Rashen woke up filled with dread the very next morning. He sat up and looked at the other side of the room where Gayle's bed was,he wasn't there. He thought it was quite unfortunate he had to share a room with Gayle. There were plenty of free rooms available and when he asked why he couldn't just stay in any other room he was sat down for what seemed to be an hour long lecture by Macy about how that was selfish and an injustice. Macy had a room to herself.
He got up from the bed. He had to sleep in his shorts since his night dress was stolen the other day and it was either his shorts or his casual clothes. After freshning up he found the others in the dining hall,Macy was going through her scrambled eggs with bread slices and an orange juice,same with Gayle.
"Did you have a good night sleep Rashikins?" Gayle asked mockingly as Rashen walked up to them.
"Good morning" Rashen said to Macy, ignoring Gayle.
"Sure woke up late didn't ya" said Gayle,
"Lay off him Gayle,he was probably tired after his journey all the way from Nottenam."
"Yeah....that's it" Replied Rashen who wasn't even going to bother talking about how Gayle had kept him up all night playing his guitar, and kept him up even further with his snoring.
The lady Rashen met yesterday walked into the dining hall, and though she was completely entranced in the files she held,she had no problem taking a seat.
"Good Morning Miss Marun" Said Macy,
"Mornin' Miss Marun," said Gayle getting up from his seat, "here for the breakfast special eh? Ya won't be disappointed." He walked into the kitchen, "Take a seat too Rashikins, got something for ya too" he called out.
He thought about it for a minute but eventually and reluctantly sat down one seat apart from Macy. Gayle walked out holding two trays,
"Scrambled eggs,toast and black coffee,no sugah of course," he said placing it in front of Marun who was still scribbling at the files she was holding, "and for our newest member Rashikins..." He dropped a tray containing three hard boiled eggs still in their shells,an orange,an empty glass cup and two cubes of sugar. Rashen looked at the contents of the tray and then at Gayle who was standing right behind him smiling. He thought of what to say but settled with,
"Thanks..."
"YUH WELCOME!!!!" He screamed back patting Rashen a little too hard on the back. He quickly went back to his seat after catching Marun's glare.
Marun finished her breakfast with haste and got up to leave,
"Now that all three of you are complete we'll be meeting with the Dort to get more info on your roles here...Macy, you're in charge,show the new guy his gear and if he complains,tell him I don't care and he's a pain in the ass." She said and walked out immediately. Rashen had raised his hand to ask a question but she was already gone. He looked back at Macy and Gayle and they looked back at him not saying a word,
"....what exactly did she mean by 'complain'?"
Rashen stood in the training grounds,it was far smaller than the one at the academy but it would be enough. After wearing his armour he had come to understand what Marun meant. While his body was covered with the black panafin material,the only places with actual armour on them were the boots for the legs, the hands and one piece covering the chest, abdomen and back,even the helmet that would normally have an opaque visor was,left his face exposed. This sort of amour wouldn't do you any good in a serious battle situation but of course, Rashen didn't complain. Just like how he did for his armour back in the academy,he had to poke holes at the back where his fire comes out from.
"Alright noobie, we're going to be running some battle drills,see how good yah really are" Gayle said stretching and warming up,he took his stance, "Don't disappoint me" he added. Rashen took his stance too,
"I won't"
Gayle made a thrusting movement at the ground and it responded to him, instantly he was covered in a suit of armour made completely of the rocky material on the training ground floor. He made a pushing movement with his arms and the rocks beneath propelled him into the air and he began his descent towards Rashen who was completely caught off guard. He managed to move out of the way in time as Gayle hit the very spot he stood at kicking up dust. Before Rashen could recollect and compose himself Gayle swung at him and Rashen could only dodge at the last second. Gayle kept swinging,not giving Rashen a chance to go on the offensive. With a quick stomp he trapped Rashen's left leg taking away his mobility. Rashen could only block with his hands as Gayle landed a kick on him so hard it sent him flying and hitting the wall of the training grounds hard.
"Gayle!!! What are you doing?!! This training was supposed to be about combat without the use of our taming abilities" Macy called out from the sidelines,
"Nuthin' wrong with a little bit of spontaneity right?" He looked at Rashen who was still struggling to get back up after that kick and using the wall as support, "Besides,this battle has been pretty...uninspiring"
He made another pushing movement with his hands once again propelling himself towards Rashen and in only the fraction of a second it took Rashen to register the attack,he let out the red flames from his back sending him straight flying and avoiding the hit at the last second before coming back down. He saw the look on Macy's faces,she was completely dumbstruck. Gayle dropped his earth armour revealing his surprised expression too. Macy walked towards and before saying anything else,she instantly sent a strong wind blast towards Gayle sending him straight to the walls of the training grounds and hitting it hard,
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO USE YOUR TAMING ABILITY!!!" She screamed at Gayle before turning her full undivided attention towards Rashen,
"Red Flames...." Said Macy in awe. It was as Rashen feared,it seemed like they had no idea who he was prior to him using his abilities and he had been okay with that,but he knew eventually that the day would come when he would have to reveal his powers,but he hadn't anticipated it coming so soon. Now, just like most in his life,they would probably recall him as the demon who killed his own parents at birth.
".....I've never seen red fire before... and you were shooting it from- from your back..."
"...Yeah...I was...did you not already know that?" He forced himself to ask,
"No...should I?"
"You- You mean you have no idea who...who I am?" He asked but she didn't reply,she just looked at him with an expression of increasing irritability.
"Red fire....THAT IS SO WICKED!!!" Gayle,who managed to crawl himself back up towards them, said excitedly patting Rashen on the back a little too hard.
"Is...is that where it only comes from? From your back?" Macy asked still in awe,
"Well n-no of course not" Rashen said as he lit the red flames that danced feebly on the palm of his hands, "My red fire isn't very strong and it's not as hot as normal fire. It comes out weak every where else but it's pretty strong when it comes from the outgrowths on my back." Rashen explained as both of them stared at the feeble fire. Gayle put his finger in it and after a few seconds took it out,
"Yeah it's definitely not as powerful as normal fire" he said sucking on the finger. As Rashen put the fire out he caught Macy's gaze as she stared at him intently,
"Rashen...your fire is really unique isn't it...what family are you from anyways?" She asked never taking her gaze away from him.
"I have no family...my parents are dead" he replied almost instantly without thinking. The Goldenfire family had never really considered him family in the first place but after the incident with Ngoko and Raspin,they made it official by kicking him out entirely.
There was a small moment of silence, nobody seemed to know exactly what to say at that point, at least until,
"Lost ya parents huh...you really are a loser" and immediately Gayle said this (and in a sympathetic tone too) she sent another blast of wind sending him straight to the walls,she hit him again for good measure.
"DON'T MAKE FUN OF ORPHANS YOU INSENSITIVE PRICK!!!" She screamed,face red and veins popping. Rashen couldn't help but chuckle,
"AND WHAT'S SO FUNNY TO YOU???" Cried Macy turning her full attention towards him now,
"It's nothing... it's just you guys remind me of two people I met not quite long ago before coming here..." Rashen said purposefully leaving out the fact that the two people he met were a lot less extreme and a lot more friendly.
"Um- guys..." Rashen took the opportunity to ask the burning question, "In this division, we're not the only cadets are we?"
"We totally are" Gayle responded instantly,
"Oh....okay-" Rashen replied. He didn't know what to feel about that information,it was definitely unheard of that an Imperial division would have only three cadets in total.
"But what about that Marun lady? Don't tell me she's actually the-"
"No," Macy interrupted, "She's not the Ranking Commander for this division. Grittshore doesn't really have a Ranking Commander." Now Rashen looked completely dumbstruck,
"But- how could- well then who is she?"
"Well under normal circumstances every Ranking Commander has an assistant to help them with the more 'formal' tasks. She's that assistant."
"I personally think it's great we don't have a Ranking Commander,screw authority as I always say" Gayle commented and Macy once again smacked him as hard as she could.
"What are you three doing?" They heard a familiar voice call from the entrance to the training grounds,
"Miss Marun" All three said together,
"Now that you're all finally here I'm sure you have questions about how things are done in Grittshore. Personally I find answering those questions would be a pain in the ass so I'll be introducing you to someone who will."
She led them just outside the building where they saw a group of people in old grey uniforms and at the front a bespectacled man who looked to be in his late fifties.
"So these are the new cadets I presume" the old man said with a warm smile,
"Cadets, these men and women you see standing before you are the Grittshore Watch" Marun explained as the three cadets eyed the ground, "And that old man..." Marun continued, "Is the Head Watcher"
"Marun I've told you to drop the formalities" the old man said walking up to the three, "My name is Garle Opinston,the Head Watcher of the Grittshore Watch" He said shaking each of their stretched out hands,
"I'm sorry Mr- er Head Watcher Sir....but what exactly is the 'Gritshore Watch'" Rashen asked,
"That is exactly the reason for my being here today Imperial Cadet-"
"Rashen....Imperial Cadet Rashen"
"Hmmm....Rashen.... what an interesting name" Garle said with a warm smile.
"I wanted to explain everything when all the cadets were assembled. Our explanation will begin as we take an excursion throughout the city of Bludvalley."
As Rashen and the cadets along with Marun walked about with the Watch, Garle began,
"You see, the state of security of the Grittshore region had always been... complicated. After the world entered the age of peace and Ephyre saw the formation of the Imperial Forces to help preserve the peace Grittshore was a very problematic place. In the end the Imperial Forces had failed to create a division here and there was consideration to remove Grittshore as a whole from the map of Ephyre." Garle paused as he saw the faces of the cadets,
"Problematic? In what way?" Macy asked earnestly,
"Grittshore has always been a hub for corruption,a place that breeds greed. You might not know that back then laid some of the richest minerals in mines and the wealthiest families would fight for control over them, hiring the poorer masses as fodder for control of them."
"Figures" Macy said darkly,Garle continued, "Seeing as the Grittshore of then was controlled by the rich and people who would do anything to stay rich it was hard for something like the Imperial Forces to prosper here as all the head officers would fall into the clutches of greed, overlooking certain crimes and punishing those their rich benefactors considered as pests."
"That's....I can't believe it",
"It shouldn't be very hard to believe Rashikins,even Imperial Soldiers are human too" Said Gayle,
"And right you are Cadet Gayle." Said Garle with a thumbs up, Gayle thought it looked awkward.
"So what happened then?" Asked Macy,
"What happened next was what happened to all human societies ran by greed and corruption for the longest time, Grittshore fell. Had been milked of all her mineral resources,this led to what was basically revolution of some sorts,an attack on the wealthy families and the Imperial Soldiers. The families were either killed or fled and the Imperial Forces was forcefully- what's the word I'm looking for?- 'Abolished'. Grittshore became an underdeveloped crime hub at it's unfortunate start and I'm afraid it's only gotten worse over these years."
"Basically crime and violence has become the order of the day" Said Marun,
"And it doesn't help that most people committing these crimes tend to use their taming abilities,which are always usually untrained, harming themselves and others" Said Garle with a heavy sigh.
"Which is where I'm assuming you guys come in"
"Quite correct Cadet Macy." Garle said as they finally reached a shoddy three storey building with a sign that said 'Grittshore Watch'.
They walked into the building and Garle was greeted by the receptionist. The other members that had escorted them quickly dispersed. Rashen thought the building was much but it was definitely a lot livelier than the division building. Garle gave them a tour of their headquarters and continued,
"We the Grittshore Watch were agents created out of necessity. We serve as a volunteer police force trying to keep things in line in anyway we can. It's not much but we try to make as much impact as we can. Everyone here has either lost someone to the brutality of Grittshore or is fighting to protect them."
The trio were allowed to see every inch of the building, Rashen was particularly interested in one room,
"Back there," he started, "In that room labeled 13...they were-"
"Yes indeed it is as you saw..." Garle interrupted knowing exactly what Rashen was going to ask, "the Grittshore Watch provides training in the basics of the taming abilities. We understand the dangers our members face out there and we believe it's necessary for them to use their abilities in times that demand it" ,when he saw that Rashen looked unsatisfied with his response,he added, "Don't fret Cadet Rashen,we do not allow members use their abilities until they have achieved the skill rank N".
After the tour of the building, the cadets were allowed to dine with members of the Watch. Rashen sat a an empty table in the corner with Macy while Gayle was chatting animatedly with the members.
Macy, seeing that Rashen looked distressed, asked,
"Feeling okay?"
"No. I'm not" he replied immediately, "It's about what the Head Watcher said about those corrupt Imperial Soldiers...and this Grittshore Watch thing.." he looked up at Macy, "It's not right, we're the ones that are supposed to be protecting them. It shouldn't be like this".
"Well that's why we're here right? To change things isn't it?" She said after a short pause, "Rashen I don't like this too,the thought of these people putting themselves in danger,but we're here to change things for the better, for these people and for Grittshore as a whole." She said reassuring Rashen. She looked at him and then took his hands on the table holding it. Rashen's face turned a shade of pink,then he felt a quick surge of pain on the hand,she was squeezing it as though trying to break it,he looked up to see a somewhat sadistic smile on her face,she said in a dark tone,
"Now that that's over with Rashen,eat your food or you'll be doing a great injustice to the people who made it".
Rashen nodded and she let go of his arm,
"Good talk then" she said as she got up with her plates and left.
"I enjoyed our little meet up today,it was quite a pleasure getting to know you three" Garle said to the cadets just outside the building. It was getting dark already.
"Yeah it was a pretty interesting one" Macy said,
"Looking forward to jammin' out with the Watch again old man" Macy elbowed Gayle hard for that.
Rashen still looked distressed and Garle noticed. He walked up to him, putting his hand on his shoulder and giving him a warm smile,he had a lot of those to give,he opened his mouth but whatever he was about to say was cut short by the small explosion coming from the distance