"On your feet!" Don shouted, and everyone sprung onto their feet. Don had dashed in towards the person who was the slowest getting up, and that was Alice. She hadn't even seen him moving towards her, but when she saw the shadow cast over, she saw a punch coming directly towards her gut. She flinched back since it seemed like Don was going to hit her, but when she felt no pain, she opened her eyes. She saw Rose had blocked Don's attack and pushed him back only to try and roundhouse kick him.
Don brought his arm up to block the kick and seemed completely unfazed by the power. By no means was Rose's kick weak; in fact, it sounded quite powerful. Alas, it didn't seem to cause Don any harm. Don wormed his arm around her leg, only to yank her toward him, then sucker-punched her. She gritted her teeth and prepared for the attack. It hit, and she heeled over and spat out both spit and oxygen from her lungs and mouth. Don wasn't merciful; he followed up with a roundhouse of his own and kicked her in the head with the back of his boot. Rose rolled as she collided with the ground.
"The hell are you doing!?" Rebecca exclaimed. She had seen everything. If he had hit Alice, there was a chance she may have died. With Rose, it looked like she was alive, but everyone knew who Rose was. Still, this begged the question. Why was Don so ruthless right now? "Weren't you listening?" April was holding onto Sofia since Don had set her down beside April. Rebecca looked towards April, "You can die." April would remark. Rose was starting to get off the ground, although her vision was hazy.
"She's right. Don's training is like this. But I doubt he will actively try to kill any of you. That first punch was held back greatly, but the punch and kick he did to me was his full strength." Rose would comment, and Don shook his head. "You didn't need to tell them. If anything, they'll have a few broken bones here and there, but as you said. I will not actively try to kill them. You are my only pupil, after all. So..." Don would take to a battle stance. "Let's continue. You need to push your body's limits right now, and the more you stand around, the less you will push. In fact, your Seed can always be awakened in this way."
Everyone was hesitant for a moment, but then John stepped forward. He usually wasn't one to take the spotlight but did so anyway. He wanted to test Don's strength and compare his own Seed Power to Don's. After all, they both had a Space Seed Power. John would rush Don, and only when he was a few feet in front of him did he activate his Seed Power. The gravity around him suddenly increased, making it harder to stand up straight; however, Don didn't seem fazed. His feet did sink into the ground, but he didn't bend or bow.
John reached out to grab Don; Don pushed his arms aside, then spartan kicked him, which caused him to stumble back. Don stepped forward and jumped, he would bring his knee to John's chin, or well, he would have if Rose didn't interfere by throwing out an arc of wind. Unfortunately, Don was in mid-flight, so he couldn't move. He could have used his Seed Powers, but then they would learn nothing. So, he was prepared to take the hit; however, an arrow clashed with the arc of wind. April was holding her bow with Sofia standing behind her. April would wink to Don since Don looked towards her, and a smirk curved across his lips.
His knee connected with John's chin, and John was sent to the ground. When Don landed, he heard a click sound. His eyes flared a vivid black, and he negated the damage of the landmine that Josh had placed. Afterward, the flare dimmed down to a shimmering black. Since he was still human, his legs would get blown off. "I'll give you that one, Josh," Don called out to him, but he wasn't upset. In fact, he was smiling. The tone of his voice held pride; he was proud of Josh. Josh didn't hold back against him, and this is what Don was trying to teach them.
Fight for your life.
Fight for tomorrow.
Fight to keep others safe.
Hold nothing back and fight; otherwise, you will die.
Josh smirked and pushed up his glasses. "Then I'll be taking more points," Josh stated as if he was being graded. A chuckle escaped Don's lips. "Of course, but keep in mind I will only be using my Seed Power on your explosions." Don would call back. No one really understood it, but it seemed like Don really was taking it easy on them. John looked up from the ground, his vision was hazy, and he struggled a bit to get up, but Rose helped him to his feet. 'He wasn't using his Seed against me?' John thought internally. 'Did that mean he was able to overpower the gravitational pressure with pure strength alone? Just what kind of training did you go through?' John continued until he heard Rose's voice. She was calling his name several times now.
"You good?" Rose asked, and John nodded; his vision was starting to clear up a little. "Yeah," John replied. "Good, because I'm going in!" Rose charged Don, leaving John to his devices. Jake had pulled up a few undead from the shadows. A gray aura radiating off of them just how his eyes gave off a vivid gray flare. The undead rushed Don.
Rose tossed out several arcs of wind in Don's direction. Don smoothly evaded all of them, and when Rose tried to ax kick him from the air, he blocked her attack by taking hold of her ankle. He would then toss her towards the undead that rushed towards him. This knocked them over; Don would dash towards the ones still standing and took two heads, then based them together, destroying the brain and killing them off. He then stomped on one that was on the ground with his boot. Again, destroying the head and brain along with it, ultimately killing it as well.
The pain Jake was feeling was natural since he was connected with the Undead. After all, that was the drawback of his Seed. To feel pain whenever his undead were harmed or killed off. The pain came in the form of a sharp stinging sensation and could last anywhere between a second to several seconds. Jake winced and grit his teeth but did his best to bear with it. This was training; after all, if he gave up here, what would happen during actual combat? He wanted to be more useful; he wanted to last longer, so he endured the pain. Don continued to eliminate the undead, and eventually, Don began to take out more than Jake was bringing in. Josh, on the other hand, tried to set up traps with his landmines. When Don heard a click, there was an explosion, but Don always used his Spatial Distortion to shield himself. Of course, he knew that Josh was getting points from it; however, he thought it was time to test Josh since the number of undead was pretty much zero now.
Don pivoted towards Josh. He broke past Juan and Catalina, who were standing beside Josh. He pushed Catalina and shoved Juan, then brought his fist around for Josh's face. Josh on reflex came to block the attack; however, the attack was a feint. Don brought his knee forward and hit Josh in the stomach, which caused Josh to cough out oxygen and saliva.
'So fast!' Josh exclaimed in his mind.
Don quickly brought his fist around for a right hook aimed at Josh's face. Josh saw the fist and quickly leaned back. The maneuver looked a bit awkward, but he managed to evade the fist. Josh stepped back, and Don gave chase. Throwing punches left and right; meanwhile, Josh was on the defensive. He would evade over and over and block what he couldn't evade. He couldn't even find the proper time to throw a punch of his own or even create landmines.
Don continued to pressure him, and eventually, Josh slipped up, Don got a clean right hook in, and Josh was sent towards the ground. If it was Rose, Don would have followed up with a kick to the stomach or stomp to the chest, but this was Josh. Besides, there was an undead standing behind him. Don could feel it, only because he could feel Jake's eyes beaming at him. Don would elbow the undead in the stomach, which caused its body to hunch over. He grabbed the head, then twisted it and pulled the entire undead over his shoulder. Once the body slammed into the ground, he would stomp upon it while pulling his arms back and cleanly ripped the head off.
Don turned to see Jen was right beside him, aiming to throw a kick at Don. Don tossed the head at Jen, which bounced off her bust. The momentum also caused her kick to change direction, and Don was able to catch her kick. He pulled her off her feet and spun on his heels several times only to toss Jen towards Boss, who was dashing at him.
"AHHHH!" Jen screamed while she was being swung around and even after Don released her. Boss's eyes went wide, and he prepared himself to catch Jen. When he did, they both fell towards the ground with an 'OOF' and 'Ouch.'
Don would look around the field for a moment to see everyone's positions. John seemed to be still trying to regain his barring from the earlier attack. Meanwhile, Juan and Catalina just decided to lay on the ground. They had no fighting experience, and they were just way too tired to do anything. Next, Jake's undead stopped spawning. He hunched over, trying to hold back the pain as well as keep himself from hurling. Josh struggled to get off the ground; after all, his vision was blurry and seemed to be spinning in several directions. Meanwhile, Alice and Sarah didn't know what to do. Jen and Boss were clearly still on the ground from when Don tossed Jen at Boss.
Ion was rushing at Don; meanwhile, Jessica was backing him up with fireballs. Don would evade them but still kept looking around. Keeping track of his surroundings, the state everyone was in, and where everyone was at. Natalie seemed to be going around taking a look at everyone and doing what she could to keep them stable. Don wasn't going to attack her until the end. Normally one went after either the weakest person, the healer, or a medic of any kind. The weakest was Alice which is who he went after from the start. He decided not to injury their medic since if she was out, there was no way anyone could get examined. As for Ion, well... he could self-heal. So, Don didn't really care.
"It's time for a rematch!" Ion called out, pushing his Seed Power: Limiter Release to the max. Vivid crimson veins could be seen all along his body, and he threw out several punches. Don evaded each of them, including the fireballs, while still taking a look around the battlefield. 'Where are Rebecca and Rose?' Don thought. He had not seen them. Rebecca had caught his attention earlier when she shouted at him, but he hadn't seen her after that. As for Rose, last he saw her, she was rushing him down when the undead had been coming at him. He stopped her halt then tossed her at the undead like some kind of bowling ball.
"Eyes over here, Don!" Ion called out to Don. Don decided to look in his direction, and when he did, he saw a blade run past Ion's face and come straight for Don. Don was surprised but at the same time excited and proud. Don stepped forward, taking the blade into his chest, and evaded the punch coming for his chest. He would brush aside Ion's second fist while reaching for Ion's throat, and when he had his fingers wrapped around Ion's throat, he would slam Ion into the ground. The force caused Rose to step back and, in turn, pull out the blade that went through Don's body.
A fireball was coming up towards Don; Don looked at it and jumped away from it into a roll. He quickly got back up to his feet and caught Rose's blade with his bare hand. Blood trickled from the blade's edge, but the blade would not push forward or move backward no matter what Rose tried to do. Finally, she kissed her teeth and decided to leave the blade. Don tossed it aside and charged Rose.
Don threw out a fist, and Rose blocked it. Don threw out another, and Rose blocked it as well. Eventually, the flow of movement between the two seemed superb. Both of them were moving incredibly fast, but what Don was wondering was why Rose was only blocking, and that was when he felt it. The barrel of a shotgun placed to the back of his head. He had been a bit too focused on Rose to realize Rebecca had come up behind him.
Don stopped attacking and put his hands up with a smirk. "Good work. This single training session has shown me a lot. I now know where you all stand and what you are all capable of." Don spoke as if the combat session was over and everyone could finally relax. Rebecca lowered the gun, and Don turned around to smile at her. "Nice job, Rebecca," Don said.
Rebecca gave a short chuckle, "As if. If you were using your Seed Power against us and not just to defend against Josh's mines, we would have lost. We only won because you were taking it easy on us." Rebecca stated with a smirk across her face. She knew they would have lost if Don used his Seed Powers.
"But that isn't the point." Don shook his head. "Yes. It's true if I used my Seed Power, I would have won, but I didn't. The point of this session was to show you where you all stand and allow me to understand how you fight. Aside from Rose, I know what you are all capable of now. The question is, do you know what you are capable of?" Don asked while explaining to Rebecca why he did what he did.
Rebecca took a moment to think about it. Everyone else did the same. Eventually, John spoke up. "Yeah. We are about as strong as your everyday citizen. Some of us have some combat experience and others do not; however, that doesn't mean we can't learn. I assume that is why you wanted all of us to fight against you because you have the most combat experience out of all of us."
Don nodded to John's remark. "You have good eyes. As you always have. Before you begin a fight, you should always check your position and the position of your enemies and allies. Not only that, but you should take in your surroundings—rocks, trees, bushes, houses, creatures, anything, and everything. Then find your first target. Usually being the weakest person, a healer, or a medic of some kind. In this case, I went after Alice. Sarah and Alice are about the same in terms of weakness. Alice was closer. Rose knew what I was after, which was why she was able to act so quickly." Don explained.
Everyone seemed to slowly understand, but right now, everyone was just too tired. "We'll take an hour to rest up. Afterward, I'll go over in-depth what each of you can improve on and explain a bit more about combat tactics." Don stated before leaving them to their devices. "Hey, wait! What about your injuries!?" Natalie called out to him. She was aware of the fact that he had been injured. Don would stop and turn towards her showing her his hands both the front and the back of them and his chest. A smirk displayed upon his face, "What injuries?" Don asked. Everyone was surprised; no one knew what was going on.
Everyone thought for a second that Don had a healing Seed Power as well. Rose used her Sixth Sense to see if he did, and he didn't. Don would chuckle seeing their stern faces and surprised expressions. "I'll tell you after you all rest. I am fine, so don't worry." Don stated, then turned back towards the house. Since Sofia ran towards her parents to check up on them, April decided to follow Don. As she pulled up beside him, she clung onto his arm and looked up at him, "Are you okay?" She asked with a worried look, and Don nodded. "I am fine, but... maybe a kiss will help," Don commented with a smile.
April's cheeks tinged pink at his remark. April was still April, it seemed. 'Since when did he ever become so bold?' April thought, but before she could even answer him, Don had leaned over to kiss her on the forehead. April's eyes went wide for a second in surprise, then closed with content, and a soft smile curved across her lips. After a moment, they would continue into the house, but April had said something.
"Hey! Aren't I supposed to kiss you?"
A bit of chuckling and giggle could be heard coming from the entryway, but after that, no one saw them. Finally, everyone else decided to pick themselves up and head inside as well. Alice and Sarah decided to cook everyone a meal and get them some drinks. Since they hadn't really done anything or were hurt, they were the ones in top condition, aside from still being tired from the workout that was.