Haru decided they would have to find a safe place to begin Brakus's training. The practice area is a circular dirt clearing in the middle of a wooded area on the edge of the city, this forest was used for hunting and lumber production but at this time of year, it was the the perfect location for training secretly.
Brakus is standing in front of Haru and eyeballing him with intent, Haru is explaining what his first day will consist of in a serious tone. Brakus groans from the hard work that's expected of him when he's handed a list of exercises that need to be completed before his training even begins. This list consists of 100 sit ups, 100 pushups, 100 pull ups and a 2 mile run, Brakus's smile slowly shifts into a nervous scowl as he gets further into this list; "Didnt you just tell me i needed to take it easy!?! you're insane if you believe I'm gonna get all of this done!" Brakus raises his voice in an act of defiance, his injuries were barely healed and he had needles of pain shooting throughout his body.
Haru only nods in response leaving Brakus staring at him in disbelief and the inside he screams, 'A nod!?! He didn't even listen to a word I said!' Haru has an angry look on his face, he takes training as serious as a drill sergeant and he plans to push Brakus to his limits. Haru spits out commands to Brakus, "I don't want to hear any excuses! if you can't do something as easy as finish that list you have no hope". Brakus shrinks back in fear as he thinks 'save me... please!' his eyes are wide with fear and he is cowering in a ball, attempting to hide right in the open.
Haru witnesses this and bursts into uncontrollable laugher as his childlike behavior, there is a spark of reminiscence in the corner of his eye. Brakus reminds him of his son when he was the same age and he is elated to be around innocence after seeing so much death; Haru cracks a genuine smile as he watches him scramble back to his feet. "Are you done?" Haru utters amusingly as Brakus finally gets to his feet, "Hehehehe , I think so" Brakus says while rubbing the back of his head and laughing awkwardly with his eyes closed.
"Now get to it!" Haru orders,with a firm and authoritative tone. Brakus shutters in response to this before running off to start on his workouts.
[A few minutes later]
"I guess I'll start with pushups..." he mumbles as he sets himself up on the ground in the push-up position. After about 20 pushups he begins to shake uncontrollably as the pain in all of his limbs causes his body to go numb, but he continues to push through it, wincing in pain with every slight motion. Thirty minutes later, "98....99....100" he let's out a gasp of relief with the final push before flipping onto his back. He lays there spacing out for a while staring at the fluffy white clouds that are floating overhead. 'The sky is so peaceful today, it's so calming' he thinks to himself as he gazes enviously at the free flowing clouds. As he observes the sky he notices a plane make contact with a large cloud and bursting out of the other side.
He notices a thick black smoke rising from one of its wings with the distinct glow of embers, and the plane begins to nosedive at breakneck speeds towards the ground "Somethings wrong!" Brakus exclaims, scattering to his feet as he anxiously watches the crash helplessly, unable to do anything but stare.
The plane continues to plummet, gaining speed with each passing second before suddenly smacking the ground with a large explosion, Brakus watches the smoke rise in the distance, "That wasn't far from here, I should check for survivors" Brakus states with an aura of great determination as he desperately sprints towards the smoke in the distance.
[Crash site]
The plane crashed in a clearing just outside of the forest, the wreckage is scattered throughout the area as trees burn with a powerful blaze because they were doused with fuel that was leaking from the planes fuel tanks. The markings on the wreckage indicates that it is a military plane. Something begins to stir among the shards of steel, it is a man dressed in a green camo jumpsuit with a military grade helmet on top of his head; he is bleeding from what look like gunshot wounds as he painfully pulls himself from the wreckage, dragging himself across the ground.
The soldier's fatigues have scorch marks running up his left leg, like he was grabbed by the blaze, he was lucky to have survived such a brutal explosion. He assumes he was the sole survivor as he observes the destruction around him, bodies are thrown all around the clearing; burned beyond recognition and there are body parts separated from torsos strewn throughout.
The soldier scrambles across the ground looking for his walkie talkie to call for help, the desperation in this man's eyes would cause even the toughest soldier to cower in terror. He finally reaches his walkie talkie, which was on the floor about six feet away from him, he pulls the antenna out to amplify the signal for his S.O.S message, "We have been shot down, I need backup as soon as possible, I repeat we have been shot down and I think everyone else is dead!" the soldier screams frantically hoping someone heard his message. He continues to yell into the walkie talkie, "If anyone is in the area, I need help... I'm losing blood.... ugh! i don't know how much longer I can hold on" his voice sounded weaker this time as he begins to drift into unconsciousness.
[Brakus]
Brakus continues to put one foot in front of the other as he full sprints towards the smoke, the smoke is much closer now and the putrid scent of burning flesh begins to tickle his nose causing his face to convulse as he tries to keep himself from throwing up. He runs for a while until he reaches a clearing just on the other side of the trees. A look of pure horror crosses his face when he gets an eye on the destruction left behind by the crash, the sight was devastating to witness at his age. A tear slowly rolls down from his right eye, Brakus is overwhelmed with grief over the lives lost as he scans the wreckage for any signs of life.
A few moments go by before something catches his eye, the soldier who called for help after the crash is passed out in a pool of his own blood but Brakus notices the faint rise and fall of his chest; the man's breathing is weak but he is still alive. Brakus let's out of a sigh of relief and smiles at this fact, "Good, someone made it out" he states as he begins to carefully approach the injured soldier.
He calls out with a sense of urgency to the man once he is within a few steps from him, "Hey!! are you alive!!" , but there is no response. Brakus gulps and begins to sweat nervously then he quickly closes the distance between them ; as he gets closer he catches a glimpse of the man's horrendous injuries and he recoils from the sight of them. "What the heck happened to him?..." he whispers as he curiously looks over the multitude of bullet wounds riddled all over his body.
"Brakus!!" Haru's voice forces its way into the clearing and drawing his attention. Brakus turns to see Haru who is covered in sweat and trembling and waves for him to come over to help lift the soldier out of the wreckage. Haru moves swiftly and makes his way over to him; placing his hand firmly on Brakus's shoulder and looking down to assess the situation. Haru speaks up, "By the looks of it, they were most likely shot down while in retreat. This has to be the work of the Shade Group" he pauses as he looks over the man's uniform before continuing in calm voice, "And based on the emblem , It looks like he belongs to the Scorsland grand air force."
Haru grips the man's shoulders and begins to lift him carefully from the ground, "We need to get him away from here, come on grab his legs" he points at the man's legs, signaling for Brakus to help him move him.
Brakus nervously grabs the soldier's legs and lifts with a grunt on pain, slowly raising him from the ground. Blood is dripping from the soldier's fatigues, there is so much stained onto his clothing that Brakus was amazed that the man had anymore left to bleed.
Brakus's muscles tense and his breathing speeds up , all of the bodies are giving him flashbacks to when he escaped from their home country with his family and he starts to have a panic attack, the smell of melting flesh causing him to gag and vomit begins to travel up his throat. He swallows as he struggles to keep himself from blowing his guts all over the old man and the soldier. He was holding his nose to keep the scent from reaching his nostrils, but now that he is assisting Haru he doesn't have a free hand.
After a while they reach the clearing where Brakus was exercising earlier and they slowly lower the man and place him on the ground. Haru scatters to a tree and reaches into a hole inside of its trunk, pulling out a small bag with a red plus sign on it; he kept medical supplies nearby in case Brakus would need them , but now he is thankful that he chose to bring them along even though he was debating on leaving them behind just earlier.
He begins to yell out instructions to Brakus who is in shock from all of the dead bodies they saw earlier, "I need you to work on stopping the bleeding, find the source of most of the blood and apply pressure. We can save him if we work fast!" he orders, Brakus hops into action and frantically runs his gaze over the soldier's body. He runs his hands over the soldier's uniform to check for fresh blood, when he reaches the legs he places a hand on the back on the man's thigh and feels something wet, so he pulls it out from underneath him and glances at it, his eyes widen in shock from what he saw; his hand was covered in blood.
Haru tosses him a thick fabric bandage, and he gets to work tightly wrapping the man's leg above the wound on his thigh to slow the bleeding, his hands shake nervously as he works; once he is finished he turns to Haru looking for further instructions. "You did great, I can take over for now .... head to my car and wait for me there" , Brakus hesitates after hearing this, he still wants to help but after a few moments, he let's out a sigh of defeat before turning to walk towards the car; he looks back one more time with tears in his eyes.
Haru must have felt what he was feeling because he called out after him one before he was out of the clearing saying, "I promise you I won't let him die, you did good kid", Brakus waves nonchalantly with his back turned, this was his way of telling Haru that he trusted him.
'The old man has this, I just have to believe in him. He saved me twice after all' Brakus thinks, trying to stay postive as he gets further and further away from Haru. "Good luck!" he exclaims with a serious look and then begins to jog away to leave the old man to his work.