training in there. It was a blank slate that could be used to create different terrains using the same holographic technology as the one at the entrance of the building. 

"It is an honor to be able to spar with you Ms.Titanium Fist." I bowed in respect. 

"Would you mind giving me you're name and rank?" She politely asked. 

"I'm sorry miss, I rather kept my name a private thing. However, I'm an A-Rank but my number is to be determined." I responded in kind. 

"So you haven't taken the Interior Ranking Exam yet?" She was shocked. 

"No way he's an A-rank to be determined!" The bystanders whispered amongst themselves. 

 "If that's the case he might stand some ground against Titanium Fist!" The crowd suddenly started to cheer as they were finally going to see something exciting. 

"Hm," she shut her eyes and smirked, "if that's the case, we'll start with this." 

In her hand was a tiny wooden stick with a small, dull point at the end. 

"A toothpick?!" 

>>> 

When I was planning this little arc, I was ready to finally get some exciting battle scenes in. However, my laziness had put me on hiatus for quite a while. Now, I'm back and the plot will resume. There will be no filler chapters in the middle of an arc but there will be one at the end of every major arc to show character updates, stats, and facts. 

Currently digging my own grave, 

-Digi (; -_-)