"Alright everyone, behind me." All of the students gathered on one side of the concrete field, a couple of the band leadership spaced throughout the edges of the space. "Three laps for Physical Training today. We don't have a lot of time, so walking is highly discouraged. And... on your marks...."
The group looked to each other, some preparing and others in disbelief. In the front of the pack, however, Arthur and Destiny stood side-by-side, hunched over.
"I will admit... I didn't think you'd get THIS into it that quickly. We haven't even done anything yet!"
"Someone made me realize..." Arthur contemplated. "T-that every moment I h-have here... is an opportunity. I don't want to waste it..."
"Well how humble of you." Destiny retorted. "Sadly, though, I'm gonna be winning this race."
"I can't say where I'm at until I test myself on the field."
"Yeah, but... I have done lots of other sports before. Do you do anything physical outside of this?"
"Well..."
"GO!" Teller threw his arm down, causing the two teens to immediately begin jogging at high speed. The rest of the band sluggishly followed behind them. "I mean, they're enthusiastic at least..." He commented, watching the distance between the two and the rest of the band grow as they got further out.
Once about halfway through the first lap, Arthur's breath began to get raspier and heavier. "You alright, Arthur?"
"I'm... I-I'm JUST fine..."
Lagging behind but still near the front of the pack, Margaret led the way for the majority of the band, most who weren't used to doing this kind of exercise. Looking off into the distance ahead, she grinned.
"I'm happy two kids are enjoying this, at least..."
Further back, Machiko and Vernon were neck and neck in jogging, the former trying not to push herself too far and the ladder just not caring to push into a sprint.
"Look at those two go, huh?" Vernon caught her attention, pointing out Destiny and Arthur. "I feel bad for that guy, cause I know her sister, and she... doesn't lose, let's leave it at that."
"I don't know..." Machiko whispered, noticing the guy in front was Arthur. "The guy seems to be really pushing himself." From inside, Machiko recognized the challenge Arthur posed to her, a Freshman enjoying the experience more than her. She looked down to her aching hands, and gripped them tightly. "Wanna race? We'll see who's right! And..."
"Wait, what?"
"Go!" Machiko quickly took off, dashing through the crowd.
"W-wait up!" Vernon, annoyed at the challenge, immediately followed behind.
Back at the front, the two had just finished their first lap, Destiny not even breaking a sweat in the low-eighties heat. "How we holding up, Arthur? ... Arthur?" She turned to the side to see Arthur's usually quiet face replaced with a more intense one, drenched from top to bottom in sweat. His erratic breathing could be heard from several feet away, and his eyes bugged out in a tense fight-or-flight response.
"Are you sure you don't want to tap out?"
He nodded in response, not taking his eyes off of the concrete. The two continued onward at a fast speed, nearly lapping the stragglers of the band who weren't up to the morning exercise. Arthur's muscles continued to tense up, not used to the unusual amount of effort he was trying to put in. At about the halfway point of the second lap, however, he noticed a couple of gremlin-like creatures on the ground in front of them.
"What?!" Arthur freaked out, confused as to what exactly the creatures were. Without hesitation, the small creatures began to leap onto his legs, pulling him down with an ususual amount of pain and weight. "AUGH!"
"Arthur!" Destiny looked around from her jog, noticing he'd just began to slow down, wincing in pain. "You finally feeling that weight?"
"Oh..." Arthur realized, looking down to the creatures on his legs. "You're... just my imagination." He tried to imagine them away, but they simply wouldn't go. Eventually, he just came to the realization they probably just showed how much pain he was going through, and ignoring all the same.
By that point, he'd slowed down to half his initial speed or so, the group of band kids rapidly approaching on him. Destiny trusted he'd stop when the pain got too rough, and kept on going at her previous pace.
"Arthur!" Margaret called out to him as she slowly approached. "You alright?!"
More and more of the creatures appeared out of nowhere, lunging onto his legs, arms and shoulders with increasing weight and ferocity. Without hesitation, knowing that the creatures were all in his head, he struggled to signal a thumbs-up.
Margaret disappointingly looked to Arthur, realizing he simply didn't have the physical strength to back up his energy. "Come on! You can do this!"
Arthur's eyes widened in fear, realizing her voice was extremely close. He didn't even have to turn around for Margaret to pass by, followed by several other marching students. "No..." He whispered to himself in exhaustion, as more and more of the group passed him by, some even just walking.
"Is that it?" As the majority of the teens made their way past, Arthur looked up to notice Machiko looking down on his hunched-over self. "I have small casts on my hands, and I'm running better than you."
"You... take karate." Arthur spat out. "You obviously-"
"If you say that makes me stronger I might just kick your ass." Arthur jolted upwards, nervous. It was in that moment he realized how inappropriate the comment actually was. "Why do you want to push yourself so hard?! Because if you can't see it... then it's not worth it!"
"I want to..." Arthur stopped, both physically and mentally. "I want to..."
"Why are you here?!"
"I WANT to... become more confident."
"What?"
"I want to become more confident, like her. And I want to be stronger, too. And more talented. She's just the perfect fit for a Marching Band, and I fit nowhere! I need to keep pushing myself, or I'll have no chance! I guess I'm at the bottom now, but that's not where I want to be!"
"You'll have no chance of getting out from the bottom if you just stand here, weighing yourself down!" Machiko nearly screamed at him, as the last of the group passed them. "I know what it's like to think it's over, but it's not! You can keep going! YOU CAN FINISH THIS!!"
"You're... you're... RIGHT!" Arthur immediately kicked off several of the creatures, before taking off past Machiko.
"That..." Vernon walked up to Machiko from the distance, as Arthur took off down the track. "Was the cheesiest thing I've ever seen."
"I could tell it wouldn't take much to motivate him. This is probably the biggest risk he's ever taken in his life, which is kinda sad, but... that gives him all the more reason to keep pushing."
"Why'd you help him, then?"
"Because... I don't want a kid who likes this that much to give up this easily."
The third lap. Destiny was already halfway through, and most of the group had passed the line for the final lap. She looked back to the line, trying to find where Arthur had gone. In her heart, she knew he probably went to rest, but hoped just in the smallest part he-
"WOOHOO! Go Arthur!" Margaret cried out, causing Destiny to turn and find him. Right next to the front of the line, Arthur jogged in increasing pain, but was still speeding up to the group.
"Come on, Arthur!" Destiny called out, his determination motivating her to go from fast jogging to an all-out sprint.
"This is the final lap!" Teller called out to everyone, watching from the center. "Make sure to pace yourself, as this is only the beginning!"
"Yeah... just the beginning. Machiko's right." Arthur whispered to himself, as he passed the person in last. "If I can't push through this... I'll never see Internationals! I'll never be as good as Destiny!" Passing by another walker, he looked across the length of the field, noticing that Destiny was nearing the finish line, fully sprinting.
"Keep your running steady." From behind Arthur, Vernon jogged up followed by Machiko. "If you do it sloppy, it'll hurt ten times more in the morning. Keep your head up, and make the swaying of your arms consistent." Struggling with light pain in his back, Arthur brought up his posture before angling his arms, increasing his stability by a lot.
"There we go!" Machiko called out. "Now... let's finish this!"
"Yeah!"
At the halfway point, the three were still right behind the majority of the group, the next person in front of them was Preston. He turned around, realizing just then Arthur and company was struggling behind them.
"Come on, Arthur! I barely ever exercise! You can do this!"
"Yeah!" Maya cheered in support from in front of Preston, in awe of the kid she dismissed earlier. Taking a strong breath in, Arthur tried increased his pace.
From out of nowhere, the gremlins from before lunged from the air, trying to land on Arthur. He fumbled a bit in the process of trying to dodge them, making Machiko and Vernon nervous.
"You don't have to push yourself any more than you have!" She called out to him.
As more of them attacked Arthur, he had to make increasingly desperate dodges to avoid them, but most were successful. "I w-won't let myself be held back... any longer!" With accurate precision, Arthur caught one of the gremlins mid-air, before throwing it away to the side. Immediately, a bit of the tension in his legs lifted, followed by a swift pass of Preston in the jog.
"Yeah!" The four cheered, as they rounded the corner to the finish. In a few final motions, Arthur took his time, slowed down, and finished the jog with a comfortable walk across the finish.
"I'll be a hundred percent honest..." Destiny spoke, walking to Arthur with a small glob of sweat running down her face. "You're gonna be in so much pain tomorrow."
"I know." He quietly noted, smiling. "But I don't have room to mess around, you know?"
"Yeah." Destiny smiled, and extended her arm. Arthur took her hand and shook, the both of them confidently grinning. In that moment, while one finished first and the other finished near last, they had found perfect rivals in each other.
"Oh, who's this, Destiny?" Charity leaned on Destiny's head, towering over her, as she smirked at Arthur. "Your boyfriend or something?"
The two immediately blushed in nervousness, causing the older teen to laugh. "Just kidding, guys! But anyways..." Her tone immediately dropped to dead-serious, focusing in on the boy. "You'll never beat my sister at anything, I hope you realize."
Arthur smiled back. "Noted."
Charity looked to Destiny, imitating a rough, Norse voice. "I like this one." The three laughed together, as the light sound of clapping could be heard from the distance.
"BAND... TEN HUT!!"
"HUT!!" The entire resting band looked to Teller and Margaret who stood in the center of the field. "Okay everyone, go get some water and rest in the pavilion. You need it. And leadership, we need to have a quick meeting before the next bit of training."
"First person back to the pavilion?" Destiny questioned to Arthur.
"You're out of your mind. ...T-three..."
"Two..."
"ONE!" "ONE!"
The two immediately took off towards the shade, Charity smiling in disbelief from a distance. "If only I were young again..." She began to sing, dancing towards the group of leadership. After a few seconds, the remainder of the leadership gathered around.
"Okay everyone..." Teller got their attention. "First thing's first, their 'attention'. We only get today to work on it, so we need all hands on deck. Section leader or just leadership, support your section, please. Any questions?"
"Yeah, I got one." Vernon raised his hand.
"What's your problem?"
"I don't have a problem, just..." He looked over to the pavilion, Destiny and Arthur talking. Destiny looked to be making fun of something, and Arthur reacted nervous and awkward in return. "We need to keep motivated all the time we're out here. If we lose the momentum we have now, or not strive to increase it, we'll be sure to fail at getting the basics done today. Understand?"
"Yeah!" The leadership cheered, tired from the jog but ready for more.
"Let's get this done!" Margaret cheered.