Trials - Chapter 9

Alexis dodged Ace’s bolts and ran towards him, blasting her machineguns.

He raised his moon to protect him, but a bullet ricocheted off the ground and hit his leg, sending him onto one knee. Ace ground his teeth, lowered his Moon and went to throw a chariot card, only to have it shot out of his hands. Alexis leapt at him, feet first, and Ace only just brought his shield up in time to block it. Alexis bounced off it, landed crouched a few feet away and then leapt over his head, shooting down at him.

Ace raised his shield to block it but that prevented him from seeing what Alexis was doing. She landed, kicked hard off the ground and ran at Ace, sliding and taking out his legs. He landed on his front and then spun onto his back. Alexis stomped hard on his ribs, causing him to cry out in pain.

“It’s over,” She told him, aiming her guns at him.

Ace hissed and stopped struggling against her boot, collapsing pathetically onto the ground.

It was the second training session he and Alexis had had that week and, unlike the first where he had managed to last for a long time against her; this time, he had been defeated handily within a minute.

“That was pathetic,” Alexis said, digging her boot into him a little bit more. “Take this seriously.”

“I am!” Ace protested, batting her leg away. He sat up, a nasty look on his face, and cursed under his breath.

Alexis let out a small sigh and offered him her hand. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He pushed her hand away and stood up on his own.

“Ace, you’re a terrible liar and you know I hate it when people lie to me.” She walked over to him, took his hand in hers and looked into his eyes. “Please, tell me.”

“No.”

“Ace-”

“I told you, nothing’s-”

“Ace!” He tensed up. “Lie to me again and I’ll start getting angry.”

He snorted. “You sound like you already are.”

“Trust me, you haven’t seen me angry.” She relaxed and put on a small, comforting smile. “What’s wrong? You know you can tell me anything.”

Ace let out a heavy sigh, broke away from her and averted his gaze. “I’m…angry with…myself. I thought that I’d gotten stronger, much, much stronger but…no matter how hard I trained or how good I thought I was, I hadn’t gotten any stronger. Honestly, I believed in my heart that I was good enough to take down Eric’s entire team but.” He let out a small laugh. “I couldn’t even beat four of them.”

“You were disappointed in yourself?”

He nodded. “All of my life, I’ve thought I was one of the chosen ones, one of the strongest people in the world and…even after you’ve helped me realise that isn’t the case, I still can’t get that idea out of my head, and…Whenever I don’t meet those expectations that I have of myself.” Ace grasped his chest. “It hurts so much.”

“Ace, do you feel inferior to those around you?” Alexis asked, slowly moving up to him and putting her hand on his shoulder.

“Of course I do,” He whispered. “It’s frustrating to see everyone else around me getting stronger with the hard work that they’ve put in, but it feels like no matter how much effort I put in, I’ll never be as strong as them.”

“Ace, to get that strong it’ll take years, not months.”

“Eric is stronger than me and he’s only been training for a few months!” He yelled, turning around and bashing Alexis’s hand away.

“He’s got a God Armour! His starting line was way higher than yours, so of course he’ll be stronger.”

“I know that! I know that, but…it’s still frustrating to see everyone else get stronger faster than I do.”

“You know, if you actually just looked at what you could do without comparing it to everyone else, you’d realise that you’re already strong,” Alexis said.

“Huh? Did you even listen to what I just said? I’m not-”

“But you are!” She stared into his eyes. “Ace, did you ever stop and think about how impressive it was for you to last as long as you did against nine people on a team, several of whom were way out of your league? Did you not ever praise yourself for taking some of them down? Let me ask you this then; do you know how many people in our year could do something that impressive? Because I don’t.”

“…But I’m…” He mumbled, turning away from her.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake!” Alexis grabbed Ace’s arms and forced him to meet her eyes. “If you don’t believe me, then I’ll prove it to you! We’re both entering the Single’s Tournament, right? So, I’ll make you a bet. If one of us defeats the other or makes it further in the competition than the other, then they can order the loser to do one thing and the other person can’t refuse. Sound good?”

“Huh? Why would I-?”

“Oh, scared you’ll lose?” She teased, grinning mischievously at him.

Ace’s face contorted and he glared at her angrily.

Even though he knew that he was being baited, his pride refused to let that remark go.

I’m not going to lose to someone again, He told himself. Especially not you, Alexis!

“Fine, that sounds good,” Ace replied, his signature arrogant smile returning to his face. “Don’t worry, I won’t make you do anything too outrageous when I win.”

Alexis grinned back and said, “That’s the Ace I know.”

***

By the time Ace had finished training with Alexis, it was late in the evening.

The day before, Dead Eye had contacted him, Connor and Eric about meeting up together to just hang out and they had agreed to meet up at six in the evening. However, Ace’s sparring session with Alexis had lasted until six and so he had to quickly change, and then rush over to the café where they were meeting and, even then, he was still thirty minutes late.

When he walked into the café, he saw the other three, in their casual clothes and with a few drinks on their table, talking amongst themselves. As he walked over to them, Dead Eye was the first to spot him and he shot Ace an angry look.

“What took you so long?” Dead Eye demanded.

“I was training with Alexis and we ended up getting too involved into it,” Ace admitted.

“You too, huh?” Eric mumbled, lifting his head off the table.

“Another death session with Sapphire?”

“No, Takahiro this time.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Why are the teachers so brutal in one on one sessions?”

“Was it that tough?” Dead Eye inquired.

“For a good amount of time, he just told me to attack him and then beat the shit out of me and knocked me to the floor.”

“Sounds tiring,” Connor said with a chuckle.

“Did you ask for special training with him?” Dead Eye quizzed and Eric shook his head. “Strange.”

“Maybe she just thinks you’re that shit and need every bit of help you can get?” Connor suggested.

“Thanks for that,” Eric said, sitting back up.

“If you don’t like it, why not stop?”

“Because it has been helpful, even if it’s extremely tough.”

“Even though you never asked her for these sessions, you’ve never thought to ask why you’re getting this special treatment?” Dead Eye asked.

“I have, but Kas just said it was because of my God Armour.”

Dead Eye closed his eye and sat back in deep thought.

“Are you really sure it’s not because you’re just shit?” Connor suggested once again.

“It’s not, so stop saying that,” Eric replied, lightly punching him in the shoulder.

“Ah, while I remember, Dead Eye, congratulations on your first victory in the Tournament.”

“Thanks,” Dead Eye said. “What did you think of my team?”

“They’re good, but I think we’re better.”

Dead Eye opened his eye and glared at Connor. “Do you now?”

“Connor, don’t go making any stupid bets,” Eric warned him, grabbing his shoulder.

“Fine,” Connor replied, leaning forward and pushing a pair of imaginary glasses up the bridge of his nose. “What about a sensible bet?”

“No.”

“You two are friends, right?” Ace wondered.

Dead Eye shrugged and then said, “Are any of you guys planning to enter into the Single’s Tournament?”

Connor, Eric and Ace all did a double take.

“That was…a random thing to ask,” Connor mumbled.

“Not really. After all, that was the main reason I asked you guys out today.”

“So, it wasn’t to spend time with friends?”

Dead Eye smiled. “That too.”

“I take it then that you’re entering.” Dead Eye nodded. “Well, Eric and I aren’t this year.”

“Reason?”

“Well, I don’t know what I’d want if I won,” Eric admitted with a nervous smile.

“Same,” Connor said. “Maybe if I think of something then I’d enter but, until then, I’m happy being a spectator. So? What do you want if you win?”

“Nothing particularly.”

“Then why-?”

“Because I want to test myself,” Dead Eye said. “I want to push myself to my limit and see how far I can go just relying on my own skills without anyone else or any enhancements. That’s all.”

Ace smiled sadly and looked down at his hands and winced. “That’s…admirable,” He muttered too quietly for anyone else to hear.

“What about you, Ace?” Dead Eye asked, giving him a stern look.

“I…” He started to say, but he ended up trailing off. “I…I’m entering for similar reasons.” Dead Eye raised his eyebrow. “Ever since I’ve entered into Ferris, I’ve been reminded constantly of how weak I really am, even with all of the practical sessions and training that I’ve gone through and…well.” He put his hands together on the table and looked down at his lap. “I want to see if I have become stronger. If I have, I want to prove that to myself and gain a bit of my confidence back and I’ll hopefully get a little bit closer to meeting my own expectations of who I want to be. For now, that’s what I want. If I do win the Tournament, then I’ll have to take some time to think about what I’d want.”

“Ace…” Eric whispered.

Dead Eye hummed and close his eye. “It’s a good reason.”

“Heh.” Connor smirked and said, “I bet the real reason is that you just want to impress Alexis.”

“No, it’s not!” Ace yelled, standing up and slamming the table, his face bright red. “I’m just looking to get stronger and then beat her in a fight.”

“So, it really was about Alexis in the end?” Connor mused. When Ace didn’t answer, the others all shared a small laugh as he sat back down, his face still flushed.

“It’s not the main reason…” Ace murmured.

“Hey Dead Eye, is it going to turn out that the real reason you’re entering is to impress a girl you like, too?”

“Of course it isn’t,” Dead Eye wearily replied.

“Fair enough. But do you have someone that you’re interested in?”

“Not right now.”

“Not Fayre?”

Dead Eye shook his head. “I’m not good at dealing with sadistic people.”

“Then don’t put her on your team,” Eric said.

“What about you, Connor?” Dead Eye shot back. “Anyone at Ferris that you’re interested in?”

“Hmm,” Connor crossed his arms, closed his eyes and thought for a few moments, before saying, “Nah.”

“Seriously?” Eric asked is disbelief.

“Why is that so surprising?”

“I mean, you’re you.”

“I don’t know why but I feel like you just said something really horrible.”

“You’ve had lots of girlfriends so I was sure that someone would have taken your eye.”

“Ah,” Connor nodded a few times, then said, “No, no one. I’ve been asked out a few times but, other than that, there aren’t any girls that interest me here.”

“Not even the lot on your team?” Ace quizzed.

“No, they’re just friends. However.” He grinned at Eric.

Oh no.

“Someone here has several people that he’s interested in, and he even asked to be on his team because of it,” Connor teased, gently elbowing at Eric.

“No, I didn’t,” Eric groaned, his cheeks turning a bit red.

“I must admit, all of the girls on your team are very attractive,” Dead Eye mused, a small, sly smile across his lips. “Did you really pick them because of that?”

“Of course not!”

“Hmm, I don’t know about that,” Connor said. “After all, you do like someone on our team, don’t you?” Eric went silent and turned away from him. “Hit the nail on the head.”

“Who is it?” Ace asked excitedly, his curiosity getting the best of him.

“Is it Kiara?” Connor asked. “I mean, she’s very flirty and you two are quite close. Or is it Elthia? The young innocent act won you over, eh? Maybe Jasmine? Are stronger women your thing?”

“I’ll leave if you guys don’t drop this,” Eric told them, leaping up from his seat, his body overcome with embarrassment.

“Alright, alright, we’ll drop it,” Connor said, raising his hands in defeat. “Won’t we guys?”

“Of course,” Ace said and Dead Eye nodded.

“Good.”

Eric sat back down and let out a small sigh.

After a few moments of silence, Dead Eye spoke up.

“Is it Evony?”

“I’m seriously going this time!”

***

It was late at night at Ferris when Takahiro and Sapphire met up at the training fields which were closed to students for the night, making it the perfect place to meet up and talk privately.

Soon after his training session with Eric had ended, Takahiro had called Sapphire and asked to meet her that evening to discuss something.

He purposefully kept the call vague to make sure that she would come and, like he had hoped, she did, although she didn’t seem particularly worried or concerned about what he wanted to talk about.

Perhaps she already knows, He thought.

“So, what did you want?” Sapphire asked, leaning against the fence. “Let me guess, it’s about Eric, right?”

Takahiro nodded. “Sapphire, don’t you find this strange? Not one, but two teachers have been given orders to mentor Eric Agrim outside of lessons and yet we haven’t been told the reason why we have to. Eric didn’t ask for the lessons either, so I find it peculiar.”

“Kasmine didn’t tell you then?”

“Tell me what?”

Sapphire let out a small sigh, stepped away from the fence and rubbed the back of her head. “Well, if she didn’t tell you, then that’s fine. Just think of it as any other assignment.”

“Why-?”

“If you’re worried that Kas is up to something bad, don’t worry, she isn’t. If you want to give yourself a reason to train Eric, just think of it as helping to mentor a student who’s struggling to fully control his powers. If that’s all, then-”

“Wait!” Takahiro called, stopping Sapphire in her tracks. “Can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“Is Eric Agrim special because of his Armour, because of his familial relations, or is it because he’s special for some other reason?”

Sapphire smiled to herself, turned around and said, “All of the above. Good night, Takahiro,” before taking her leave.

“Good night, Sapphire.” When she had left, his eyes turned to the night sky and he frowned. “Who the hell are you really, Eric Agrim?”