Chapter 78. Five trainees

Five trainees all rushed at Gran at the same time, swerving, dodging, and leaping over objects all around them. Gran calmly stood at the center, squinting his eyes as he saw each kid barely making any progress as they tried to get to him. The distance of twenty meters between them and Gran felt like an almost impenetrable wall they couldn’t get through. It was one step forward, two steps back as they had to avoid the objects barreling at them.

“They’re not just going to run at me, are they?” Gran thought to himself, he recalled how Boulder, Poe, Carson, and Krystal had done it back when they were trainees. It was his first time attempting this kind of thing and the little trainees would just continue rushing in with no fear in their eyes.

He didn’t realize back then how taxing it was to keep his powers up and control precise in order to not hurt them. Over time the rotations would start to slow down mid-training. This led the kids who had an abundance amount of energy to forcefully rush at him until he couldn’t maintain it anymore, resulting him getting tagged. However, were these five thinking they could do the same? “They’re foolish if they think they can exhaust me.”

“I’ll get rid of the girls first, they’re the biggest nuisance.” Gran thought to himself as he looked around. “Are they behind me?” Gran turned around trying to find the girls. He immediately spotted Julie who was struggling her way through, she was barely a third way in before Gran set his eyes on her.

Julie immediately sensed Gran’s gaze on her and furrowed her brows. “Crap he’s targeting me!”

Woosh

A blanket sped up, outstretched, trying to cover her completely. She tumbled forward dodging the blanket and hopped to the side avoiding the rock coming at her from behind the blanket. She looked left, another rock was barreling straight at her, it’s speed faster than the two others that came before.

She threw her hand out, her powers activated pausing the rock momentarily as she quickly rushed forward barely avoiding it.

“Oh? Not bad.” Gran remarked at Julie’s quick reaction. “time to get rid of her” The rock that that was momentarily frozen changed angle as it chased after Julie.

“What!” Julie exclaimed as the rock she thought she had dodged started chasing after her. She leaped off to the right barely dodging it as it flew past her. However, she couldn’t celebrate at all, the rock turned around again, rushing straight at her.

Bam!

“That’s cheating!” Julie shouted right before being carried off by the rock, she was sent out of the tornado.

“One down, four to go.” Gran spoke up and looked around again. “Now…where’s Shelly…? Ah… there you are…”

Shelly furrowed her brows as she saw what had happened to Julie within her peripheral vision. She hadn’t expected for Gran to target them specifically with the objects within the tornado and even moreso chase after them with it until they were sent out. This wasn’t what was shown earlier. She looked left and right and quickly ran out of Gran’s line of sight.

“Ohoho, you think you can tag me from the back?” Gran was amused at Shelly’s actions and turned around to follow her.

Shelly quickly ran over to Seth who was nearby.

“The Chief is specifically targeting us. Careful” She spoke up and quickly continued to run in circle. Seth became even more vigilant as Gran turned to him.

Gulp

Five objects that were consistently rotating counterclockwise around Gran sped up at Seth. Seth’s eyes went wide as he saw it zooming straight at him. He quickly reacted and ran forward as fast as possible. “If you’re going to play dirty, I might as well do the same.” Seth pulled out the rocks he had hidden in his pockets and threw it at Gran.

Two of the five objects flying at Seth immediately dropped to the ground as Gran had to stop the two objects flying at him. “Yes! It works!” Seth exclaimed inwardly and quickly rolled off to the side dodging the remaining three. He quickly picked up the two Gran released and threw them at Gran.

Gran shook his head at Seth’s second rounds of rocks. “So this is their plan? To throw a few rocks knowing I’m at my limit? Tch, expected more from them.” Gran continued to play along and dropped another two rocks stopping the ones thrown by Seth. He quickly hurled it back at the young man who was reaching for another pair on the ground.

Bam!

“Gah-ha!” Seth coughed loudly as he was sent out from the tornado. The last strike from Gran was too damn fast! Seth laid crumpled on the ground holding onto his stomach sweating form the pain.

“Maybe I hit him too hard that time?” Gran raised an eyebrow at the crumpled young adult laying outside and quickly turned his attention back to the happenings within the tornado.

He quickly found Michael and Arthur who had barely made it past the halfway mark within the tornado. “There’s still time, I need to get rid of Shelly first.” Gran thought to himself and quickly turned around again, he finally spotted the little white-haired girl.

“As expected from her, she’s already made it this close to me without much effort, if I were distracted by Michael and Arthur, I most likely would’ve been tagged. Interesting.” Gran was amused at the girl less than a quarter away from him.

Shelly instantly reacted and tried to circle around Gran again, hoping to get closer in the process. However, Gran wouldn’t let her do as she pleases as all the objects within the tornado reversed in rotation. What was once counterclockwise was now clockwise.

Shelly immediately halted her steps and tried to change position, however, in her haste she couldn’t slow down quick enough.

“Oh no!” Arthur shouted as he saw a rock hurling straight at Shelly. He quickly reached into his pocket and passed a rock over to Michael. “Throw!”

Michael took the rock and threw it at Gran from the opposite side. Gran saw the rock flying from within his periphery and dropped the attack on Shelly to counter the boys.

Shelly regained her pace and continued to quickly make her escape behind Gran, she was getting closer.

“Tch.” Gran clicked his tongue and quickly followed after Shelly, he instantly sent three rocks hurling at the girl who was getting closer to him.

Shelly completely ignored the rock aiming at her head and only dodged the two aiming for her stomach. The one flying at her head changed course last second and circled around. Shelly knew that Gran wouldn’t target anywhere else on their body if he wanted to toss them out, a strike to the head would be too much for training.

She quickly rushed at Gran in a straight line slipping through every attack that was aiming straight for her.

Three meters.

Two meters.

One.

“Damn it!” Gran exclaimed inwardly and dropped a few rocks around him. Shelly immediately felt a tug on her collar as she was less than an arm’s reach away. She looked around and jumped into a rock flying at her, the rock landed directly in her stomach.

Gran furrowed his brows and immediately focused on sending her out through the rock. However, Michael wouldn’t let Gran do as he please as they threw another rock at Gran causing him to drop his control on Shelly, sending her only a quarter away to block the attack.

Michael lunged forward at Gran instantly the moment he threw the rock. He was running with no fear in his eyes as he quickly evaded the rocks around him. He quickly made it within two meters of Gran. He reached into his pocket and threw out a handful of dirt.

Gran was wide eyed as he saw what was flying at him, he quickly controlled the rocks around him and dispelled the dirt flying at his face. He pushed the rocks in front of him outwards towards Michael.

Michael was too close! He couldn’t dodge. He crossed his arms and braced himself for the impact of the rocks.

Bam!

Michael was caught by Gran’s attack and was blown back at a rapid speed, Gran quickly readjusted himself and soften the push sending Michael directly out of the tornado.

The sound of footsteps tingled his left ear as Gran quickly turned to it. “Shelly!” Gran exclaimed as the girl was already this close up to him. He threw another rock at her catching her squarely in the stomach.

“Yes!” A little boy shouted as he was less than a meter away.

“What!?” Gran exclaimed, as he looked to his right, Arthur was right about to touch him. Gran immediately dropped all the unnecessary rocks flying around him and grabbed onto the boy’s collar with his telekinesis and flung the boy back.

Gran then quickly turned to his left at Shelly whose arm was outstretched ready to tag him, he immediately used his telekinesis on the rock still on her stomach to push her back, however he suddenly felt his entire body stiffen. “Crap! Julie!” He exclaimed inwardly as he dispelled Julie’s powers.

However, it was too late, the rock within Shelly’s chest disintegrated to powder as she threw her entire self at Gran. “Oh no you won’t!” Gran shouted and unleashed his power.

Riiiiip!

Shelly’s silhouette flew through the skies as Gran forcefully threw her off into the air.

Gran quickly controlled himself and softly dropped the girl down on the ground, standing on her two legs. In her arm a piece of cloth from Gran’s torn robe.

“Did we win?” Julie was the first to ask as she looked at the cloth in Shelly’s hand and then back at Gran.

“Did we?” Michael also asked as he looked towards Gran.

“Yeah! Did we? Did we?” Arthur ran up to Gran and stood before him. “Did we win?” Arthur asked.

“No.” Gran spoke up and instantly flung the 10-year-old boy further away. “A piece of cloth doesn’t count!”

“Oh? How about this?” A calm voice behind him spoke up and tagged him on the shoulder.

“What!?” Gran turned around and saw Seth’s smiling face.

“Caught you.” Seth spoke up as he made eye contact with Gran.

“When!?” Gran exclaimed inwardly as he stared down the young scar faced man standing before him. He quickly recalled what happened, he clearly remembered throwing Seth a bit too hard, causing the young man to crumple onto the ground.

“You were too distracted by everyone else, you forgot about me. I waited on the ground and slowly rolled closer whenever you looked away. Once it was down to Arthur, Michael and Shelly, I quickly ran behind you and waited. The moment they got close enough for you to drop all your powers I immediately ran up from behind you and…tag.” Seth poked Gran on the chest with his finger.

“I think we win now, right?” Seth had a cocky smirk on his face as he looked at Gran.

Woosh!

Seth was immediately thrown away by Gran landing in a pile of hay left out for the horses.

“Tch, alright, you win.” Gran smacked his lips and answered. “I was kidding about the sleeve anyways, the moment Shelly ripped it off it was already over. But, not bad, not bad at all.” Gran said calmly.

None of trainees believed it, not even Seth who was spitting out hay from his face believed Gran’s words. He knew if he didn’t tag Gran there, they would still be running into that miserable tornado of Gran. However, knowing it’d be awkward to criticize Gran they all rushed towards each other and congratulated each other high fiving in the process.

After their celebration, a preteen quickly got up and shouted “Dad!” Boulder exclaimed as he ran up to his father.

“Hm? What is it my son?” Gran asked.

“Can you make your tornado again!?” Boulder exclaimed.

“Uh, sure, do you want to give it a try?” Gran asked.

“Yeah!” Boulder quickly ran off to the side beside Boss as objects started to levitate off the ground and spin around Gran again.

Boulder leaned over to Boss who was sitting there. “Okay, show me, how will you tag my dad?” Boulder asked.

Boss flicked his sleeve and raised both his hands up in the air, the tip of the finger and thumb of his left hand connected forming an O shape. In his right hand, he raised one finger. Boss slowly put the finger in his right hand through the O of the left and wiggled it.

“Look at your dad.” Boss amusingly spoke up.

Boulder looked over and immediately noticed his dad was starting to laugh as a finger floating in the air was tickling him on the neck.

“Done.” Boss pulled his right hand away from his left and the finger that was tickling Gran’s neck disappeared.

Boulder’s eyes were about to pop out of his socket as he saw the scene before him. He couldn’t believe the normal kid beside him was able to do something like this! The trainees who had struggled to tag Gran for the past hour rolled their eyes at what Boss had done. Leave it to Boss to ruin their mood.

“Hahaha! You thought I was just a normal boy, but in fact, I am an Exotic too!” Boss exclaimed and threw off his wig and sunglasses revealing his dark purple hair and bright yellow eyes.

“What!?” Boulder exclaimed as he looked at Boss. His mouth was agape as he turned to the trainees and then his dad who shook his head.

“Boulder.” Gran spoke up. “You wanted to test yourself, right? Well come on my tornado is still here.” Gran was a little irritated his son used him to see what Boss could do.

“I-I-I” Boulder stuttered.

Woooooosh!

“Wait no dad! Let me go!” Boulder was quickly pulled straight into the tornado.

The five trainees gathered and sat down beside Boss as they looked at Boulder who was running around dodging the rocks within.

“How’re you guys feeling?” Boss asked as he continued watching Boulder running around within the tornado.

“A little tired.” Arthur answered.

“How was yesterday? What do you think of those green and purple guys?” Boss asked.

The five immediately recalled what had almost happened to Gran and the rest if it wasn’t for the fact that they all decided to retreat. They knew if those five hadn’t retreated there would be casualties, maybe they wouldn’t even be alive training with Gran today.

“They’re bad guys.” Arthur answered. “I don’t like them, they hurt Boulder’s teacher, Pebble, Cobble and Chief Gran.”

“Why’re you asking?” Seth asked. He didn’t like Boss much; it was this kid who still had stolen his meat. “Wait, you were there?”

“I was watching from a safe distance.” Boss remarked. He continued to say “The reason I’m asking is because those guys are definitely the types who won’t die easily. Maybe one day they might be after you or your loved ones. They’ve probably already got their eyes on you guys for running their plan.”

Boss warning made them gulp in fright.

“I’m going to say it right now, if I think you guys can handle it, I won’t interfere.” Boss answered. “If I’m wrong and you die, welp, I’ll let your parents know.”

“Always try your best, it’s never too late to get stronger and focus on the basics, don’t try to take corners if you want to reach the top.”

“Why’re you telling us this?” Michael interrupted asked.

“Because it was pretty reckless of you guys to run into the fight yesterday, if it hadn’t been for them retreating because something went wrong, you all would’ve died. Do you not get that?”

“But we didn’t though.” Arthur weakly replied. “Barkie stopped them.”

“Are you hoping a puppy is going to protect you?” Boss rolled his eyes at Arthur’s response. “But I’m glad, you kids are not one to cower in fear seeing danger before you, but try to have a better plan next time than just running in, okay? Like for example, all illusions have energy, if you're together have someone be your eyes for those who can't differentiate between reality and illusory, and then run in.”

Boss got up and walked over to the trainees and patted their heads. The five of them couldn’t move at all as Boss rustled their hair.

Boss stopped at Arthur and patted the boy’s shoulder. “To become strong, it’s good to have companions you trust to support you. But you’re all not going to be together all the time, when you’re alone only you can protect yourself. You can’t be reckless forever.” Boss released his hand and slowly walked off into the distance. The five trainees regained control of their body as Boss disappeared from view.

The trainees didn’t know why, but when they saw the back of Boss that morning, they couldn’t help but feel that what he had said wasn’t just something for them to hear. They turned to look at one another, complex thoughts ran through their mind as they remained quiet.

Bam!

A silhouette flew out of the tornado and landed on the grassy ground near the five trainees.

“No, no, no! Don’t pull me in again! Ahhhh!” Boulder exclaimed as his body was slowly brought back into the tornado for another round of dodging practice. He didn’t even try to tag his dad as he ran in circles avoiding the objects flying at him.

It wasn’t until another hour passed by before Gran finally felt satisfied with playing with his son and ended the training that morning.

He walked over to the five trainees. He sighed and shook his head. “The teamwork you five have built over this past month is remarkable. I honestly expected it would take two days for you guys to be able to tag me. However, I seem to underestimate how fast you kids adapt. So, tomorrow I want you five to write to Roselyn and I about your time in Boulderville, what you’ve learned, what you liked, what you didn’t like, blah blah blah.”

“Wait, is there no training tomorrow?” Michael asked.

“That is right, no training. Just have something written for us by tomorrow morning. It’ll be something for us to remember you kids by, so put some thought into it.” Gran smiled at the five stunned trainees before him. “You may head back to the Inn now; I’ll see you kids one last time tonight for our final meditation.”

Gran slowly walked back into the house. Boulder followed behind his dad, he turned around and looked back at the trainees.

“Bye Shelly, Julie, and everyone else! See you tonight!” Boulder waved at them as they waved back.

The five trainees didn’t know what to feel that morning, usually after training, everyone in the house would come out and sit together enjoying some refreshments and relax until noon. It has been awhile since they were sent back early after training.

The five quietly made it to the entrance of the estate.

“Heading back already?” The gatekeeper looked down at the kids and asked.

“Yeah, we’ll be back tonight.” Michael answered.

“Alright, good luck today!” The gatekeeper opened the gate and waved them off.

The five waved back and slowly continued forward, they looked around and sighed in relief, it was another day without Boss’ training. They continued to converse on their way back, talking about what they were going to write.

However, their conversation didn’t last long as they were all suddenly teleported to a different location. It was the Festival ground. What was filled with hundreds of people yesterday was empty and desolate this morning.

The trainees squinted their eyes and looked around.

“Aw, I thought there would be no training from Boss today.” Arthur spoke up and commented.

Shelly quickly closed her eyes and sensed her surrounding, she was trying to find the pathway back to the Inn again. However, there was no teleporting walls that they were used to. Even the gravity felt the same.

“I can’t sense any energy.” Shelly finally concluded after closing her eyes for more than a minute.

“Weird… what game is Boss playing today?” Julie looked around. She didn’t know why but the empty festival ground felt eerie today. “Shelly, are you sure there’s nothing?”

Shelly furrowed her brows and looked around. There was nothing in sight.

“Wait…what’s that?” Five silhouettes slowly materialized before her eyes further off into the distance. Her eyes went wide as she saw exactly who those five were.

“Sh-shelly my arm!” Arthur exclaimed in fright. It was the same purple sleeve of those robed individuals crawling up his arms.

“W-what!?” Everyone was panicking as they noticed the situation. Their sleeve too, was changing to either green or purple.

“They’re here! They’re coming to kill us!” Arthur exclaimed in fright. The five trainees quickly stood in formation, their backs against each other as the five robed individuals spread out, circling around them.

“We’re just here for the person that can cancel P6’s powers. Which one of you did it?” K2 spoke up and asked. “Tell me who it is, and we’ll take them and be on our way.”

The five trainees looked around, bewildered at each other. Julie and Shelly quickly shook their head, they were not the one that did it yesterday.

“So it was you, boy?” A purple robed individual walked up and asked. “You’re the one that cancelled my powers?”

“I-i-it wasn’t me!” Arthur exclaimed. “I-i-it was Barkie!”

“Which one of you is Barkie?” The purple robed individual asked.

“I-it’s m-m-my dog.” Arthur stuttered to answer.

“Oh? You really think my powers can be cancelled by a mere puppy? Then…” The purple robed individual took a step forward. “Can you still see me?”

The five trainees nodded their head.

“WELL YOU SHOULDN’T BE ABLE TO!” The purple robed individual exclaimed.

“DIE!”