Rough panting was heard as it showed Jules hunched over on her knees taking deep breaths.
"W... What the hell is this training?" muttered Jules as she looked up.
She saw hundreds of chefs running around with boulders on their backs around the plain, some were doing basic weight exercises while other were just lazing around not taking this seriously.
A whistle blowing drew her attention as she looked to the left and saw Chef Lex standing tall looking at everyone with a bored look.
"Mmm it seems we got another weak batch this time" whispered Lex to a fellow trainer next to him making said trainer nod.
"There are a few that will make exceptional chefs though sir" said the man pointing at a few people.
The first person was a teen who was 18 years old. He was quite lanky as he was sitting against the wall with his arms crossed. He had flowing black hair that stopped at his hips, and chestnut brown almost black colored eyes. He had a slight tanned complexion. A massive sheath was next to his legs resting against the wall. He wore the standard chef uniform except he had his chef jacket opened showing his plain white shirt underneath it.
"Ryu Taiga he came from the slums fighting his way through 6 three-star chefs before he finally tired out, days after that incident he joined the Chef program" listed the man.
Ryu looked at everyone with a hungry predatory look in his eyes as his body gained a dark red hue before shimmering away.
"Secondly there is her" said the man turning to his right.
There performing a leg stretch was an 18-year-old girl. She was of average height with a petite build. She had dusky pink hair that was made in a high pony tail. The tips of her hair were dyed neon blue. She had dark sea green eyes that shone with curiosity. Her skin complexion was a soft beige. She wore the standard chef uniform and two sheaths were resting at her hips.
"Amber Peaks. A real prodigy she was able to outsmart a veg mutant and saved a group of people which came from a higher floor looking for refuge," said the man.
Lex looked in front of him and nodded his head towards someone.
"And him?" asked Lex.
The person Lex was asking about appeared to be a teen who was 18 years old. He was of average height and a slim build. He had platinum blond colored hair cut into a comb over hair style. He had piercing blue eyes. His complexion was a pale white. On his back was a leather sheath.
"Yes, he is on the list his name is Lance Harver. He is the heir to Harver family" read the person off from his list.
"Great a rich boy" muttered Lex to himself.
"Is that all of them?" said Lex.
"No, we have one more" answered the man pointing a finger.
Caspian was the person the man pointed at and it showed him busy running around with the rocks in his back.
"General Charles has personally recommended him and apparently Florance just up and took a week off after unlocking his Stock Pot," said the man.
"Interesting" muttered Lex.
"ALRIGHT EVERYONE LINE UP!" Shouted Lex causing everyone to run towards him.
Majority of them were huffing and panting from the exercises.
"Now that the warm up exercises are done, we can start the sparing sessions," said Lex.
"That was warm ups??" thought all the chefs.
"I'm going to put you into teams of two and you're going to fight no weapons allowed it's as simple as that" spoke Lex out.
"Uhm sir some of us have never been in a fight before" spoke a nervous Chef out.
"Well, I'm sure your partner will beat you... I mean teach you the basics" answered Lex a smirk on his face.
As Caspian was listing to the man someone stood next to him and spoke up.
"Hey you," said a rough voice.
Caspian looked to his left and found that he had to look up a bit to see who was talking. There stood Ryu who was an entire half a head taller than him.
"You're going to be my partner got it?" said Ryu a grin starting to form on his face.
"Uhm ok?" answered Caspian yet he had a strange feeling come over him whenever then man looked at him.
It took a few minutes for Lex to pair everyone up and soon everyone had a partner. Just like Ryu had said the two of them ended up being partners as they walked a distance away from everyone. Soon small dust clouds could be seen being birthed as people were throwing each other to the floor. Caspian looked to his opponent and saw the man still had his grin on his face as he cracked his knuckles. The teen had never been in a fight with another person but his father taught him some boxing as to beat any bully's up in school.
Caspian let a small breath out as he brought his hands up going into a boxing stance. Ryu released a laugh as he bent his knees before a tremendous force was released from him. Everyone around the man fell to their knees sweating profusely.
"Geez feel that Stock levels" spoke Lex out
Caspian started to breath rapidly as it felt like gravity was trying its hardest to push him to the floor but the teen grit his teeth and stood up not falling like the others.
"You can still stand after feeling my Stock levels ha this is going to be fun!" shouted Ryu before vanishing.
Caspian's eyes widened seeing that Ryu vanish before said man appeared in front of him in the motion of delivering a straight right punch. Caspian reacted quickly and crossed both his arms over his chest before he felt a ginormous force hit his arm launching him back like a missile. The teen crashed through a few trees in the forest that was next to the empty plain.
"Shit is he dead?" whispered a nearby chef to someone.
"He better not be" said Ryu listing to their conversation before running after Caspian.
At said teen he was slumped against a tree with his entire right arm shaking taking the brunt of the force. A massive bruise was forming where Ryu hit him, and blood started to pour out the back of his head as he crashed through all the trees.
"What the hell how am I not dead?" muttered Caspian to himself shakenly
He used the tree as support to stand up slowly before he released a groan feeling he had more injuries that he might have thought.
"Why didn't you release your Stock?" came a voice out of the thicket of trees.
Caspian's eyes widened before he slowly looked up and saw Ryu walk in front of him a look of disappointment etched in his face.
"Were you trying to kill me with that punch!" shouted Caspian a irk mark on his forehead.
"I held back" answered Ryu.
"Now answer my question why didn't you use your Stock to harden your body?" asked Ryu.
"I... I don't know how to" answered Caspian truthfully looking down at the floor.
Ryu released a long sigh before containing his flowing Stock energy's again"
"Listen I'm only going to explain it once if you forget it, I'm going to kill you until your dead" said Ryu making Caspian sweat drop.
"I hate weak people they shouldn't try and go against the strong knowing fully it's a fool's errand" started Ryu.
"I sense that you have an abnormal amount of Stock in your body which is just brimming with energy" explained Ryu.
"That was the reason I wanted to fight you because I believed you'd give me the best fight I would ever have!" shouted Ryu a bloodthirsty smirk on his face.
"So, let's get you using that Stock energy so we can fight! "said Ryu.
The man then walked in front of Caspian and pointed at his stomach with his thumb.
"Everyone thinks that since the Stock Pot organ absorbs Stock energy that is where you can get access from it" started Ryu.
"It makes sense though?" said Caspian only to get a Karate chop against the head making him cry out in pain.
"WRONG!" shouted Ryu.
"Where does food go when its eaten?" asked Ryu.
"Your stomach?" answered Caspian rubbing his sore head.
"Correct!" said Ryu.
"Our bodies "Eat" the Stock energy flowing through our body which is being pumped out from our Stock Pots, so the place where the Stock is the strongest is your stomach!" explained the man.
"Emotions consume way more Stock as the body subconsciously desires more to prevent any emotional stress from happing" carried the man on.
"Rage, Lust, Hunger, joy any major emotion will consume your Stock like a hungry dog so you must be careful whenever you are triggered," said the man.
"Close your eyes and focus on your stomach feel the heat being produced" instructed Ryu crossing his arms.
Caspian followed the man's instructions and then closed his eyes. He placed all his concentration on his stomach and he stood there for a few minutes not feeling anything.
"I don't feel anything" said Caspian frustrated.
"Focus" answered Ryu simply.
"I am!" shouted Caspian before closing his eyes again.
Just as he was going to open his eyes again a sudden burst of heat erupted from his stomach.
"Was that it?" muttered Caspian surprised trying to get that feeling again.
He tried repeatedly for the following few minutes but he couldn't find that feeling again. Caspian was drenched in sweat as he was panting softly.
"Dammit I'm not getting it!" shouted Caspian.
"I can see this is going to be a waste of time" said Ryu suddenly.
Caspian looked up and saw Ryu start to walk away.
"You will remain weak forever and I hate weak people remember I think I might go and kill those two you were so happily talking with in the mess hall" spoke Ryu out looking over his shoulder his eyes cold.
"I'm not bluffing I will really kill them they're weak two just like ants no one is going to miss them" carried Ryu on.
Caspian's hair was over his eyes as it was just a shadowy void there not showing his expression.
"His going to kill them?" thought the teen to himself.
"Why...Why can't I use my stock?" thought Caspian.
"Am I destined too just be weak? To just let everyone around me die?" carried the teen on.
A memory suddenly appeared in his head making his eyes widen. It showed a young Caspian walk home he was covered with bruises and dried blood. Once he walked in his house a voice drew his attention.
"Hey kiddo how was sch..." started the voice only to stop mid-sentence.
Caspian looked up and saw it was a man. The man at the time appeared to be in his early twenties, he wore a plain white work shirt that was unbuttoned at the color, on the lower half of his body he wore a black chino pants and he currently had a pair of white socks on. He had short cut black hair that was slightly gelled up and soft gold-colored eyes. This was Adam Noir Caspian's father.
"What happened Cas?" asked Adam concerned as he picked the kid up and carried him to the bathroom.
When they arrived at the bathroom Adam put Caspian gently down on a little green stool as he opened a cabinet and took out plasters and disinfectants.
"Billy happened" muttered Caspian softly.
"That school bully?" asked Adam as he went on one knee and started to disinfect Caspian's wounds.
"I thought you said he doesn't bother you?" spoke Adam out.
Caspian flinched from the stinging sensation of the disinfectant before he carried on talking.
"He doesn't but he started to hurt Ash today and I couldn't stand by!" shouted Caspian.
Ashleigh was the Neighbours kid and was one of Caspian's first close friends.
"He grabbed her by the hair and pushed her down" carried Caspian on looking at his palms which was scraped and bleeding softly.
"So, I punched him against the face it didn't do much as his twice my size and twice as strong" muttered Caspian tears pouring out his eyes.
"I tried Dad... I tried so hard to fight back but I just couldn't" said Caspian crying.
"Why am I so weak? I couldn't help Ash from getting hurt I'm so weak!" spoke Caspian only to feel a hand on his head causing his eyes to widen.
"Being weak isn't a sad thing Caspian, it means you can get so much stronger, it means you will give your all trying to not be weak" started Adam.
"And if your weak but stand up to the strong doing wrong's that's real strength there not just standing by and letting them do what they want" said Adam smiling.
"Your strong Caspian might not be physically strong yet but your heart is stronger than a lion" finished Adam lighting tapping Caspian's chest where his heart was.
Caspian leaned forwards and cried on his father's shoulders letting everything out.
"I'm so proud of you Caspian don't ever forget it and don't ever stop being who you are" whispered Adam as he rubbed Caspian's back.
Back in present time Ryu was about to walk off when a massive amount of Stock was unleashed from Caspian. The leaves on the tree were blowing like a hurricane was flowing through the forest and the all the animals ran away. Ryu had a massive grin on his face as his knees wanted to buckle but he stood up tall.
"HAHAH THERE IT IS!" shouted Ryu holding his arms open like he was holding a sermon.
Caspian looked up at the man and a tear was sliding down his cheek. The raging Stock levels were blowing his hair up giving a clear looking at his glowing golden eyes. It was like he was in the middle of a purple fire as the Stock energy moved around his body like flames licking the air.
"Thank you, dad," muttered Caspian softly rubbing the tear away.
At the plain everyone suddenly felt a massive wave of Stock erupt from the forest.
"What is that?" asked someone nearly throwing up from the pure power.
Lex looked over in shock his eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"Holy shit" muttered the man.
Ryu laughed maniacally before releasing his own stock energy which was a dark red, the two Stock levels clashed against one another trying to assert dominance.
Caspian looked down at the flowing energy surrounding his body and he felt it move which him whenever he moved. He took a deep breath and brought his stock back in his body. Ryu did the same yet he still had a massive smile on his face.
"I'll show you... I'll show you how the weak can beat the strong!" shouted Caspian as he ran Stock Energy to his hand which was caught ablaze with purple and black flames.
"BRING IT!" shouted Ryu as his own hands were caught ablaze with red flames.