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SPECIALIS - :Training Daze: [19]

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Suddenly flight was all the sweeter; I felt completely free, with the knowledge that I may likely never return home, according to what the old crone at the Temple had said. I laughed; I still couldn't believe that wrinkly old lady was the same person that had been telling me to take a hike! I took the Loftwing for a joyous ride in the sky, taking in the pleasurable moments of being high up in the air.

As we began to set a course for Skyloft, I began to consider the possibilities of things I could do, now that I was on my own. Sure, I would reunite with Link at some point, even though the idea scared me, but since he wouldn't be expecting me for a while, nor would he be making a trip back up to the skies, being busy in the desert, I had really nothing to hold me down!

For now. I landed the Loftwing carefully on a dock and dismounted, leading it to a watering trough and brushing it down. The Loftwing responded to me eagerly, and I grinned, "I smell like her, don't I--ah, probably not," I amended my statement after taking in a whiff of my armpit; I smell like sulfur. But hey! The bird still liked me. I figured it was my connection to the spirit maiden, but did I give a shit right now? Neeeeope!

I left it to its own devices and decided the first thing I would do was take a bath. I drew up warmed water and slouched in it again, thoroughly washing my skin and hair. I checked my chest and blinked, finding something surprising. "Gee, that's new," I muttered and saw dark sinuous patterns etched all around where the shard had penetrated. I remembered what the old lady had said about the corruption, and I sighed. "Guess there really is no way of escaping this, huh?" I whipped my head around, as if expecting Ghirahim to be peeping in on my bathing, but seeing him not around, I continued to wash.

How am I going to seal this away? If what Impa said was true, I am going to need serious help in doing it--but how? When? Gah! I shook my head and flicked water everywhere. I got out of the tub and brushed myself dry, and reached for my drying clothes. I donned them, hair still wet, and headed outside.

Checking the bazaar and the rest of the island, I headed up a long flight of stairs to a facility on the top. The Academy, where Owl-Brows was directing his knights. I blinked; maybe, before heading back down to the surface, taking training lessons to fight wouldn't be a bad idea, and I grinned at the notion. No more nasty surprises for me!

I couldn't have been more wrong.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Knight's Academy~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Training Master shook his head, "I'm sorry, Headmaster, but I cannot take on a new trainee at this time; we're missing one already, and I still have my hands full with the others!"

"All the more reason to take her under your wings, Commander Eagus! We are missing one of our crucial Knights, as he is on an extended mission to keep my daughter safe, and you are in need of filling that position while he is away! Surely you can make an exception."

Eagus shook his head, "I'm afraid not, Headmaster; it takes a long time to become accustomed to using a blade, much less toning your body to be able to carry it for extended periods of time unsheathed! This...." I could hear "girl" on the other end of the sentence and looked him in the eye as he trailed off. He found his footing again, "...case is simply too hasty; she's inexperienced with wielding weapons, that much is certain."

I felt heat rush to my face, "I could hold a sword! I should learn how to fight!" Eagus raised an eyebrow, "Is that so?" He took out a simple, metal sword, kind of like the one I saw Link carrying before he got the Goddess Sword, and tossed it to me, hilt-first. I caught the blade and felt my arms shaking to keep the heavy metal in the air. Stubborn and determined, however, I allowed myself the shaking just to keep it from falling to the floor. The commander raised another eyebrow and guffawed, "I like your spirit, girl!" He turned to Gaepora, "But in all seriousness, Headmaster, I cannot teach her how to wield a blade. She'd need to be indoctrinated into the Academy, set up with lessons and schooling, and go through the trainings necessary to complete such tasks. I have been told you are hardpressed for time, and this request is not a rushed process."

Gaepora sighed and sat down in his seat at the desk, sending some papers billowing to the floor. "No, you are right; we don't have the time to train her to become a Knight..." He glanced up to me and my posture with the sword pointed to the ground. He smiled, "However...I am sure that doesn't mean you cannot drill her and teach her how to use the sword, all the same. Basic fighting moves, Commander; ways to defend herself. Parries, thrusts, all that is necessary to keep an attack at bay. That shouldn't take so long as to politically-indoctrinate her as a Knight, correct?"

The Commander snorted, "If I had my way, Headmaster, politics and paperwork wouldn't be in it--except the roster." He looked at me, taking his first agreeable thought to the notion. Slowly, a grin creeped across his face and I felt targetted. "I'm sure I could train any feather-filly that wanted to join the ranks. Maybe not make you into a fully-fledged Knight, no. But maybe enough to fight almost like one." He released me from his gaze to look back to Gaepora, "Of course her training, if it's going to be close to a Knight's, will be much more grueling and severe than what a normal situation calls for; how long are you giving her until she is to be ready?"

Gaepora shrugged, "As soon as humanly-possible, Commander; you're the expert here, not me. If she already knew how to fight, I would have asked her back down to the Surface by now, if not sooner." I hadn't forgotten my promise to him as our eyes exchanged the hidden meaning, and I nodded slowly. Suddenly Eagus' eyes were back on me, and I felt smaller than a rabbit, if not seen as a rabbit in a coyote's gaze. He chuckled, "I can see it in your eyes--you can't wait to begin training, can't you!"

"That's no--" He grabbed my wrist, which was attached to the hand holding the blade, and dragged me out the door. "Well I like the kind of eagerness to dig in and get your hands dirty! No time like the present, eh? So let's get started!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Training~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He looked me over skeptically, "What in Hylia's High Graces are you wearing, girl?" I blinked, caught off-guard by the question. He sighed and fingered that I come closer. I came closer. He fingered again, I came closer, and he fingered one last time. I came close enough that I was a few centimeters away from his face. I turned my head automatically, preparing for him to whisper. "I said," he began in a gentle tone--

"WHAT IN HYLIA'S HIGH GRACES ARE YOU WEARING, GIRL?!" I was cringing against the yelling, and as soon as the typhoon had passed, I opened my eyes wide with anger. My voice squeaked--shit!--as I rounded on him, "You don't have to shout! I can hear you bloody damn fine!"

The Commander snorted, "That sounds like feather-brained nonsense to me! Down!" I groaned, getting into the pushup position for the upteenth time and began on his mark through pushups, agonizingly-slow and then super-quick, both interchanging at random intervals. "Rule Number One! You do not talk back to your superiors! Is that understood?" I grimaced, holding my position in the up-stage, and he began to lean down, "I said--"

"It's understood, sir!" I yelled, and he slowly straightened back up. "Good! Now down--up, down, up--down! No, down...good. Up!" The drill kept going until my hands were slipping from the sweat building under the palms, and he finally let me up. He snorted as I scrambled to my feet. "Now, I'll say it again--what in Hylia's High Graces are you wearing?"

"My clothing from home, sir." He looked it over and chuckled, "Looks more like rags to me--don't your folks let you go outside?" It was a jibe, but not a really malicious one. I shrugged, "I'm pretty much left to my own devices; there isn't really a need for armor where I'm at. We live in a time of peace." I rolled my tongue sarcastically at the last phrase, and the Commander arched an eyebrow, "Well! I think it's time we get you into something worthy of your stature! Take a break and go get changed; your clothes are in that closet over there." He pointed and I eagerly walked to whatever awesome armor was awaiting me in the darkness.

I came back out, feeling cheated out of something great again. What I was wearing wasn't anything close to what I had envisioned at all; it was just a simple brown tunic without sleeves that was buckled at my waist by a simple leather belt, and formed an additional kilt, almost like the Knight's tunics. I was wearing tan breeches and training boots of a dark brown. I looked like a frickin' peasant! Damn it, this is just like the slingshot! I glared at him, and he laughed. "Oh, so I guess it isn't your style! Well I never was a good fashion critic. Now get back here and let's do some more squats!"

The new clothing brought some relief; even though I knew I wasn't saving princesses in it, it seemed to apply some comfort in the hard workouts and drills. The Commander kept me up long in the night and had me come in early the next morning, day in and day out, to do more exercises. I awoke to a new day and wolfed down a cup of porridge from the kitchen before running outdoors to the Training Dojo, stepping inside the building, which had a deceptively-small appearance from the outside.

When I got in, I blinked; the entire room had been transformed into a clusterfuck! There were logs suspsended by thick coils of rope from the rafters, kept against the wall, and adjustable rotating training dummies scattered all over the room in some sort of checkers-formation. As I marveled at it, the Commander came out from the back and bellowed, "CLOSE THE DOOR! YOU'RE LETTING ALL THE WARM AIR OUT!" It was still plenty early, and I knew that with the booming voice, the other Knights would be awakened from their beauty sleep and that would earn me another parade of scowls at lunch. I shut the door quickly as he was about to take another booming breath, and he exhaled it. "All right! Today we're going to test reflexes--your other exercises will be on the block, but we're going to see about focusing on how good you are at dodging, pirhouetting, and the other lovely things that come with being a Knight!"

My eyes gazed slowly and anxiously at the assorted decor of pain. "Isn't this a little much?" The Commander shrugged, "It's your timetable, not mine! The only thing I expect for you to do is get bruised! Now, put this on." I started as he tossed something streaming in the air to me, and I looked at it; it was a simple piece of cloth bandage weighted by a stone so that it could be thrown. I raised an eyebrow at him, almost snorting, "A sling? What am I going to do with a sling?"

He grinned, "Take the stone away and put the cloth around your head, of course! Getting the picture, missy?" I felt like I had eaten the stone as it sank to the bottom of my gut. "You can't be--yes sir." A look from him and an intake of breath alerted me to my words and I begrudgedly, but efficiently, began to tie the cloth around my head. With my vision gone, this was going to be extremely painful. His voice rang out, "Good--looks like the best thing you can do is tie a knot. Let's see how well you fare in this! When I say 'Go'--No, not now, you feather-fool! You senseless as you are soft like a Loftwing's down?! Now, when I give the word, you're going to jump in and...attempt to dodge. You aren't going to succeed, so just prepare for the worst."

"How can I dodge if I--"

"GO!" The yelling snapped me back to attention and I faced forwards, hearing the creaking of ropes, the rattling of wood spinning and feeling the massive gusts of wind as something heavy swung through the air. "What the blue burning skies are you waiting for?! Get in there!" His voice was much closer and I leaped in like a skittish deer.

The first thing I felt was the impact, then the wind knocked from my body, then the sensation of falling forwards along with pain, and then a buffeting in the other direction; I was being hit from all sides! I tried to dodge one and would get hit by another, smitten in place. I lunged forwards, a joint of the dummies scraping against my ribs, and passed into sweet and pure bliss for an instant--

Before a log came in from the side and knocked me clean out of the way of the dummies, into the region next to the wall. I stayed down and nursed my sides, groaning. The Commander was laughing his ass off, and I wanted nothing more than to spank him at his hindquarters. "Worst display of dodging I've ever seen! Get back in there, girly!" The excessive taunting caused me to forget my pain a little as I struggled to my feet, ripping off the blindfold and making my way back to the beginning. We started again, like many other multiple times that were to follow, and ended with me getting bruised and battered up, like many countless times that did follow. Finally, he let me leave. "Wash up and get some rest--be here same time tomorrow." I took the break with lots of gratitude, nursing my sides and feeling like I would fall apart.

I was beginning to regret asking how to fight.
Seeing stars in more ways than one!

For the readers, no, I am not an angry individual. I'm very pleasant to be around, I love to be with people and socialize with them. I love to write, to game, to explore, and I love my family very much. I am very much Christian and love the Lord a lot. In this edition, I wanted to take a different perspective on story-making and was inspired by a game to write this. If you have questions now, please do hold off on them until the next chapter comes out. More than likely, you'll begin to draw your own conclusions as more information is released to you. Trust me, you'll begin to understand the further the story goes.

I understand if you don't favorite the chapter for harsh language, and I am sorry if I have truly offended anyone out there. It isn't my intention to offend anyone. If I have intrigued you, however, I will be enthusiastic. I plan to continue the series, and I hope to do so with your help. If you have any suggestions or comments to make, make them below this information window in the comment box. If they happen to be insulting, I'll simply just delete them. Nothing personal; just delete them. I don't care. w00t!

So! Without further ado, I will probably be working on the next chapter! Follow more of my works in the gallery!

Oh, and by the way--Specialis is "secret" in Latin.

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CaptainForestFalcon's avatar
One of the things about Skyward Sword is that the main plot and the people of Skyloft along with the many side quests there are very much separated. So far, we haven't been able to see much of them since Jaq's been partnered up with Link and Fi, and this Link is a lot more focused on the goal of rescuing Zelda. Now that Jaq's on her own and she's made her mind up to try and make a difference here, she actually has a reason to try and improve herself so she can help deal with the dangers on the surface. So we finally have a reason to be able to see what's going on with the side characters, hurray!
I'm so glad we're getting to see a bit more of Eagus, because all you really saw of him in the game was the sword tutorial and that was really the highlight for him. Honestly, I felt like there should have been one more building in the game for the actual knights of Skyloft who spend all their time in the air, either that or the barracks could have been a bit more expansive.
Despite how grueling Jaq's training is, I think I'd want to give it a try. Maybe I'm just a bit crazy. XD