Chapter 9

"Heh....if it isn't Squad 10," a voice scoffed.

They all looked in the direction of the voice.

They saw Luke approaching with his Squad mates some distance behind him.

"Hey Luke!" Suzanne waved gaily at him. He had on a pompous look as he addressed Ryan and ignored Suzanne.

"Pity you didn't stay long enough in the E-rank exams; you'd have witnessed me being victorious," he smirked, as he eyed them all in derision. His focused attention settled disdainfully on Ryan. "Anyway, it's a good thing you were rushed to the hospital, everyone saw how weak you were. I bet if it was me, I could witstand a bullet or two." Luke bragged as he poured his mouth at Ryan dismissively.

Ryan just gave him a cold look, then ignored him.

"There's Luke, bragging away as usual," Ava snorted as they arrived at the spot where Squad 10 was.

"How's your arm Ryan?" Snow asked, as she looked at Ryan and smiled briefly at him.

"It's fine," he replied coldly and turned away.

"You must be the M.D corp assigned to Squad 10. I'm Janet," Janet introduced herself as she warmly shook hands with Ashley.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Ashley," Ashley said, beaming a smile at her.

"Cut the chit chat; we came here to train, not socialize," a girl with straight black hair said in a stern tone to her Squad mates and she walked away to where the training equipment were kept.

"Hmph," Luke scoffed as he crossed his arms. "She thinks she's something special."

"Oh dear, you must'n't say that. All humans are special in their own way," Ashley said in a calm tone.

"Stop proving smart, girl!"  Luke told her in a sneering tone. "Man, I hate being stuck with girls," he muttered to himself.

"Who's she?" Ethan asked Ava who was chewing a gum, as he watched Snow walk towards the stern girl.

"Oh she?" Ava looked towards the direction they had gone.

"That's Judith; she's our M.D corp," Ava revealed.

"She's so....," Suzanne searched for the right word.

"Beautiful?" Ashley offered, smiling again.

"Not that," Suzanne shook her head. "It's just that she's--"

"She's stuck up, that's what!" Luke said and snorted.

"Yeah, kinda," Ethan agreed, nodding as he looked at Judith where she was already trying out some equipment.

"It's best not to judge people if you know nothing of them," Ashley said coolly, her eyes already reprimanding them all.

Ethan sheepishly scratched his hair, "I didn't mean to judge her."

"Best we go train; you can't stay here all day gossiping about others," Ryan said curtly as he made to leave their little gathering.

"Gos...Gossiping! Me, gossiping?! How dare you accuse me of gossiping?!" Ethan snapped at him, annoyed.

"We're leaving," Andrew said in a bored tone and started to walk away, intent on leaving the training ground.

"Bye," Janet waved at them.

"Waving is for suckers," Luke said spitefully. She faced him with a composed look.

"That's just your idiotic opinion, Luke, because according to my research, when two people wave at each other, it means their relationship has a better chance of developing than others; also research has proven that those who greet each other 'bye' have more tendecy to meet up again to say 'hello'," she told him categorically.

"Shut up, you nerd!" Luke said as he held his ears.

"That's why girls are better than boys," Ava laughed as she threw her hands around Janet and they made their way to where Snow and Judith were.

"That's not true!"  Luke protested.

As Squad 10 left the training ground, Luke and Ava's voices could still be heard arguing loudly on which gender was better.

"Fancy seeing them again," Suzanne said as they walked into the training hall for their duels.

"Yeah, I'm somehow glad Judith wasn't assigned to us," Ethan sighed in relief.

Ryan scoffed.

"Me too. We have enough stiff necked people in our team," Suzanne agreed.

"Yeah, like Ryan," Ethan said.

Suzanne nodded. "Yeah, and Andrew."

Ryan faced Suzanne as he demanded, "Did you just refer to me as stiff necked?"

Her eyes widened in shock. "Um....not really," she shook her head negatively.

"Whatever," he dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "It's not like I care what you think."

She looked away, troubled.

"Okay, partner up," Andrew told them as he tossed each of them a long training stick. Ethan caught his and grinned mischieviously.

"I'm with Ryan!" he annouced.

"No! I'm with Ryan!" Suzanne argued.

They both faced each other. "What do you want to pair off with him for? You'll just act all weak and mushy and he'll defeat you easily. But if I face Ryan I'll make sure I prove I'm the better between both of us by defeating him in our match!" Ethan explained impatiently.

"No way! I want Ryan to see that I'm strong too!" Suzanne replied just as impatiently as he too. "Afterall, I've been training since last year: I'm not so inexperienced anymore!"

Ethan crossed his arms. "Yeah right, and I've been training since I was four years! I want to prove that I'm stronger than Ryan once and for all!"

"Let's start then," Andrew stated as he nodded at them all.

"Hey! We haven't paired up yet!" Ethan told him angrily.

Ryan smirked and Ashley rotated her stick.

"I'm with Ashley. You two donkeys can pair off together," he said in a malicious tone and waved his hand at them derisively.

Ashley pinched him. "Be nice," she said and he turned away scornfully.

"I'll show you who's a donkey!"  Ethan snarled as he started running towards Ryan with his staff weapon.

Ryan dodged the attack by simply moving his head and he turned and kicked Ethan from behind, and sent him sprawling onto the floor.

Ryan smirked.

Ethan growled at him as he sat up on the polished wooden floor.

"Is that how you planned to win Ethan?" Suzanne couldn't help making fun of him.

"Shut up!" Ethan spat out angrily as he glared at her. "I wasn't ready!"

"Alright, that's enough fooling around. Ethan, you're with Suzanne," Andrew told him in a bored tone.

"What?!" he exclaimed, looking around him angrily..

Suzanne, who was pulling him up at the time, suddenly let go of his hand and he landed on the floor once again.

"Hey!" he complained as he looked up at Suzanne.

"I want to be with Ryan!" Suzanne protested, looking at Andrew.

Andrew silenced her  protests with the hard look he threw at her.

"This is all your fault!" Suzanne scowled at Ethan as he came to stand beside her. He scowled back and crossed his arms on his chest.

"Hmph, it's not like I wanted to be paired off with you! And now, I've lost the chance to prove I'm superior to Ryan," he said in an annoyed murmur.

"Ashley and Ryan, you may begin first," Andrew said.

Ryan got into his fighting stance but Ashley's gaze lingered on Andrew.

"Aren't you pairing off with anyone?" she asked, a bit concerned.

He shrugged her off.

"The winners of both teams will face each other off and then I'll battle the one left standing," he told her simply.

"Okay, that seems sensible enough." Ashley nodded and skipped to the postion where she ought to stand.

"Don't take it personally if I defeat you too hard Ashley, this is just a forewarning," Ryan said in a not-so-kind tone as she took her stance.

"Okay!" she nodded and smiled sweetly at him.

"Begin," Andrew said in between a stiffled yawn.

Ryan and Ashley stopped for a while before running towards each other, their training staffs raised up.

Ashley slid down as Ryan's staff narrowedly missed hitting her head and Ryan jumped to avoid Ashley's staff that aimed to trip him up.

They both attacked again and their staffs struck each other's.

Ryan kept pressure on his stick in order to weigh Ashley down but she turned and jabbed at his ribs. The action made him bend a little as one of his hands held the part she hit.

"In battle that's your weak point," Ashley said as he gritted his teeth painfully. When Ryan looked up he saw her coming swiftly at him with her staff being waved around dangerously.

He did an octuple somersault and landed on his feet to avoid her incoming attack.

"So annoying," Ryan scoffed under his breath as both of their staffs hit each other again.

Ashley let go of her staff and proceeded to kick Ryan but he caught her leg just in time before it landed on his chest.

He scoffed at her again. "Too slow."

At once he spinned, while holding her leg and flung her away.

She hit her head hard on the ground as she landed and groaned out in pain.

Ryan smirked and started walking triumphantly towards her.

He raised his staff and brought it down near her neck.

"I win," he said smugly as he stared down at her.

Ashley grinned and looked up at him. "You're sure about that?"

Ryan frowned as he gave her a quick perusal, not comprehending; her staff, which served as a weapon, wasn't with her currently as it laid where she had dropped it some distance from where she now laid.

"Think again!"

At once she snatched the staff out of the unsuspecting Ryan's hands and slid under his open legs.

"Huh?!" A stunned Ryan turned in time to see Ashley running to where she had dropped her own staff.

He pursued her hotly.

Andrew's lip partly quirked up. She was smart. Ethan laughed and cheered Ashley on while Suzanne kept screaming Ryan's name.

Ashley now had possesions of both their weapons.

"First rule of battle, Disarm your opponent," she told him at once and rushed towards him.

Ryan gritted his teeth but stood his ground.

"Second rule...," She spinned a staff and let it loose. Ryan dodged it just in time as it made for him.

"...Deceive them!" Ashley burst out from right in front of him in a jump and landed the other staff she held on his head, causing him to wince and stagger backwards.

"Third rule...," She started running towards where Ryan stood, holding his head.

Ashley didn't stop for a moment's breath.

She aimed a punch at Ryan but he caught it and she used the position she was in to kick him with her knee in his groin.

".....Destroy them!" she said as she knocked him off his steady footing. He was bent over, groaning in pain.

Ethan closed an eye when Ashley kneed Ryan in the groin and whispered, "Ooh....that's gotta hurt."

 Suzanne only gasped mildly, shocked at Ashley's brutality.

"Last rule of battle...," Ashley elbowed Ryan's back and he fell, face down. She pointed her staff at the writhing Ryan's neck. He was still holding his jewels in pain. His eyes were tightly shut.

"...Defeat them!" Ashley said with a note of finality.

Andrew came to raise her hand and proclaimed her the winner. Ethan came to congratulate her while Suzanne chidded her on her need to have gone easier on Ryan.

Ashley didn't pay much attention to any of them, instead she brought out a mini-first aid kit.

She brought out a balm.

"I didn't mean to hit you so hard, Ryan. Here, apply this cream and it would help ease the pain," she said in a soft, worried tone.

Ryan managed to stretch out his left hand to collect the balm.

"Can you stand up?" Ethan asked with a bit of pity.

He was glad he wasn't paired off with Ashley. He sent a silent prayer of thanks to God as Ryan tried standing but wobbled on his feet.

Suzanne helped Ryan stand right.

"I'm fine," Ryan told her in a gruffy tone as he broke himself free from her hold.

Ryan almost fell back to the floor but Andrew quickly kept Ryan's arm around his shoulders, bearing his weight at once.

"So much for defeating her too hard," Andrew muttered, slightly irked.

He then led Ryan towards the boys' bathrooms.

"Suzanne and Ethan, you can carry on, we'll catch up later on," Andrew told them as he led a wobbly Ryan out of the huge hall. "Not that I care anyway," Andrew  added and shrugged slightly before he left, heaving Ryan along.

"Do not  do that to me!" Ethan warned Suzanne loudly as he eyed her meanly once Andrew had left with Ryan.

Ashley and Suzanne both burst out in laughter.