Kage marched towards the group of mismatched kids he had to shape into soldiers of the Divine Grace's Army. Letting out a sigh, he saw how he had his work cut out for himself this time. In more recent years food and water had become more scarce, leading to most of the street urchins to become stumped in growth for both height and muscles.
Looking at the kids in front of him he could see this affect on nearly all of them as they were much shorter than they should be for their age and only some where the right height and even less taller than that. Kage put that thought to the back of his mind for now and focused on his next words.
He walked up to the line and started to walk down in it. He had to crane his neck down for a lot of them which was utterly ridiculous as he was of average height at best! As he reached the tallest boy there, he saw him wheezing and blue in the face. scanning him up and down, Kage noticed the formation of a bruise on his neck. "What happened to you Private?" Kage uttered in a domineering voice just loud enough for all to hear.
"Fell sir." Was the boy response. "Do you take me for an idiot Private! Tell me what happened, or I swear to his Divine Grace, I will gut you and feed you your own entrails! Now private, What happened to your neck?" Kage never liked this part, not really, but it was necessary to break the recruits and forge them anew. Only then could they become true soldiers, ready to fight or die trying.
"I I was attacked sir! By that kid there!" He said as he pointed towards Arthur. Looking to who the boy was pointing at, it was Kage's turn to be stumped. He recognised Arthur as the boy he had recruited only yesterday.
He had been plagued by doubt ever since whether it was the right choice. The army was no place for a small and timid thing after all. Something he knew all to well. "Is this true private? Did you attack him?" Kage wonderingly said as he looked to Arthur in a gaze that seemed to see through to his very soul, reading him like an open book. Nothing could escape that gaze.
"Yes, sergeant. The guy came over and insulted me so I repaid the favour, but he wasn't able to take the banter and then tried to punch me as well. I decided that I would also repay this act as well so I dodged his obvious throw and punched him in his throat, sir."
Kage was shocked at the small boys response, not expecting any of it to be true. But when he looked at the eyes of the other boys, which held copious amounts of both admiration and fear towards Arthur, he knew it was all true.
Turning towards the one in front of him again he let out a cruel laugh. " Well it looks like we have ourselves here our very own David and Goliath! From now on that will be your names! The stupid and prideful Goliath and the young and brave David! Hahaha!" Kage erupted into laughter as the newly dubbed 'Goliath' simmered in rage and shame.
Kage kept walking the line. He next stopped in front of a small boy with two large teeth jutting out his all too angular, point face. "What's your name boy?" Kage asked the small and terrified kid. "C..Ch..Ch...Charlie sir." the boy stuttered out.
"No! It is mouse now!" Kage bellowed back at the scared boy "Got it Mouse?" he shouted again at the boy as the child in front of him flinched outwardly at the sergeant in fear. "Y yes sir.. mouse sir." the boy sadly announced in a quiet whimper.
"And you!" Kage spun towards the boy who had been sniggering. "Is something funny? Hmmm well?" His voice booming into the ears of the young teens. "N..no sir!" The boy stammered out of surprise. "Good! Because I wasn't joking. What's your name Private?" He shouted furiously again in a tone that made the boy jump slightly out of his skin.
"Its Ga.." the boy was about to respond when Kage spoke over him. "Wrong! It is Doorknob on account of you stupidity! Isn't that right Private?" The boy shrunk at the name but made no move to deny it. "Y...yes sir." he replied despondently.
This carried on till all the kids had been named such 'affectionate' names like ghoul or inbreeder. Kage had been struggling towards the end as his ingenuity was running short. Coming up with well over 20 nicknames each designed for its holder and equally insulting was hard even for those who where normally good at it.
Out of the 25 boys he had named, only Arthurs was not outwardly insulting. This served to annoy all of the others, but they had to admit that it was a fitting name for him considering. Although what may seem like a compliment to the others was anything but to Arthur himself.
It only served to remind him he was smaller and weaker than everybody here, the most likely to fall at the first hurdle. His eyes steeled slightly as a promise to change this as much as he possibly could so no one ever thought of him as small and weak ever again.
All but Goliath had come to terms with their new 'names' as nothing could change it now, they may not like them but this was given to them by a higher ranking soldier while they were still yet to have to be trained let alone anything else.
Plus Kage had said that when they had proved themselves to him he would give them better ones, more endearing names. Goliath, however, seethed as he glared daggers at Arthur. Seeing all this Kage made no move to stop it as he knew this would happen and encouraged it on purpose.
Arthur had shown so much promise, but he was like a blunt sword. He needed to be re-forged and sharpened against the hardest anvil with the strongest hammer to reach that potential. Kage will be the anvil and his other recruits, mainly this Goliath, will be his hammer. So he will kindle this ember of rivalry and anger between them until the time that they are perfectly forged before repairing the damaged relationship to form a brotherhood.
This is why Kage always distained those that envied his job, he had to tear down people to rebuild them. To do this he would dredge up all the worst memories they had and use them while making himself their new most feared memory, it wasn't pleasant but it was necessary. War is Hell and it's best they experience that now than when their life is on the line.
Turning to them as he stood a small distance in front he made sure he stood in their center, directly in line with the young Arthur. "Now!" he bellowed to grab all of their attention once again.
"As recruits you will meet here at exactly 0800 every morning. Here you will train for an hour to work those pathetic excuses for a body into shape. That will consist of stretching then a 1 mile run, 50 squats, 10 squats held for 1 minute, 50 press ups, 10 press ups held in a plank for 1 minute, 50 sit ups, 10 sit ups held midway for 10 minutes and more exercises that we will get into on the way! After that will be breakfast, where you will be fed the proper amount for you to truly develop and got from a bunch of cats to lions!" He paused to let that fully sink in for them.
"Then you will be put into the 'Gauntlet'. An obstacle course designed to push you beyond your limits. After that will be a mountain hike with your full gear. Anyone that fails to make it to the mountain top will be given half rations until he does! Then you will have Lunch, followed after by basic hand-to-hand and weapons training. Finally you will have dinner at 2000 where, afterwards you will have light drills till 2200." Another short pause ensued.
"This will be your life for the next few months until I deem you ready and deserving of being called my soldiers! Do I make myself clear, Privates?" Kage finished his speech where he outlined what will become the literal hell that will either forge the finest of blades out of this fresh-faced babes or end up in their untimely death."
"Right then lets get started shall we?" he shouted as he turned to his second in command, a corporal Devon. "Yes Sir!" he shouted in affirmation as he took the recruits through the training. Kage just watched from the side shouting insults and generally degrading them along with the corporal.
This was to serve a purpose. It would break them and then it would fuel them with a reason to make it through this hell stronger than they had started as they yearned for their sergeants respect. Still, Kage couldn't help inwardly wincing at his own word as they left his throat. He knew he had to but it didn't mean he had to enjoy it.