Chapter 6: The real training begins
The day following after Joey’s first day of training was a Sunday. A day, where also in Heaven, was a day to relax and not to work. Joey woke up later than he was used to on Earth. He didn’t see Nagisa in bed so he figured she would be with her own masters. Or maybe she’s looking around in the castle. Joey threw the covers off his body and got out of bed, heading towards the bathroom. His body didn’t feel sore but a good shower was never a luxury. He didn’t lock the door, being used to no one coming in to his bathroom or even his room. After getting undressed, he turned the water on, hot beams of water fell down on his back, relieving him from a little stress from what had happened in the past days. With a sigh, he closed his eyes, standing still under the water.
In the meanwhile, there was someone who walked into Joey’s room. It was Tomoko, seeming to wear a maid uniform. She walked into the room with a trolley of what seemed to be cleaning supplies. She was also wearing earplugs with loud music coming from them, so she didn’t hear the water falling from the shower in the bathroom.
“Wow… Those two keep the place tidy” Tomoko said to herself as she looked around. “No clothes on the floor, strange beer smells coming from the bed. Unlike someone else in this castle..” She continued to herself, referring to Marcus, who wasn’t the tidiest of people. Tomoko walked over to the bed and held out her right hand. Her hand started to shine as she seemed to cast some kind of spell, making the sheets and the pillows of the bed start floating in the air. Looks like Magic was useful for all kinds of things in this world. Using her Magic, she cleaned the bedroom.
“Right… bathroom and then over to Krad’s quarters…” She said to herself. She pushed the trolley towards the door of the bathroom, noticing the lock wasn’t on there. So no one should be in there. If only she wasn’t wearing her earplugs, maybe she would have heard the water from the shower. She yanked the door open and looked up when she noticed steam coming from the door she opened. She looked a bit closer to see Joey standing under the shower with the shower curtains opened. His eyes were widened and his cheeks were red as he saw Tomoko standing in the doorway, looking at him.
“I’m having a Déjavu… But it’s from the other side” Joey said out loud. Of course Tomoko didn’t hear him because she was wearing her earplugs.
“I’m sorry! I’m so very sorry! Please forgive me!” Tomoko called out as she slammed the door shut. Her face was a crimson colour. She fell down on her behind and pressed her back against the door and pulled out her earplugs. A little further into the hallway, Krad heard Tomoko’s scream and rushed towards Joey’s room. He opened the door and found Tomoko sitting on the floor with her face being all red.
“What happened? Is something wrong?” Krad asked as he looked down at her. Tomoko couldn’t bring out any words for this, she was too embarrassed about what happened.
“Well, I, euhm… You see.. I was… And then I found him… And then I…” She stuttered. Krad stroked his chin and seemed to think for a moment.
“Ah, I understand. Lord Joey didn’t know your in charge of cleaning, so he left the bathroom door open while he was taking a shower. And you were listening to loud music again like I told you not to do. So you opened the door to the bathroom and you found Joey naked. Am I right?” Krad asked, without taking a pause.
“Are you a freaking mind reader?” Joey called out from inside the bathroom, having been listening in on Krad and Tomoko. “Why didn’t anyone tell me that girls come in and clean my room and bathroom?”.
“I’m really sorry! I really am!” Tomoko pleaded. Krad just laughed it off and walked towards Tomoko and the door.
“I’m sorry to not have informed you, Sir. I should have.” Krad said with a big grin on his face, as if he was planning an event such as this. “And Tomoko, don’t be shy around him. It’s not like you. Joey is an Angel, like you and me. You heard what he said the other day”. He whispered towards Tomoko.
“B-but I…” Tomoko stuttered, not knowing what to say to Krad.
“I’m coming out now, I got my clothes on. Looks like someone prepared them for me”. Joey said. Krad smiled as he snapped his fingers, a small pentagram-like symbol forming in the air. From this symbol, a white rose came into existence, falling into Tomoko’s hand. After that, Krad seemed to vanish into thin air. Tomoko just stood there, holding the rose in her hands. She stood up and turned herself around, facing the door as Joey walked out of it.
“Can I be honest with you, Tomoko?” Joey asked.
“Uhm, well, of course” She replied as she swallowed, being afraid that she was going to get scolded by him.
“Well, you… You look good in that outfit” Joey said as he scratched the back of his head. Tomoko’s face quickly grew a dark red. She turned her head away, smiling a little bit.
“W-well, thank you.. uhm, like Krad said, I’m in charge of cleaning the castle on Sundays…” She said as she turned one eye towards him, almost afraid to face him after being complimented like that.
“I see, well, from now on, I’ll lock my bathroom door. We wouldn’t want the entire castle running into my room because of your screams” He said as he chuckled.
“Right” She replied. She just smiled and with that, she was off. She took her trolley and left the room quickly.
“Man.. What’s with this girl?” he asked himself. He sighed and shrugged it off. He decided to use today’s free time and explore the castle a little bit. Krad had shown him around before but he never got a good look at everything. Plus, it might not be bad to know the interior of your own castle. There were a lot of interesting rooms in the castle and of course a lot of interesting people. A library in particular. Joey had asked the librarian in there for books about himself, in past lives. It seemed like Avo was a very powerful Angel, a whole lot different from what Joey was right now. Honourable, powerful, kind, a born ruler and most of all, loyal to his people and friends. Some said that the days that he reigned over the Light Kingdom as the Elemental lord of Light were the best days in all of Ereana.
“How am I ever going to live up to that..? I’m the Elemental Lord of Light right now but I don’t even know what it means..” Joey said to himself. “Whatever the case is, I’ll work hard like Avo did!”. After a long day of looking around in the castle and some of it’s surroundings, Joey arrived back in the main hallway of the castle.
“Everything here is like on Earth. It’s just a lot more.. Magical” Joey said to himself. It was true, Ereana was like Earth in many ways. Ereana was a lot more lush and a little less advanced in technology though. A lot of appliances didn’t need batteries but were powered by Magic itself. Like when Tomoko was listening to music with her earplugs, the device which carried the music, was powered by Tomoko herself, rather than a battery which Earth would use.
“Well, except for the fact I don’t have to go to school… I just hit wooden dummies while some sweaty bear watches me… At any rate, I’m going for dinner! I’m starving!” Joey said to himself. He started making his way over towards the dining hall, where Rose and Nagisa were.
“Oh! Joey!” Nagisa said with a wide smile. “Where were you all day? I’ve been looking all over for you!” She said.
“No you weren’t. We were in town, shopping” Rose said with a smirk on her face. Nagisa turned around and gave her a glare, which only made Rose laugh. “Anyway, the others will be here soon” Rose continued.
“The others?” Joey asked.
“Of course! Tomoko, Marcus, Jin and Krad! And some other Angels you don’t know” She said. “We’re going to be very close in a long period, so we decided that whenever we can, we should be together so we can all become friends!” Rose said with a wide smile. In the hour following after that, everyone joined for dinner. It was like Tomoko said, being together strengthened their bonds. Joey learned a lot about the world and about everyone else in the group. It was a sense of being a family. Something which he hadn’t felt in a long time, even before his house on Earth was destroyed. Joey and Nagisa didn’t stay up late, knowing that the next day was going to be a long day again, full of training.
Early in the next day, Joey was already up for training in the room where Marcus brought him the other time. It looked like Marcus wasn’t here yet. Instead of waiting for him, Joey started nailing dummies to the ground and repeated the training he got the last time, trying to shatter the wooden dummies with his fist. After the third dummy, his hands started to hurt though. They were more splintered than before but it took Joey less time to destroy these dummies than before. It was like just being in this place slowly awakened Joey’s potential of being an Angel. At this moment, Marcus came walking in.
“Sorry I’m late kid. Hey! You started without me! Three dummies huh? I was not that late..?” He asked as he looked over to the clock. “You’re getting better and better! I knew my training would pay off! Can’t be anything else but my training huh? Haha!” he laughed. He knew what was going on, but just loved to praise himself like this.
“Right, we’ll get those hands fixed up. And since you’re warmed up already, we’ll start on battle techniques.” Marcus said.
“Battle techniques?” Joey asked. Marcus nodded and walked over to him, fixing up his hand with some kind of potion.
“Yep, you heard it right. Battle techniques. If we were to only punch and wave our swords around, we’d be nothing more than Humans. We use Battle Techniques, which use our Magical power. These techniques can give you an edge in battle and are different for everyone. For instance, we can’t use battle techniques from the Darkness Element and the Darkness Element can’t use battle techniques from our Element.” Marcus explained.
“Man.. Seems complicated but on the other hand it makes sense.. Remind me what the Elements are again?” Joey asked.
“Erm… Well, you have 6 Elements. Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light and Darkness. It’s like a game of rock-paper-scissors. One Element is strong against another but weak against another too. Since we’re in a war, Darkness, Fire and Wind are one team and Light, Water and Earth are on our side. We can use Techniques from Water and Earth too, but not as skilled as we would be able to use our own Element” Marcus tried to explain. “If you just wanna’ know about the war, you can just go to the library or something, you know, the place I don’t go to. I’m just all about the fighting.” He continued. “Now! Get into this outfit I brought with me. It’s easier to train in. And you can get used to the weight of armour while fighting!” He said as he pointed over to some kind of armoured uniform. Joey nodded and did as he was asked. The uniform was a lot heavier than it looked like it would. The exterior was a light-coloured metal. The shouderpieces seemed to curve with his own shoulder. His joints weren’t protected though, for better mobility. The legwear which came with it was less protected than the upper section of the army. It was like heavy leather but still felt protective on the body. It was in the same colour as the armour.
“Looking good” Marcus said. “That’s a standard armour of our Angels. Once you’re better, you can get your own armour but for now, you need to learn how to use armour in battle.
“Using armour?” Joey asked.
“Yes, using armour. Armour isn’t just a piece of clothing, you need to know your own armour. Where are you most protected, what are the most vulnerable points, how to move the best without burdening yourself. I think you can tell for yourself that you need to really focus on just standing straight. Humans and Trainees are not used to wearing heavy clothes, or armour.
“You’re right.. It’s heavy to me and I need to keep my mind straight to just stand straight and keep a good figure…” Joey.
“That’s why I’m letting you wear it now. Even though we’re working on battle techniques right now. You can become better at wearing armour at the same time. You’ll see after a while, when the armour comes off, you’re in better shape too” Marcus said. “But now we’ll continue with the battle technique I wanted to teach you! All this talking is making me feel itchy!
“Right! Are you going to time me here too?” Joey asked.
“Nope! Now, this technique is called Front Buster. Once properly mastered, you will be able to shatter this dummy in a split second! It’s basically a technique which lets you punch harder!” Marcus said as he took a few more dummies, preparing them for Joey.
“Okay! Now, you don’t have to call out ‘Front Buster’ all the time. That’s embarrassing. They only do that in TV shows. As long as you know you can do it, your body will react to it and summon forth the power itself.” Marcus said. Just focus all your attention on your target and on your fists.” Marcus instructed. Joey nodded in reply and took his battle position in front of the dummy. Just focussing on his hand and on his opponent.. it seemed to be pretty simple. He closed his eyes for a moment, coming up with the image of his hand and of the dummy, colliding. The dummy shattering. That was how it was supposed to look like. Now just to do it!
“Hyaaah!” Joey called out as he threw a punch towards the dummies head. It shattered, but it wasn’t as it should be.
“Hrmn.. Not bad for a first try.. But you need to shatter the entire dummy in one blow.. I’ll leave you to this while I take care of some business. You just keep on trying. Dummies are in the back if you need more” Marcus said as he walked off. Joey was a bit disappointed in himself that he couldn’t do it in one go.
“I’m sure Avo could have done it in one try…” He said to himself. But he quickly shook his head. This wasn’t a time to be glooming around. He needed to practice! Maybe if he tried long enough, he’d be able to do it. Minutes, hours passed by. Joey was really trying his best. But fatigue was getting the better of him. Luckily, Marcus seemed to have left some of that Potion he used to heal Joey’s hand with. After drinking the liquid, Joey felt a lot better and he was ready to continue on. The door to Joey’s training room opened, someone was peeking inside. It seemed like Kane, the Angel who wasn’t happy with Joey the other day was spying on him.
“Hmpf…” He just said before he walked away again. Another hour later, Marcus seemed to be returning towards Joey’s training room. “Ah.. That was a good nap! I mean, business taken care of” he said to himself, smirking. “Let’s see how the kid is doing.. he should be able to do it now”. Marcus didn’t know half how right he was. Joey was shattering one dummy after another. With the potion restoring him when he got tired and his mind being set on battle, the Front Buster technique was in the bag! He didn’t even need to think about it anymore. One punch after another was a punch which completely destroyed the target. Marcus walked in as Joey was done with this batch of dummies. He was smiling widely as he looked over towards the door which opened. Marcus smiled and nodded as he saw the damage done to the big amount of dummies on the floor.
“Looks like someone mastered the Front Buster technique” Marcus said with a smile on his face. “Come over here, kid” he said. Joey nodded and walked over to Marcus. Marcus took Joey’s hand and suddenly put it in his own mouth!
“Hey! Gross! What’re you doing?!” Joey called out. Marcus suddenly bit down on Joey’s hand, which made him flinch, but then look up, since it didn’t hurt as much as he would expect it would. Marcus gave Joey’s hand back again, whipping his mouth.
“And?” Marcus asked.
“It.. Didn’t hurt much” He said. “But still gross!”
“From punching dummies all the time, your skin hardens. You become more resistant to pain! Just you wait until we start working with metal dummies. You won’t be hurt as easily the more you train. You’re making amazing progress” Marcus said with a wide smile. “let’s finish up for today” he said with as he nodded. Joey nodded and started to clean up the mess he had made. The weeks following after that, Joey continued his training with Marcus. Learning new battle techniques, sparring with other Angels and becoming more used to wearing armour. Everything seemed peaceful for now, Joey was enjoying himself. But soon, Marcus came with the announcement that Joey’s time with him was up. He had learned all the basics. He needed to start learning other things now, from other teachers. The day before this was going to happen, Joey fell down in bed, with a smile on his face. It looked like Nagisa was already asleep.
“Work hard tomorrow again…” he said to himself, before closing his eyes. Knowing that the new days was going to bring another hard assignment.
In the meanwhile, there was someone who walked into Joey’s room. It was Tomoko, seeming to wear a maid uniform. She walked into the room with a trolley of what seemed to be cleaning supplies. She was also wearing earplugs with loud music coming from them, so she didn’t hear the water falling from the shower in the bathroom.
“Wow… Those two keep the place tidy” Tomoko said to herself as she looked around. “No clothes on the floor, strange beer smells coming from the bed. Unlike someone else in this castle..” She continued to herself, referring to Marcus, who wasn’t the tidiest of people. Tomoko walked over to the bed and held out her right hand. Her hand started to shine as she seemed to cast some kind of spell, making the sheets and the pillows of the bed start floating in the air. Looks like Magic was useful for all kinds of things in this world. Using her Magic, she cleaned the bedroom.
“Right… bathroom and then over to Krad’s quarters…” She said to herself. She pushed the trolley towards the door of the bathroom, noticing the lock wasn’t on there. So no one should be in there. If only she wasn’t wearing her earplugs, maybe she would have heard the water from the shower. She yanked the door open and looked up when she noticed steam coming from the door she opened. She looked a bit closer to see Joey standing under the shower with the shower curtains opened. His eyes were widened and his cheeks were red as he saw Tomoko standing in the doorway, looking at him.
“I’m having a Déjavu… But it’s from the other side” Joey said out loud. Of course Tomoko didn’t hear him because she was wearing her earplugs.
“I’m sorry! I’m so very sorry! Please forgive me!” Tomoko called out as she slammed the door shut. Her face was a crimson colour. She fell down on her behind and pressed her back against the door and pulled out her earplugs. A little further into the hallway, Krad heard Tomoko’s scream and rushed towards Joey’s room. He opened the door and found Tomoko sitting on the floor with her face being all red.
“What happened? Is something wrong?” Krad asked as he looked down at her. Tomoko couldn’t bring out any words for this, she was too embarrassed about what happened.
“Well, I, euhm… You see.. I was… And then I found him… And then I…” She stuttered. Krad stroked his chin and seemed to think for a moment.
“Ah, I understand. Lord Joey didn’t know your in charge of cleaning, so he left the bathroom door open while he was taking a shower. And you were listening to loud music again like I told you not to do. So you opened the door to the bathroom and you found Joey naked. Am I right?” Krad asked, without taking a pause.
“Are you a freaking mind reader?” Joey called out from inside the bathroom, having been listening in on Krad and Tomoko. “Why didn’t anyone tell me that girls come in and clean my room and bathroom?”.
“I’m really sorry! I really am!” Tomoko pleaded. Krad just laughed it off and walked towards Tomoko and the door.
“I’m sorry to not have informed you, Sir. I should have.” Krad said with a big grin on his face, as if he was planning an event such as this. “And Tomoko, don’t be shy around him. It’s not like you. Joey is an Angel, like you and me. You heard what he said the other day”. He whispered towards Tomoko.
“B-but I…” Tomoko stuttered, not knowing what to say to Krad.
“I’m coming out now, I got my clothes on. Looks like someone prepared them for me”. Joey said. Krad smiled as he snapped his fingers, a small pentagram-like symbol forming in the air. From this symbol, a white rose came into existence, falling into Tomoko’s hand. After that, Krad seemed to vanish into thin air. Tomoko just stood there, holding the rose in her hands. She stood up and turned herself around, facing the door as Joey walked out of it.
“Can I be honest with you, Tomoko?” Joey asked.
“Uhm, well, of course” She replied as she swallowed, being afraid that she was going to get scolded by him.
“Well, you… You look good in that outfit” Joey said as he scratched the back of his head. Tomoko’s face quickly grew a dark red. She turned her head away, smiling a little bit.
“W-well, thank you.. uhm, like Krad said, I’m in charge of cleaning the castle on Sundays…” She said as she turned one eye towards him, almost afraid to face him after being complimented like that.
“I see, well, from now on, I’ll lock my bathroom door. We wouldn’t want the entire castle running into my room because of your screams” He said as he chuckled.
“Right” She replied. She just smiled and with that, she was off. She took her trolley and left the room quickly.
“Man.. What’s with this girl?” he asked himself. He sighed and shrugged it off. He decided to use today’s free time and explore the castle a little bit. Krad had shown him around before but he never got a good look at everything. Plus, it might not be bad to know the interior of your own castle. There were a lot of interesting rooms in the castle and of course a lot of interesting people. A library in particular. Joey had asked the librarian in there for books about himself, in past lives. It seemed like Avo was a very powerful Angel, a whole lot different from what Joey was right now. Honourable, powerful, kind, a born ruler and most of all, loyal to his people and friends. Some said that the days that he reigned over the Light Kingdom as the Elemental lord of Light were the best days in all of Ereana.
“How am I ever going to live up to that..? I’m the Elemental Lord of Light right now but I don’t even know what it means..” Joey said to himself. “Whatever the case is, I’ll work hard like Avo did!”. After a long day of looking around in the castle and some of it’s surroundings, Joey arrived back in the main hallway of the castle.
“Everything here is like on Earth. It’s just a lot more.. Magical” Joey said to himself. It was true, Ereana was like Earth in many ways. Ereana was a lot more lush and a little less advanced in technology though. A lot of appliances didn’t need batteries but were powered by Magic itself. Like when Tomoko was listening to music with her earplugs, the device which carried the music, was powered by Tomoko herself, rather than a battery which Earth would use.
“Well, except for the fact I don’t have to go to school… I just hit wooden dummies while some sweaty bear watches me… At any rate, I’m going for dinner! I’m starving!” Joey said to himself. He started making his way over towards the dining hall, where Rose and Nagisa were.
“Oh! Joey!” Nagisa said with a wide smile. “Where were you all day? I’ve been looking all over for you!” She said.
“No you weren’t. We were in town, shopping” Rose said with a smirk on her face. Nagisa turned around and gave her a glare, which only made Rose laugh. “Anyway, the others will be here soon” Rose continued.
“The others?” Joey asked.
“Of course! Tomoko, Marcus, Jin and Krad! And some other Angels you don’t know” She said. “We’re going to be very close in a long period, so we decided that whenever we can, we should be together so we can all become friends!” Rose said with a wide smile. In the hour following after that, everyone joined for dinner. It was like Tomoko said, being together strengthened their bonds. Joey learned a lot about the world and about everyone else in the group. It was a sense of being a family. Something which he hadn’t felt in a long time, even before his house on Earth was destroyed. Joey and Nagisa didn’t stay up late, knowing that the next day was going to be a long day again, full of training.
Early in the next day, Joey was already up for training in the room where Marcus brought him the other time. It looked like Marcus wasn’t here yet. Instead of waiting for him, Joey started nailing dummies to the ground and repeated the training he got the last time, trying to shatter the wooden dummies with his fist. After the third dummy, his hands started to hurt though. They were more splintered than before but it took Joey less time to destroy these dummies than before. It was like just being in this place slowly awakened Joey’s potential of being an Angel. At this moment, Marcus came walking in.
“Sorry I’m late kid. Hey! You started without me! Three dummies huh? I was not that late..?” He asked as he looked over to the clock. “You’re getting better and better! I knew my training would pay off! Can’t be anything else but my training huh? Haha!” he laughed. He knew what was going on, but just loved to praise himself like this.
“Right, we’ll get those hands fixed up. And since you’re warmed up already, we’ll start on battle techniques.” Marcus said.
“Battle techniques?” Joey asked. Marcus nodded and walked over to him, fixing up his hand with some kind of potion.
“Yep, you heard it right. Battle techniques. If we were to only punch and wave our swords around, we’d be nothing more than Humans. We use Battle Techniques, which use our Magical power. These techniques can give you an edge in battle and are different for everyone. For instance, we can’t use battle techniques from the Darkness Element and the Darkness Element can’t use battle techniques from our Element.” Marcus explained.
“Man.. Seems complicated but on the other hand it makes sense.. Remind me what the Elements are again?” Joey asked.
“Erm… Well, you have 6 Elements. Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light and Darkness. It’s like a game of rock-paper-scissors. One Element is strong against another but weak against another too. Since we’re in a war, Darkness, Fire and Wind are one team and Light, Water and Earth are on our side. We can use Techniques from Water and Earth too, but not as skilled as we would be able to use our own Element” Marcus tried to explain. “If you just wanna’ know about the war, you can just go to the library or something, you know, the place I don’t go to. I’m just all about the fighting.” He continued. “Now! Get into this outfit I brought with me. It’s easier to train in. And you can get used to the weight of armour while fighting!” He said as he pointed over to some kind of armoured uniform. Joey nodded and did as he was asked. The uniform was a lot heavier than it looked like it would. The exterior was a light-coloured metal. The shouderpieces seemed to curve with his own shoulder. His joints weren’t protected though, for better mobility. The legwear which came with it was less protected than the upper section of the army. It was like heavy leather but still felt protective on the body. It was in the same colour as the armour.
“Looking good” Marcus said. “That’s a standard armour of our Angels. Once you’re better, you can get your own armour but for now, you need to learn how to use armour in battle.
“Using armour?” Joey asked.
“Yes, using armour. Armour isn’t just a piece of clothing, you need to know your own armour. Where are you most protected, what are the most vulnerable points, how to move the best without burdening yourself. I think you can tell for yourself that you need to really focus on just standing straight. Humans and Trainees are not used to wearing heavy clothes, or armour.
“You’re right.. It’s heavy to me and I need to keep my mind straight to just stand straight and keep a good figure…” Joey.
“That’s why I’m letting you wear it now. Even though we’re working on battle techniques right now. You can become better at wearing armour at the same time. You’ll see after a while, when the armour comes off, you’re in better shape too” Marcus said. “But now we’ll continue with the battle technique I wanted to teach you! All this talking is making me feel itchy!
“Right! Are you going to time me here too?” Joey asked.
“Nope! Now, this technique is called Front Buster. Once properly mastered, you will be able to shatter this dummy in a split second! It’s basically a technique which lets you punch harder!” Marcus said as he took a few more dummies, preparing them for Joey.
“Okay! Now, you don’t have to call out ‘Front Buster’ all the time. That’s embarrassing. They only do that in TV shows. As long as you know you can do it, your body will react to it and summon forth the power itself.” Marcus said. Just focus all your attention on your target and on your fists.” Marcus instructed. Joey nodded in reply and took his battle position in front of the dummy. Just focussing on his hand and on his opponent.. it seemed to be pretty simple. He closed his eyes for a moment, coming up with the image of his hand and of the dummy, colliding. The dummy shattering. That was how it was supposed to look like. Now just to do it!
“Hyaaah!” Joey called out as he threw a punch towards the dummies head. It shattered, but it wasn’t as it should be.
“Hrmn.. Not bad for a first try.. But you need to shatter the entire dummy in one blow.. I’ll leave you to this while I take care of some business. You just keep on trying. Dummies are in the back if you need more” Marcus said as he walked off. Joey was a bit disappointed in himself that he couldn’t do it in one go.
“I’m sure Avo could have done it in one try…” He said to himself. But he quickly shook his head. This wasn’t a time to be glooming around. He needed to practice! Maybe if he tried long enough, he’d be able to do it. Minutes, hours passed by. Joey was really trying his best. But fatigue was getting the better of him. Luckily, Marcus seemed to have left some of that Potion he used to heal Joey’s hand with. After drinking the liquid, Joey felt a lot better and he was ready to continue on. The door to Joey’s training room opened, someone was peeking inside. It seemed like Kane, the Angel who wasn’t happy with Joey the other day was spying on him.
“Hmpf…” He just said before he walked away again. Another hour later, Marcus seemed to be returning towards Joey’s training room. “Ah.. That was a good nap! I mean, business taken care of” he said to himself, smirking. “Let’s see how the kid is doing.. he should be able to do it now”. Marcus didn’t know half how right he was. Joey was shattering one dummy after another. With the potion restoring him when he got tired and his mind being set on battle, the Front Buster technique was in the bag! He didn’t even need to think about it anymore. One punch after another was a punch which completely destroyed the target. Marcus walked in as Joey was done with this batch of dummies. He was smiling widely as he looked over towards the door which opened. Marcus smiled and nodded as he saw the damage done to the big amount of dummies on the floor.
“Looks like someone mastered the Front Buster technique” Marcus said with a smile on his face. “Come over here, kid” he said. Joey nodded and walked over to Marcus. Marcus took Joey’s hand and suddenly put it in his own mouth!
“Hey! Gross! What’re you doing?!” Joey called out. Marcus suddenly bit down on Joey’s hand, which made him flinch, but then look up, since it didn’t hurt as much as he would expect it would. Marcus gave Joey’s hand back again, whipping his mouth.
“And?” Marcus asked.
“It.. Didn’t hurt much” He said. “But still gross!”
“From punching dummies all the time, your skin hardens. You become more resistant to pain! Just you wait until we start working with metal dummies. You won’t be hurt as easily the more you train. You’re making amazing progress” Marcus said with a wide smile. “let’s finish up for today” he said with as he nodded. Joey nodded and started to clean up the mess he had made. The weeks following after that, Joey continued his training with Marcus. Learning new battle techniques, sparring with other Angels and becoming more used to wearing armour. Everything seemed peaceful for now, Joey was enjoying himself. But soon, Marcus came with the announcement that Joey’s time with him was up. He had learned all the basics. He needed to start learning other things now, from other teachers. The day before this was going to happen, Joey fell down in bed, with a smile on his face. It looked like Nagisa was already asleep.
“Work hard tomorrow again…” he said to himself, before closing his eyes. Knowing that the new days was going to bring another hard assignment.