Sparring

GAVIN'S HOUSE

3:45 PM

Gavin and Shiro stand opposite to what looks like a fireplace in the living room. The dark marble like structure has a little round disc like hole on its left side. The room is not too large but is well furnished with beautiful sofas and a table, not forgetting the stacked book shelf on the left of the curved television.

Gavin brushes his hands through his coifed hair whiles staring at the dark marble like structure and asks "Are we still going to use wooden swords?"

"Seriously Gav, we are no longer kids. What are we gonna use wooden swords for?" Shiro replies

"Wooden swords are safer"

"And boring" Shiro cuts in. He continues "Look, wooden swords make sparring boring and they chip all the time. Beside we will be careful with the reals"

"Even real swords chip all the time Shiro. Using real swords is dangerous"

"Then let's play dangerous today. You in?"

Gavin sighs and stands contemplating for a while then replies "Alright fine I'm in" he says with a grin and pushes a cylindrical object resembling a key into the hole on the marble like structure and a pane slowly slides upward. They look towards it beaming with smiles.

They walk quietly to the backyard, swords in hand. The tall backyard hedges shielded them from prying eyes. The backyard is small with various exotic flowers of different colors and fragrance.

Gavin lifts his katana. A loong [1] is engraved on the scabbard of his katana. Golden loong with defined scales and red eyes, on a black scabbard. He fastens it to his waist with a hand on the scabbard and the other on the blades loong shaped hilt.

Shiro raises his ninjaken [2] to his face. A green engraved image of a scorpion can be seen on the scabbard with a scorpion tail design for a hilt. He holds the hilt and slowly pulls the sword out as his eyes reflect on the red shiny blade.

"Shiro, you have a beautiful sword but let's see if you can use it as beautifully"

"Thanks. So is yours, let's see if you can keep up" he says smiling.

The wind begins to blow, tossing leaves in their direction.

Both bow and quickly take their stances, standing about 15 meters apart.

"This guy, he is giving off a completely different vibe than before. I no longer see any openings like before. He sure has grown a lot. He cannot be underestimated" Shiro carefully observes.

"We have sparred so many times before, he would have attacked by now, yet he hasn't. He is being careful or... he has probably noticed. In that case..." with a hand on the hilt and the other on the scabbard, Gav races towards Shiro, closing the distance in less than 3 seconds. Freeing his sword from its scabbard, it swings swiftly towards Shiro with an attack, leaving behind a blue trail denoting the color of his katana. Both swords meet with a loud clank as Shiro parries the attack, with his red trail and Gav's blue trail disappearing upon impact.

"...I need to overwhelm him" Gavin concludes

With continuous thunderous clanking, followed by quick red and blue trails denoting the colors of both swords, the boys parry each others attacks. Low, high, mid, diagonal, all attacks flying in in quick succession are parried. Leaves being blown in their direction are cut neatly in half as they swing theirs swords swiftly and cautiously. With another parry from Gav which sends Shiro's sword downwards, a kick follows, sending Shiro jumping paces sideways to minimize the force of impact.

"You have improved a lot" Shiro admits

"Yeah, had some practice" Gavin points out.

Shiro smiles as he says "So tell me Gav, who is a better swordsman? A ninja or a samurai"

"You know, I have never really thought about that, but I would say the answer is pretty obvious"

"Is that so? Then how about we find out here and now. You are a samurai and I a ninja. Whoever's back touches the ground first loses. So what do you say Silent Samurai?"

"Alright Death Stalker, let's do it" With wondrous skill display from both sides, the sparring continues with an increase in clanking, causing nearby birds and animals to flee as blue and red after images of the blades fill the air. Though Shiro seems to be having the upper hand due to his experience, Gavin isn't giving him any chances.

CENTRAL PARK

4:30 PM

Ace and Melanie are sitting on a bench in the park. Lots of people fill the park, doing all sorts of activities. Parts of the park are filled with flowers and other parts benches and yet other parts specially made picnic mats.

"I told you, you would win. It was destined to be" Melanie says.

"Hahaha yeah you did. He is good but resorts to cheating and that how come I won." Ace comes in

"So basically you are saying you were lucky again"

"Yeah, precisely. He was using the blind spots of the cameras and ended up falling through a skylight"

"That must have hurt. So is he alright?"

"Yeah, I think he should be alright"

"Back to the point, you won and that's all that matters"

"Yeah right. That reminds me, I came across a group of men in a warehouse. Saw them through the skylight. It happened so sudden and quickly, I couldn't really make them out but they seemed pretty suspicious. One had some sort of weird looking star tattoo on the side of his neck"

"Star tattoo?"

"Yeah that's what I said"

"That's weird" she says broodingly

"Weird? What's weird?"

She pulls out her phone and shows him an image and asks "Is it this kind of star?"

"Yeah, hold up, where did you get that?"

"Doesn't matter"

"The hell do you mean it doesn't matter?" he snaps, then continues "I just saw some really crazy shit and you mysteriously have a photo that relates to it and you are telling me it doesn't matter? Where the hell did you get that picture Melanie?"

"Jeez!! what are you getting so worked up for?"

"I'm concerned about you Melanie, those guys were holding pretty huge guns and it scares me to conclude you have some sort of connection. What if, what if..."

"Relax Ace, it's really nothing. Cool down"

"It is from your so called army covert team, the S Guild, isn't it?"

Melanie's face shoots wide in shock but she quickly dispels it and says "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Don't pretend you have no idea what I'm talking about" he snaps

"How can I pretend when I don't even know what you are talking about?"

"You think I don't know about that secret of yours? You are part of the S Guild aren't you? You go for missions every weekend and tell me you are going to visit your mom"

"What on earth are you talking about Ace?" she says in an agitated tone.

"Don't pull that act around me!"

"Ace??"

"We have been friends since we were kids and I know it when you are lying to me" he says standing as he continues "And if it's proof you want, it is in the cabinet by your bedside, code is 234395" he says looking away from her.

"Huh, how did you...?" she pauses, sighs then asks "How long have you known about this?"

"So you admit it. I wasn't sure. Now I am. I had my suspicions since last year. And I have waited since, thinking you were going to tell me about it but you never did"

"I'm sorry I kept you out of the loop, I was just trying to protect you"

"Protect me?!! From what?! Something or someone I know nothing about? How's that protecting me?! Huh?!!! Why do you people always have this deluded thought that keeping this kind of information from people you care about is protecting them? huh?"

"Alright fine, I'm sorry ok. I'm sorry!"

"Sorry? That's it? you are sorry? I trusted you, that you were going to tell me about this, but you didn't. Then someone shows up one day and attacks me or holds me hostage, to get back at you, with no possible way for me defend myself because I had no idea what my sister was involved in!!!"

"Ace…"

He lifts his hand to keep her quiet. "It's fine. I just want to know one thing. You going to tell your dad about that warehouse right?"

"No way I'm going to tell him about it. He took me out of the programme without even consulting me. I'm doing this on my own and my own way"

"And now you want to deprive me of a friend and a sister by getting yourself killed"

"Ace, I need this okay? please try to understand, please, I'm begging you"

"Fine do whatever you feel is right but know that whatever the outcome be, that's on you"

"Ace…"

"I need some time to clear my head. Goodbye" Ace says and walks off. Melanie watches him as he disappears in a distant. Her out stretched hands remaining in the air.

GAVIN'S HOUSE

5:00 PM

Gavin slide attacks Shiro, taking him off his feet. Before he reaches the ground, using his hand as pivot Shiro slides Gav as well but losses his balance as both come crashing down on their backs with a thud. They both pant heavily.

"How on earth is that even possible" Gavin exclaims.

"When you are a ninja, you got to come up with a few tricks of your own" Shiro says smiling.

"You were almost down on the ground yet managed to take me off my feet and we landed at the same time? If I didn't experience it and someone told me, I would say it was freaking impossible".

Shiro laughs.

He stands and helps Gavin to his feet as well.

"Man i'm so tired"

"Yeah me too"

They pick up their swords, walk inside and put them back in place. "Shiro, you got to teach me how to do that" Gavin says

"That takes a lot of practice. It's not as easy as it seems" Shiro advice's

"Don't worry I can totally do it"

"Okay when I come around again I will teach it to you"

"Alright. See you tomorrow"

"Okay bye" Shiro says as they fist bump and he leaves from there.

WELLS MANOR

WED, OCTOBER 02

7:00 AM

Zarx wakes up to the fine tune of his alarm. He stretches his hand to turns it off but only succeeds in dropping it to the ground. "Come on" He sighs and tries to pick it but slips off onto the ground with his sheet all over him. He sits up and draws the sheet from his face, hair all messy with a sticker stuck to his cheek. He put's everything in place and goes out to the kitchen. His mom is busy in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

"Morning" Zarx greets

She turns with a smile and says "Morning dear, feeling better?"

"Yeah, much better"

She leaves the meat to steam then walks to him and peels of the sticker on his cheek.

"Ouch!" he yells. His cheek reddens where the sticker was peeled off.

"Come with me" she says as she walks towards the garage door. Zarx follows as they enter the garage through the hall. The lights turn on as soon they enter. She hands him a key.

"Well... erm what's this for?" Zarx asks, scratching his head.

"Well what do you think it is for? We are in a garage Zarx" she says

"Oh, yeah, yeah" he says scratching his head more as he presses a button on it. A faint beeping sound draws his attention towards the right. He pauses, then walks in the direction of the beep which gets louder as he approaches. Beneath a silver cover, flashing lights could be faintly made out. He lifts the cover revealing a black super bullet bike with unique red designs.

"Wow..." He walks to it, feels it and exclaims. "Oh my God. A DMG CX620!". His mom smiles as he runs and gives her a hug. "Thanks mom" he whispers lightly into her ears and she smiles broadly.

"Don't mention. It's the least I could. You didn't think we forgot did you?"

"Well, kind of"

"Oh, that reminds me, your dad came last night. He is waiting for you in the gym"

"Okay, I will go see him" He says leaving for the gym as his mom returns to the kitchen. Running up the stairs, he meets Mr. Martin.

"Good morning" Zarx greets

"Good morning, young master. Where are you off to with such enthusiasm?"

"To meet my dad. Is he still in the gym?"

"Yes, I think"

"Okay, see you later" he says running off. Martin smiles and continues on his way downstairs. Zarx opens the thick framed glass door to the gym and peeks in. A well built towering man with a neat wedge cut is on the treadmill as he walks in. The man notices him and gets off the treadmill.

"Hey dad" Zarx says walking towards him. They embrace each other.

"Son, how have you been"

"Great. Didn't know you were going to come this early."

"Well something came up, so I had to come down. You know, duty calls."

he pauses then continues "I heard you won the science fair"

"Yeah"

"Well, congratulations then"

"Thanks dad"

"Come along, I got something to show you" his dad says. The two walk to Zarx's bedroom leaving the door open. Zarx looks up at his dad, curious to know why they are there. Harrison looks at Zarx's face and smiles, then walks over to Zarx's wardrobe and opening it, pulls a lever in a corner and all of Zarx's clothes shift to one side as an elevator door slides open.