Sigma/Star

Chapter 107: Fist Fights

Mr. Shotuku stood in front of the fire, watching the tiny flickers and embers that shot out of its orange glow. His eyes began to move between the different people sitting around him, roaming over the students, then the androids, then the doctor. Porter watched the old man's head rotate, trying to pry into the elder's mind. How much had Shotuku known prior to all of this? Was each step, each mission, been just a part of some larger game, something that had always been leading to this exodus?

A squawk rung out from the forest and a pair of birds burst out of the foliage, shooting up through the darkening sky. It shocked Porter out of his thoughts, snapping him back to reality. Only then did he notice the rest of his colleagues were looking at him expectantly and they must have asked him a question.

"Oh uhm..." Porter's eyes went wild, flipping back and forth in the hopes of drawing a hint out of somebody, but he found nothing.

"I told you he didn't follow," Ardwen said, chuckling a little alone before falling silent. He was still trying to lighten the spirit among the students, but they were all waiting for Porter's reaction before they would know how to feel.

"Yeah, sorry, I kind of zoned out a bit there." Porter absently rubbed the back of his head, a stupid grin spread across his face to deflect criticism for his loss of focus. There was a serious moment of silence shared among the group before they all burst out laughing at a still-useless Porter.

"You haven't learned anything have you?" Riya spoke between fits of giggling, holding her side.

"I was paying attention, I was just thinking about things!" Porter attempted to mount a comeback, his ego shattered, but it was too late.

"Not paying attention indeed," Shotuku muttered, black slipper in hand. The dark footwear zipped through the air, smacking Porter across the face and sending him careening into the air, until he dropped down into the ocean with a splash. "This next period of time will be critical for all of you in order to deal with what may come in the future."

Porter sat up in the ocean, slowly spitting out seawater from his mouth. He didn't protest though, quite used to Shotuku's beatings at this point, and he pulled himself up from the water. He shook it off though, sitting back down around the fire to begin letting his clothing dries. "Then now what?"

Shotuku's eyebrow twitched at Porter's ignorance but he withheld another slipper. "We grow and we strengthen ourselves. If we are to be separate, as you all chose, we will have to become better than we ever were before. All of you must draw out your greatest strengths and extinguish your weaknesses."

There was an empty silence as the entire group waited for a quip at Shotuku from Chase, sitting and staring at one another. None of them wanted to acknowledge Chase's absence, and even Shotuku seemed to be waiting for the deceased teenager. Doctor Roth stood up in the pause, moving into the middle of the circle as he did not understand the gap. "I can reprogram Alpha as needed to-"

The elder man raised his hand and shook his head slowly, silencing the doctor. "We will not be using Alpha, Roth. Sigma will be assisting the students."

"Assisting? Assisting how?" Ardwen leaned forwards, eyes glued to Mr. Shotuku. It was clear from his gaze he didn't trust the teacher entirely; even Porter was able to pick that message up from Ardwen's demeanour. Do I trust him yet? Porter pondered. While he wasn't able to figure out whether or not everything had been part of a larger plan yet, he still had to decide first if he could work with Shotuku moving forward.

"To become better pilots, you must become better people." Shotuku began his explanation by sweeping his arm over the group, very aware of their trepidations. "This is something that you have learned for some time as students at Saint Maurius. But we can only take you so far with sparring against each other and practicing combat. Sigma provides a chance for us to elevate ourselves, to generate experience that would take years to normally create."