Chapter 26

Eden winked open her eyes to an unfamiliar figure standing at the edge of her bed.

"Poppy?" She called out, wondering why her friend would be standing there.

A tsking sound replies her. "Rise up Hero" An amused feminine voice said to her. "It's time to train."

Eden blinked and rubbed her eyes as the figure walked out the door, her floral patterned curtains were drawn so the room was dim. 

She rolled out of bed with a groan and pushed the curtains aside, it was late in the afternoon, almost dusk.

As she hurried to dress up, she wondered absently who was the Fairy that had woken her up.

Morning time training had hurt and she wasn't mincing her words by saying that, her respect for Aster had doubled after he effortlessly flew through the powerful whirlwind to stop Lotus.

She stretched and let out a strangled groan, she was wearing clothes out faster than when she was training on her own.

Because of the vigorous nature of their training she usually had split seams, torn parts and so on. She would need to get new clothes if this went on.

Her joints ached even with the special herbs and abilities that the Nurse Fairies had, she couldn't help but feel sore. No doubt a result of the nonstop training.

She quickly dressed up in training pants and a loose tunic, after her bandages had gone on, she wrapped more around her clothes knees and shins just as a precaution. It wouldn't help anyone if she broke her body so bandages it was.

She opened the door of her room to a deserted hallway, she almost thought she was late till she heard rustling and soft noises behind the doors.

Turns out she was the first to get ready. "Bye Xavier." She threw back to her pet plant before jogging out of the quarters, maybe she could do a couple warm ups before the rest arrived.

She kept her pace steady till she reached the training grounds and had to bend over a bit to catch her breath, there was still much to be done.

She looked up and nearly swallowed her tongue at the sight before her. A female Fairy was hard at work creating boulders out of the flat ground and pushing them back, Eden just started open mouthed at the scene before her.

"Never seen a Stone Fairy before?" The lady scoffed, pushing a hand down and making a fist which made the boulder behind her literally melt into the ground.

"N-No." Eden stuttered, wide-eyed in awe.

"Not surprising." The Fairy continued in that scathing voice, walking across the expanse of open ground towards her. "We're aren't supposed to exist, isn't that right? Privileged Hero." She glared at Eden who just moved a couple steps back, unsure of her offense.

Eden just took in the older Fairy in a straight, short skirt and a white shirt. She looked important, like she worked at the Council office or something.

"I-I don't know?" Eden mumbled out, unsure of what she was supposed to say.

"Stop picking on the Heroes, Cherry." Lichen's voice interrupted the one sided interrogation. "Welcome to training Eden." She greeted the nervous Fairy with a wide smile.

"Hi, Lichen." Eden greeted uncertainly, still a bit out of it.

"Where are the others?"

"Poppy is probably still trying to get them out of bed." She informed the Trainer, who was in a puffy dress today. "Um, will we see the Captain?"

"No, he's still trying to gather the rest of you Trainers but no worries, we'll keep you hard at work till he returns." She says happily with that bright smile.

Eden shuddered imperceptibly, she didn't doubt for one second that the Trainer wouldn't make good her treat.

She decided to do some warm ups while Lichen pulled away Cherry to one of the training buildings, Eden wondered if the grumpy red headed Fairy was also a Trainer, she wasn't sure she'd be a big fan of her lessons if she was.

She had barely gone through her first series of warm ups before the rest of the Heroes came filing in, all wearing grim expressions that no doubt matched the one one her face.

There was more to being a Hero than just being born with abilities, as they were all finding out now.

"Welcome Trainees." Lichen greeted them, when they were all lined up with their hands behind their backs.

"As I told you in the morning time training session, we will be testing your abilities." She paced to and fro as she spoke, her twin was glaringly absent. "I'm not your Abilities Trainer so I'll leave you in her safe hands." She turned around and cupped a hand around her face. "Cherry! Get out here, your class is beginning."

Eden blinked as the redhead from before emerged from a training room, so this was also a Trainer. She wasn't surprised, their Trainers were ridiculously strong.

"Hello Heroes." Cherry greeted tightly, obvious disdain in her deep voice. "I'm Cherry Dimal and I'm going to be your Abilities Trainer, I don't tolerate bullshit and if you think I'm going to treat you any differently simply because you're Heroes then think again." She continued in a cutting voice.

"So, for today's session I'll be assessing your abilities then we'll move on to improving it." The next part, she added audibly under her breath. "I'm pretty sure you'll all need improving."

Eden noticed Orchid stiffening, this was going to be a fun class after all because Eden knew she had to improve so she wasn't disputing their Trainer but not Orchid.

"Any questions before we begin?" Cherry asked, glaring at each of them in the eye.

Mumbled replies floated back to her.

"I didn't catch that." She said in a threatening voice, her brown eyes narrowed.

"No sir." They all spoke up, fists curling and uncurling.

"Fine." She nodded, walking a bit to the side. She stopped and raised up a leg, when it came down a square piece of rock rumbled out.

She sat comfortably on it and faced the gaping Heroes. "Make this fun."