Chapter 8

The first couple of days were very rough, the exercises leaving me limping around the school and making waking up in the morning an effort. On top of the school day I would log into Sword and Shields and begin doing training, this would either be physical training with Clavicus, theory training with Derek or urban training with Lightshows. Training with Clavicus was either combat training where I would be pitted against Sylvia or Bearnen where I would get my ass kicked with Instructor Calicos screeching it me for my mistakes. Sylvia's fighting style was focussed around tiring her opponent into submission, like she was playing a game of tag with them. Their fighting styles were different to one another so the learning curve was steeper. If I'm not getting my ass handed to me Instructor Clavicus has me doing intense training that leaves me dying on the floor. Clavicus has begun calling me "Dirt Worm" due to the amount of time I lay on the floor during the exercises. I can't really find consolidation with Sylvia either, these exercises are easy to her and she sees them as a game.

The theory training with Derek taxes my brain, he's been trying to teach me how to pick out suspicious individuals from a crowd, the theory of murderers and criminals. It's a lot to take in for an eleven year old not to mention I've got homework to do as well. Derek always questions my morals as well.

He asks questions like "would you torture an individual for information to protect Sylvia?"

"No I would not," I would reply.

"This is your problem Philip, you're too nice to these people. They would do the same thing but worse to obtain the information they need to kill Sylvia."

"What if I have the wrong person? You've taught me methods such as electrocution, the effects it would have on the person. What if I torture the wrong person?"

"When I'm done with you, the choice you make will be 100% certain. The person you torture will be an enemy to Sylvia, be it a friend or family member," he said with a cold gaze.

This stuck with me throughout the lessons with him, he acts sarcastic and makes jokes and crude remarks however he just as easily brings in these topics. Makes me wonder if I refused the offer he gave me, would the techniques he explained be used on me? I'm always weary when I'm near him now, like he's going to stick a knife in me.

Out of the three, urban training is the best. Lightshow seems really laid back and friendly, she acts like an older sister to me.

"Are you ok? Do you need to rest?" she would ask me.

Urban training is done in a simulation of the city I live in. she teaches me how to how to move in a crowd, how to use my gadgets, hand to hand combat and grappling techniques. In addition, she teaches me free running techniques and parkour as a form of endurance training. I'm very open to her on my thoughts and feelings, be it school, the training or Sylvia, she's very understanding of them and often allows me to rant about my problems and help me blow off steam.

During one of the lessons we were having a break. That day was really rough for me, recently Sylvia and a few kids at school were being assholes for a couple of days, I broke down and began a rant mixed in with crying.

"I don't understand why Sylvia keeps hitting my arm! Look at it, its gone purple. Not to mention when she's bored she keeps trying to grapple me to the floor," I screamed.

We were resting on the roof of a skyscraper when this outburst happened.

"All the kids think I'm weak because a girl is kicking my ass and I can't fight back. She's too strong and even then it would hurt her feelings," I grabbed and threw a rock that was on the roof.

"I feel so trapped right now, being forced to keep Sylvia happy is making me want to punch her and Derek," I screeched then covered my face and sat down cross legged.

"All the stuff she does in VR is a game to her," replied Lightshow who walked over and stood next to me.

She was wearing running gear instead of her party clothing.

"Imagine her as a kid, this kid has learnt that the most enjoyable game is fighting, no one wants to teach her that what she's doing is wrong or else we will be punished," she sighed and sat on the edge next to me.

"You're going to need to push back Philip, teach her that this game isn't fun anymore and teach her morals better than Clavicus or Bearnen or even Derek can. Learning from them will make her into a cold and sadistic person," she summarised.

"How would I do this?" I finally spoke up.

"Here I've got a plan," she began to whisper it into my ear.

"Will it work though?" I laughed at first but then began to analyse the problems that would occur in it.

"It will put the game on its head. Give her a wakeup call that it's not fun to be the one losing, she's a quick learner and will realise what she is doing wrong and may start to respect you," Lightshow explained.

"But before all that the last exercise will be you jumping to that skyscraper over there," she pointed to one parallel to ours.

"Wait what? That's like 2 metres away," I gasped.

"Well the plan can't be enacted until you complete this jump successfully."

I got up and prepared to do the run up. I sprinted as fast and as hard as I could, at the edge I launched myself at the building. At first I had was pretty high in the air however I began to fall rapidly.

I began to scream however my mind was analysing my mistake.

"I didn't use the correct jump, the angle made me go high however it wouldn't cover the distance," I thought.

Before hitting the ground I landed with a thump on the skyscraper I was on.

"My jump didn't have the distance correct, it was all height," I summarised to Lightshow.

"Go again then," she replied.

I prepared once again and launched into the air, this time I nearly reached the other side however, I began to fall. I tried grabbing onto the wall of the skyscraper however it was too smooth and I continued falling.

"I'm gonna try one last time," I said to Lightshow when I returned.

"Be my guest," she replied once again.

I did the same as I did before however I launched myself in a way which made me rotate in the air to face back at the skyscraper I jumped from. During this I activated my wrist shield and braced my other arm. The shield sent a shockwave at the skyscraper and Lightshow smiled. This launched me forth and I crashed onto the other skyscraper.

"I did it!" I yelled and saw Lightshow doing the same thing.

A bit more graceful, particularly with the landing. She did a backflip during hers which allowed her to land on her feet.

"Excellent work Philip," she's the only one of my trainers who refers to me by my name.

She held a hand out to me and I accepted it pulling myself up with her help.