Anne Patra's Story

Lance could feel the transition between Amotokali's and Jani's reign as he stepped outside of the school and headed towards the cinder track, smiling. He was in a good mood. He was well rested, and had previously scored a perfect score on his math AND science test. Plus, he was also prepared for his duel in an hour to try and gain crowns for The Eagles.

Once Lance got there, he tied his shoes and reflected on the past month he has been here. He can't explain it, but ever since he came to the academy, he never felt more free...more unique. He didn't have to hide himself from certain people for he was accepted by everyone. Everyone was accepted here...

He finished tying his running shoes on and began to jog a practice lap around the track, all the while looking at the exit to the school, where he expected Anne to emerge soon. She and him ran with each other every day. Although he didn't know her that well, he enjoyed the company. It made him feel less isolated.

He had competed one lap, a quarter of a mile, and contnued to jog his second one. Where was she? Today, he wanted to get to know her better than just an aquaintance. He wanted to become friends. He wanted to start that today by getting to now her a little more, asking her a couple of questions. He hoped that she didn't choose to skip out as he completed his second lap and started to jog his third...

Anna was in no rush to the track this day, she was feeling very good. She had done great on her tests of the day, and she got to spar with one of her instructors, and managed to fend him off for three minutes. She knew she was no where near the level to beat him, but she could deflect his movements, and that made her happy.

Although, she did want to see Lance, they usually ran together, although she didn't really know that much about him. Granted she wasn't the easiest person to talk to, but she though today was a good day try and make friends. She had a few people she would consider friends, but no one she could really talk about and bitch to.

She made it to the track, and smiled as she put on her shoes and made her way to the track. It was slightly cloudy out, but she liked dark weather, so it was a good day indeed. She found him on she guessed his third lap, after a month, she could tell how much he sweated after each lap.

She ran up beside him, and worked up the pace a little bit for him to keep with her. "Hey, Lance." She said as they continued, "Heard you got a big duel coming up, if you want practice, we could spar, you know." She said, and went with her regualar breathing, otherwise she could get tired quickly.

Lance turned and saw Anne walking out of the building, towards the track. He smiled. She seemed to be having a really good day...

Anne joined him, jogging along the inside of the track at a somewhat slower pace. That was also a good sign. It meant that she wanted to talk, which was good in his case because he wanted to talk to her too and having to wheeze out every word just didn't seem like his style.

She spoke first. "Hey, Lance. Heard you got a big duel coming up, if you want practice, we could spar, you know."

Lance was somewhat touched. She wanted to spar with him! It was a good step forward into a friendship. Smiling as they had just completed another lap, his fourth. That made a mile and since he had a meet tomorrow...best not to push it much farther.

So he accepted: "Alrighty then, that sounds awesome. There's this one move I've been dying to master and maybe I can before I fight Bruno Jackson." Bruno Jackson was a third-year student while Lance was a first-year. The odds were in Bruno's favor for he had more experience in this than Lance had. In fact, Lance had only been in four matches before this and two of them were introductory lessons, to show him how the ring worked and the safety procedures and all of that. Bruno had more wins than losses and while Arthur's two counting spars both led to wins, he had a little doubt that he would win this, but his positive attitude told him that he could. It's just like running. You mentally destroy yourself and then you physically destroy yourself... He'd forgotten who the first one to say that to him was, but it had been his motto for ages.

By now, he was halfway completed with his fifth and final lap and he didn't feel like he got a good workout in, so why not go out with a bang? "Race you to the finish!" he cried, laughing as he began his sprint around the third turn and into the home stretch...

Anne was glad he responded, she didn't know if he would just brush her off for nothing, although she was excited that he agreed. She could finally get to teach someone, and that made her happy.

When he sai he was going against Bruno, she chuckled a bit, "You sure you ready for him? I mean I would love to fight him, but at your level, you should try to beat me first." She said, happy at the chance of a real fight.

When he wanted a race and took off, she got happy, "You're on!" She said and began to run like a bat out of hell towards the finish line. She put all of her energy in her legs, so she was almost lunging between leg motions. They were neck and neck as they were getting closer.

He crossed the line before her, "Damnit!" She thought to herself, she wasn't that graceful as a loser, but she had to keep herself together, so not to scare her one shot at a friend. "Haha," She said panting, "Good run, but I'll still get you in shape in the battlefield." She put her hands behind her head, so more oxygen could reach her lungs, and she walked near him, "So, you ready to start training against me?" She said as she picked up her spear, which she kept close to her at all times, just something she and everyone in her family did. She pointed it at him, but playfully, cwinging it around her, while whistling. "Hope you brought your A-game." She said as she stopped the spear and brought it to the ground with a thud.

Lance let out a deep breath as their close race ended up with him crossing the line first. He could clench his fists in triumph, but he knew she didn't take losing well and he didn't want to offend her. So instead, he took the compliments modestly. "Thanks," he wheezed between breaths,"But I really liked your sprint in the end. You did fantastic!"

He watched her take out her spear. She could begin sparring right here, right now, but of course it was against the rules at this school. "Not really. I have to get my swords and we need to find an open sparring arena, but then I will be ready." he replied, getting his breath back as he walked towards the dorms where he had his swords, motioning for her to follow.

Anne was following Lance to his dorm, which taken out of context could mean something different from what it was. She simply put her spear in a holder on her back, so that it was facing the sky at a slight angle. She knew when she challenged him that it was against the rules to fight without an areana and a lot of other things to make sure no one died, but she was bored with training.

"How are we suppose to get stronger if we don't prepare for an attack at any moment, I doubt the Shari will give us time to prepare." She thought to herself angrily. She was raised by warriors, so she couldn't help it if she had a somewhat black and white view of the world: Always be prepared, words of her life.

But she took this moment to get back to reality. "So, I guess we have never really talked that much besides racing each-other. How about we get to know each other? My full name is Anebell Patra, from the line of Knights. I am the only one in my generation of family to train in Lunar Blade, and my favorite flower is Daisy. I think that should get us on some new ground." She said rather flatly, her sarcasm is what people would call advanced, so sometimes people could think she was stupid. "How about you? Anything I should know?" She asked, and even managed to get her lips to form a small smile, she didn't like smiling unless someone told a joke, she just never grasped the concept of friendly interactions, mainly due to her backround, always got to be tough.

As they were walking, she started bringing up conversation. "So, I guess we have never really talked that much besides racing each-other. How about we get to know each other? My full name is Anebell Patra, from the line of Knights. I am the only one in my generation of family to train in Lunar Blade, and my favorite flower is Daisy. I think that should get us on some new ground. How about you? Anything I should know?" Lance smiled back as she managed to form a small smile. It was obvious that she didn't smile often. Let's try to bring that out of her... he thought as he reached the dorms.

"Well, Anebell, I think that it's awesome that you chose your own path instead of the one your parents layed out for you. I did the same thing by coming to this academy to train in Lunar Blades. No one in my family has ever been a part of the Knights and so I thought to myself, 'Why not start now?' So here I am." He had reached his dorm and he pulled out his key. "So let's see, any of my favorites? I do like video games, though I wouldn't necesarily have a favorite flower because I like all of nature, especially at night." He had just gotten the door open to his room. It, actually wasn't that bad, for once. His roommates were pretty wild and they usually left a bunch of crap lying around. But today, the only mess was a pile of dirty clothes near one of the beds. Hs video game console was set up next to the flat screen TV one of his roommates luckily brought. Their room was actually one of the coolest in their dorm. They were the only ones that had cable, video games, and a refrigerator, which was filled with snacks and drinks of most kinds one of his roommate's mom shipped over. He didn't even mention the soft-serve ice cream machine set up inside the closet, but only because he didn't know if it was against the rules to bring that or not, but he'll keep it a secret for now...

Grabbing his sheaths, which were crossed in an X and had straps so he could drape them over his back for easy travel, he checked to make sure the swords were in them, then slung them over his back. He pointed to the refrigerator. "You wanna drink or a snack before we go spar?" he asked.

Anne was looking around the boys dorm, she had never been in there for any reason. It seemed cool. She was listening to is life story, and all she thought was, "You got to choose to come here???" SHe was a tad hurt by her family, she knew it was her responsiblity to carry on the tradition, but the option would have been nice.

WHen she entered his dorm, she let out an audable gasp, it was awesome. He had a huge TV, game console, a fridge, and she could smell the faint scent of vanilla, so she guessed there was ice cream somewhere. "Dang, this is awesome!" She half-yelled, not even minding the dirty clothes, they didn't smell that bad. Her dorm sucked compared to his, she didn't have a TV, her roommates were health food junkies, so she couldn't even get gummy worms. It was large, and had a bath, but she wanted stimulation, besides reading her roomamtes diary's and erotic novels.

"Can we trade rooms, please? Your roommates would love mine, well not really, they suck." She said, and looked at the game console, there were a couple of cases near it, and all of them games that she wanted to play. "Ok, we are hanging out more, your room is awesome." She said bluntly, and then he offered her something to eat or drink. "You will regret that." She actually let out a non-forced chuckle, "I'll take any and all gummy animals you have: Worms, Bears, ETC. Anything with enough sugar in it to make a rabbit bounce to death would be nice." She said and realized that her order was probably to big. "Sorry 'bout that, anything you got would be nice, thanks."

She sat on one of the beds, and layed down, she rarely rested due to training, but this was comfortable, and then another question popped into her head, she sprang back up, "So, you seeing anyone?" When most people ask that question, if means they want to go out with the person they ask, but Anne truely ment it as a friend to friend type question, which to her was normal, so she didn't really know the weight her question carried.

Lance laughed at her reaction to his room. "I'll try to get you on the waiting list, but I think the next available spot is four months from now," he joked. Most people reacted this way when they stepped in and have played the trade card multiple times. However, everyone in the room made a pact that it'd just be the four of them the entire time they were here. They would, of course, invite friends over from time to time to join them, so it wouldn't really be just the four of them all of the time, but it'd only be the four of them living in the room. They were all first year students too, just like him, so that meant we were going to have possibly the coolest room ever to have been known at Stella Luna Academy.

She had heard her ask for gummi bears and he knew that they had them, so he went to the closet and grabbed a bag, then tossed it over to her. "There ya go!" he grinned as she sat down. She seemed relaxed, as if resting for the first time in her life. He turned around to get a bottle of water when she sprang another question on him. "So, you seeing anyone?"

This was a difficult question to comprehend, for the words implied boyfriend/girlfriend, but the tone of her voice implied friendship wise. Rubbing his eyes, he got to the refrigerator, pulled out a bottle of chilled water, and took a sip before answering. "You see...that depends on what you were asking me. Are you talking about...dating or friends? Because I can't really tell which one you mean." He sighed and sat down next to her.

Anne was sitting on the bed, and got happy when he threw her the pack of gummy bears. She quickly opened the pack and began to eat them like there was no tomorrow. She loved sweets, although she didn't eat them as often as she wanted to. She layed back down on the bed, streching her arms out and popped five more bears into her mouth. SHe took off her spear and placed it on the chair beside the bed, so she could be fully on the bed.

When she asked her question, his answer made her realize what her question could mean. "Oh, awkward... I ment like dating, but I didn't mean like me, I mean, oh gods." She said, defeated, she returned back to the bed, and then he sat beside her. "Don't worry if you're not daitng, its no like I am getting much experience in that department. Seems that people aren't attracted to my hard-ass style, but they will rue the day, belive me they will." She said and laughed a bit, before eating more, she looked at the bag and realized over half were gone, "Geez, I really need to stop eating these." She thought, but her body still wanted more, and right now that seemed more important.

"You want to know why I am here, at the Academy I mean. Besides the fact that I am an amazing fighter, my family made me. If I wasn't forced to, I would probably be trying to start a music career, my 'other' one thing I wanted to do, besides be a Knight." After telling an abriged version of her life story, she closed her eyes, but wanted to talk more. "So, anything you want to do before we practice. Please say no, because I really don't want to leave this room, mine is so dull." She said, and opened one eye and looked at him.

Lance laughed as she struggled through that awkward situation, but in a playful way, not a cruel way. "No, no I'm not dating anyone," he chucked as he shrugged off his sheath as she began explaining about herself.

"You want to know why I am here, at the Academy I mean. Besides the fact that I am an amazing fighter, my family made me. If I wasn't forced to, I would probably be trying to start a music career, my 'other' one thing I wanted to do, besides be a Knight." And she went on into a diverse life story about yourself. Once she was finished, he cracked another joke. "I think you have a nice biograghy there!" he said, then mentally facepalmed as he realized how offensive he must be sounding, so he rebounded,"I mean...not in the offensive way. I mean...it was a very nice biograghy and all and I'd be the first buyer and...it was a joke, I was cracking a...joke." He finally gave up, lying on the bed, facedown, trying to hide his crimson cheeks. Gah, no wonder I don't have a date or a girlfriend. I'm too stupid for one...

Fortunately, she changed the subject. "So, anything you want to do before we practice. Please say no, because I really don't want to leave this room, mine is so dull." Laughing again, he flipped over on his back. "I guess we could chill here for a little bit before we go spar." he said, smiling. She really liked this room, he realized. Why not show her around the place? "In the meantime, you want the complete tour of our humble home?" he asked, hoping the answer was a yes.

Anne was still eating the gummy bears, and only when she reached in and found no more left did she realize how fast she was eating. "Momma gonna be sexy tonight." She thought to herself as Lance was trying to get himself off of insulting her history. It was cute, she then realized she was probably similar before.

"It's alright, and thanks for buying my theoretical book." She laughed a bit, and then remembered she ate all of his gummy bears. She held the bag and said, "Sorry, kind of went overboard, but if it makes you feel any better, they were amazing." She smiled, not because she had too, but because she actually was enjoying herself.

When he offered to show her the entire dorm, she thought, "How much more does this guy have, and how can I steal it." She wouldn't steal, but it was nice to think.

"Sure, tour me, Lance." She said sarcastically, her sense of humor showing.

Lance chuckled as Anne showed him the empty bag of gummi bears. "Sorry, kind of went overboard, but if it makes you feel any better, they were amazing."

"Eh, don't worry about it, you don't have a problem from me. Raymond, on the other hand, might choke me for giving away his gummi bears, then find you and do the same." he joked, laughing.

She accepted the tour and Lance was now in a REALLY good mood. She seemed to be enjoying herself while she was here and he didn't think it was all because of this awesome room..."Well, over here, we have our amazing flat screen TV, equipped with cable and an Xbox 360 along with many video games." Especially a brand new game that his mom had just shipped to him. Resident Evil 6 was still wrapped in the case, but him and his roommates were going to play it tonight. It was going to be sweet.

"Over here, as you can tell, is our mini-refrigerator, where we keep our cold drinks and whatnot..." he chuckled before proceeding to the kitchen. "And here is our dormant kitchen. We were also extremely lucky to get put on the Eagle dorm for it was the Eagles that got the most crowns last year, so we get the perks of decent meals in the cafeteria...what dorm do you have?" he asked her, a random switch in topic, but the curiosity got the better of him before he could control it...

Before she could answer, Lance glanced up to the clock. Free period was over. "Oh crap!" he exclaimed, grabbing his sheaths. There wasn't time to spar now. They had spent too much time in his room. He had to go fight now. Sighing at his stupidity, he motioned to the door for Anne to follow and shut it when she stepped out. "Alright, well, thanks for keeping me company. You, my friend, are awesome. I have to go to my fight now, you're welcome to watch." he told her, then ran off towards the arenas.

He got there along with a small mass of people. Most were spectators, but the rest were fighters, like him, and officials. An announcement came over the speaker. "Arena 3: Rina Thompson versus Freddy Bohlmer. Both competitors, please step into the arena." He smiled. They were, luckily, running late today. He was to go on right after Rina and Freddy. He went over to the board to see most of the matches that were already fought and the total number of crowns raked in from each side. The first thing he saw when he got there was Anya Roscoe's name printed under the winner's section, stating that she beat Fourth year Lark, Faustus la Croix. Oh man... he thought in amazement. Althought Anya was a prodigy, she wasn't expected to win that fight. But she had done so and raked in 20 crowns for the Hawks. The Hawks had the leaderboard in the fighting section with a good 50 crowns over the Eagles and 78 crowns over the Larks. There was a huge rumor spreading around that the Hawks were going to be the House Champion this time around for their good fighters like Anya Roscoe and Bruno Jackson.

Speaking of which, a relatively short fight between Rina and Freddy ended as Rina emerged, clenching her fist in triumph. The board was updated automatically. Rina was a Lark, and she had earned twelve crowns for her house. Now there was 16 crowns difference between the Eagles and the Larks. He sighed as his name was mentioned as well as Bruno Jackson's over the speaker to come to Arena 3. He was closer to the arena, drawing out his swords as he stepped into the arena and stepped on the blue starting square.

Bruno entered the room, a tall, slender fellow like Lance. Bruno had a good number of inches on Lance, though, and probably twenty pounds over him as well. He peered out of the spectator window, watching as they began to pile in. If any bets were placed, it was on Bruno. Mostly Hawks were there, but a couple of Eagles showed up, rooting for Lance. Smiling, he turned back to Bruno who had finally stepped onto the red square opposite of Lance. Bruno drew his weapon, what appeared to be mini-double swords. But really, they were like boomerangs. Bruno was a Solar Gun student, but he stuck with the blades. The thing was he could flick his wrist and they became spinning, yellow discs that were easily tossed and controlled by him. All Lance had were his two katanas, but he was pretty skilled with them. His dream to be a Knght had led him to practicing with wooden swords until he grew to handle two katanas.

"3...2...1...Fight!"

The simulation arena changed from it's ugly gray standard to a midnight field with a lake to the right of them. He smiled at the darkness...he liked the darkness.

Bruno flicked his wrists, the yellow discs coming to life. "I hope you're ready for this, newbie." he smirked and pivoted right, launching one of the discs at him. Lance got onto a knee and held his swords out in an X position...a very basic maneuver. A loud clang erupted as the disc collided with the katanas, bouncing to the left. As the first disc began flying back to Bruno, Bruno had already launched the second one, wide right, or so it seemed. A flash of yellow entered his peripherial vision as the disc changed direction, heading to Lance at an angle. He slid one of the katanas down, glancing the disc, but just barely. But he didn't get all out of the clear. He was a fraction of a second too slow, the disc cutting into his butt and a red mark emerging through his clothes.

"Hey now, I already have a crack in my butt. I don't need another one!" Lance joked as he felt his right leg grow a little weak. No one felt pain when they were injured in the simulation arena, just weakness. The disc flew back to Bruno as he caught it. Bruno now had both discs in possession again. Lance got into a position to defend as Bruno went on the offensive. But this time, Bruno launched a disc backwards. Lance chuckled at what appeared to be a mistake on Bruno's part. But his mood died instantly when the disc curved up and around, now descending on Lance at an angle with a speed that was surprisingly faster that when Bruno threw his first two discs. Lance didn't have time to block. His swords were lowered. Instead, Lance flipped backwards, the disc cutting through where Lance was a fraction of a second ago. He mistimed the flp, but not too badly as Lance landed on his hands and knees. He watched as the disc bounced off the ground and headed straight to Lance again. He brought up his katana, another clang emerging and Lance's arm feeling the shock of the blow. With two katanas against one disc, the force of impact wasn't that great. But this time, with only one arm, the blow was tremendous. He sent the disc back to his master, but his arm shook from the impact, growing a little weaker there too. He lowered the second blade, letting his arm rest up a little bit.

Rest over! he shouted in his head as Bruno gave him no reprieve, firing another disc in his direction. He blocked with his other sword. This time, the clash of steel didnt have that bad of an effect as it did the previous block on his arm. He sent the disc back, raising his other sword and charging. He couldn't stand being far away anymore. He had to get close.

Bruno fired another disc at him and Lance slashed at the disc, watching it bounce off his sword and fly behind him. Lance was now within reach and he thrusted his other blade at Bruno. Bruno blocked with his other disc. Lance dove to the right as the previous disc he had blocked earlier came back. He barely had time to dodge it. Lance got up to face Bruno, who now charged with both discs in hands. Lance blocked the first stroke, a low cut to the waist. Bruno brought the second disc up and brought it down, aiming for the shoulder. Lance blocked there too and pushed back, tossing Bruno back a few feet.

Now Lance went on the offensive, hacking and slashing, countless stroke descending on Bruno in frightening combinations at surprising speed. Bruno blocked most of them, but there were a couple of lucky blows he got in, a laceration on his arm and a tiny cut on his side.

Bruno retreated, backing up as far as the lake. From there, he launched another disc. But this time, the laceration on his left arm made it weaker, more manageable. Lance blocked it easily, but Bruno threw the second one with his stronger arm, making it a faster one. Lance crossed his swords once more. But he didn't feel his bones shake from impact or the familiar clanging sound echoing around the scenery. The disc veered left, off course and heading to the field. Lance turned to Bruno and saw another disc heading his way. Lance blocked this one too, and it was easy to do so, for it was thrown with his lacerated arm. But then he saw a grin emerge on Bruno's face. Lance was confused until he realized that he had forgotten about the second disc. Jumping in the air, he spun around to find the disc heading straight at him. His eyes wide with shock, he brought his katana around. Once again, he blocked it, but not completely. The disc bounced off of the blade, bluncing up and cutting into his arm. He instantly felt his arm go completely limp and he knew what that meant. It meant the equivalent of having his arm cut off. He lost grip on his sword in his left hand as the disc went flying back to bruno, a wide smile on Bruno's face.

"That's for my arm, you prick!" he smirked and the moment the disc returned to his hand, he tossed it as well as the second one, both discs making a V shape as they were launched towards Lance. Lance held out his other blade, horizontally. Both discs hit the blade and bounced back. His arm went numb from impact. He could barely hoist his sword up into a defense position as Bruno launched another disc. This time, the disc was too high, but that was all Bruno needed. The disc managed to crash into the top of his sword and Lance's right arm was too shaken up to hold the sword right. The blade flew out of his hand, landing in the field behind him. He was now disarmed.

Bruno began smirking again as the blade came back to his hand. "It was a nice fight, kid." he smiled,"You did great." And with that, he lauched a disc at him to end it all.

The moment the disc left Bruno's hand, an idea emerged in Lance's mind, a crazy idea. But it was worth a shot. He was done for anyways.

Instead of preparing for a death blow, Lance stepped forward, holding out his shaky right hand straight at the disc, giving the impression that he was going to catch it.

Immediately, Bruno laughed. There was no way Lance was going to catch the disc in his current condition.

But Lance knew this too. Lance had much power in his legs and he jumped. According to his plan, the disc didn't curve up, for Bruno was distracted by Lance's previous move to hold out his hand, therefore, he had lost focus of the disc. As Lance descended on the disc, Bruno had looked up and saw Lance in the air, but it was too late. Smiling, Lance brought his foot down, directly in the center of the disc, the only safe part. The disc angled to the ground and was now deactivated, buried in the ground. Bruno now only had one more useable disc. Smiling, Lance walked back to his previous spot and picked up the katana that was originally in his left hand. His right arm was still a little weak, but was recovering fast. "Oh, this isn't over just yet," Lance grinned and walked up calmly, the sword now more firm in his grip.

Bruno sputtered in surprise, but recovered quickly, launching his remaining disc at Lance. Instead of blocking, Lance dove to the left, the disc sailing further out before Bruno brought it around, back at Lance.

But that was all Lance needed. Bruno was disarmed for the moment. Lance ran forward, his sword raised. Meanwhile, the disc was on it's return trip, heading straight for Lance. Was he going to make it?

Yes, he was. Bruno's focus was on the disc. When he glanced at Lance, Lance was descending on him with his blade. He couldn't run or defend. He could only stare up at Lance in surprise as he brought the blade down, slicing Bruno in half. A huge red line emerged from his shoulder to his waist as Bruno fell backwards and landed on his back, his hand dipping in the water.

But the disc was still flying at Lance. Lance could only turn around and stare at the disc as it made it's way to him, closing the gap between them. Lance thought it was going to be a mutual kill.

To Lance's amazement, the disc was off a couple of degrees, only slicing across his back, but not cutting him in half. Lance clenched his fist in triumph and fell to his knees. Lance had won!

The simulation ended, the normal grayness of the dome around him appearing. His sword layed on the other end of the dome. Lance shook his hands as he regained feeling in them. Bruno got up, his eyes staring at Lance in amazement. "I've never seen anything like that before," Bruno cried, breathlessly,"That was a good fight."

Lance smiled back, modestly,"Strength won't always win the battles. Sometimes, you need to be smart." Lance replied as he picked up his other sword as well as the deactivated second disc, tossing it back to Bruno. The announcer guy spoke:

"Victor: Lance Walsh. 25 crowns to Eagle House!" 25 crowns?! Lance stared, wide-eyed at Bruno. 25 was a lot of crowns to be earned in one fight, considering the maximum was 30. Lance's upset victory over Bruno had brought groans of dissapointment to most of the spectators, but whooping cheers from the few Eagles that showed up. Lance walked out of the arena. He spotted one of his roommates, Raymond Hemmonds, stepping out of the spectator stands, giving Lance a high five. "Dude, that was sick!"

Lance could only smile and take the compliment. "Thanks. By the way, I let a girl have one of your packages of gummi bears, if you don't mind..."

Anne was running after Lance when he realized that his fight was about to occur, and she was happy he called her a friend. "YES!" She yelled to herself, before following him.

She was allowed to go into the front rows to watch the fight, Being a Patra had its advantages. She knew Bruno's fighting style, andhonestly she didn't know how to judge if Lance would win. SHe had trouble when she practiced against him. She watched the fight with amazment, and was yelling along with the rest of the crowd, but she was yelling, "GO, LANCE. KICK HIS ASS!" She got very excited whenever she saw a good battle, and this was indeed a good one.

When Lance dodged his Disc, and won, she was overexcited. "He won! Yes, yes, yes." She was rooting for him, and was happy mainly because he won, but also because he got 25 crowns for his house, which also happened to be hers.

When the Eagle's rushed him, she joined in, and she got to him as he was high-fiving his roommate, and telling him that someone ate his gummy bears.

"Hey, great fight Lance." She said with a bug smile and punched him in the arm before giving him a small hug, "You showed him, can't wait until my fight tomorrow. It's going to be so much fun!" She said happily, and then turned to his roommate, "And I would be the girl who ate your gummy bears, Anne Patra." She put her hand out to shake and after he did, she turned to him. "You got away pretty good if I say so, most people he fight end up looking like confetti. So, I assume you want to rest before we train, not we have to, I just thought it would be fun, and you know.... Never mind, Congratz on winning!" She said, sounding completly awkward, something she didn't like feeling, and it was showing on her face, she was red like a tomato.

Lance smiled as Anne showed up to congratulate him. "Hey, great fight Lance. "You showed him, can't wait until my fight tomorrow. It's going to be so much fun!" she said. It was her congratulations that made Lance smile the most. He only had glanced up at the spectator stand, not wanting to be distracted by familiar faces. Now, he was glad that both she and Raymond had shown up to the fight. Anne had turned to Raymond. "And I would be the girl who ate your gummy bears, Anne Patra."

Raymond laughed,"It's no problem, if you couldn't tell by our room. Raymond Hemmonds, but call me Ray." He extended his arm, shaking her hand.

Anne was now talking to Lance again. "You got away pretty good if I say so, most people he fight end up looking like confetti. So, I assume you want to rest before we train, not we have to, I just thought it would be fun, and you know.... Never mind, Congratz on winning!"

Lance laughed. "Why thank you," he replied,"I would love to spar with you, but I think I'll rest a bit first. Bruno made some pretty good work with my arm, you see." He held up his right arm, still shaking a little bit. Unfortuntely, the arena didn't relieve a person of soreness or any condition brought through indirect contact, so his arm was going to be sore for quite a bit.

Speaking of Bruno, he was shaking his head with a couple of friends. Bruno had good spirit, unlike most champion competitors, and he went over to Lance. "That was a good fight. You totally got me in the end. Nice job." he smiled and held out his fist to bump. Lance returned the bump. "You did fantastic too, like a true Knight. My arm is going to be mince meat for the next couple of days." Bruno chuckled before heading off with his friends. Lance, meanwhile, turned back to his friends. "Now that we have that out of the way, why don't we head to the dorm and play some Resident Evil 6. Anne, you're absolutely welcome to join us."

"But no more gummi bears!" Raymond joked and they both laughed.

Anne was happy, she was invited to play games, in her home, people offered to train with you, that was a game to them. She put her hands behind her head, and said, "Sure, sounds like fun." and relaxed a bit.

HOwever this was interupted when Anya came up and congradulated him. She all of a sudden challenged him to a fight. "Geez, At least I offered to let him heal." She thought and then realized this could be a chance to fight a dual blade, and she was different. From what she knew, she had a SOLAR blade, something extremely rare.

"Oy! Anya," She said, Anne saw her from time to time training, "How about you let him heal up a bit. But as a conselation prize, you can fight me." She said flatly, but without her usual sarcasm showing she was serious. "I am sure you would be fun to fight." She smirked a bit, knowing that fighting a dual blade could be dangerous. Most people only had to worry about one blade coming at them, but two could mean trouble. Fortunatly, she trained for most types of weapons, although solar blade would be something new to boast about to her family.

She instintually reached behind her back in order to feel her Spear, and was happy when she touched it, which she did around every three minutes, even more so when she was worried.

Just then, a very audible clap was heard as Lance turned to the sound. It was Anya Roscoe, the huge hit of the day. She had come to watch the fight, probably to earn experience and witness opponents. Like Bruno, she was in Hawk house, and a real good fighter. Anya smiled in that competitive and enthusiastic way that made a chill run down Lance's back. What did a second year prodigy want to do with a first year newbie with an insane amount of luck?

"Congratulations," Anya said simply. "I must admit, I was expecting a mutual kill at the very least. Bruno isn't an easy opponent to handle for a Lunar Blade wielder. A solid defense, and an overwhelmingly adaptable attack style make him nigh unreachable unless one has a similarly ranged weapon. But, then again, you aren't exactly run of the mill, now are you?" Lance was confused. He knew how to beat Bruno based solely on the fact that Bruno was a long-range attacker. All he needed to do was get close to Bruno. The strange thing was that his win wasn't necesarily based on his tactic. He'd only managed to get close to Bruno once, and even then, Bruno had defended Lance pretty well. His win came from his idea to deactivate one of his thrown discs, then wait for him to throw the second one before going in for the kill. And it was solely pure luck that kept him from a mutual kill. Suddenly, Lance didn't feel like he deserved that win...

"Dual blades, is it?" Anya continued, taking off her glasses,"I didn't know there were other people who used that fighting style. It's a pleasant surprise to find I'm not alone." Lance had known her fighting style was two blades, one Lunar and one Solar, but didn't expect for her to be phased by his near exact fighting style. While she had the advantages for both Lunar Blade and Solar Gun, Lance was purely Lunar Blade. Lance smiled back as she continued to talk.

"Anya Roscoe. And you're Lance Walsh, correct?" Lance nodded as she got his name correct before she continued,"It's difficult to practice my - no, I should say, our - unique style of combat here. I know that from experience. I'm feeling generous, and you've piqued my interest, so I'll make you an offer. During the dinner hours tonight, the arena will be empty. Even if I'm a second year, I've reached third level, giving me the senior student's privileges, which include access to the arena during off-hours for private sparring sessions. You will not risk any gains or losses of crowns in such a spar, nor will a victory or a loss register on your battle record. I want to test your strength, and, while I'm at it, I can probably help you improve your fighting style. Do you accept?"

Lance kept the smile on his face, like Anya was doing, as he contemplated her request. Anya's request came out a little like a challenge, but her words stated a training spar. It was that same Words vs. Tone battle he had earlier when talking to Anne. His hand was still a little strained, but he knew there would be a brief period between strain and sore that would come around beginning at dinner time and ending when he woke up to begin the next day. So he didn't see why he shouldn't turn down the offer. Besides, this was a chance to train with Anya Roscoe, the prodigy. She may be a second year student, but, like she said before, she had her third year privileges already. He'd gain knowledge and experience from the spar and there was nothing at stake, no crowns or record tarnish. Just a good old spar...Lance smiled.

"I'll accept your spar," Lance finally replied, smiling. "I look forward to sparring with you during the dinner hours. And by the way, congratulations on your upset victory, as well. That fourth-year Lark was at a high advantage over you and you walk from that one without a scratch, I heard. You did excellent in that fight. I'll see you around 7?" he asked her, wanting a little time to shower, eat, and relax with Anne and Raymond before he went to spar. He glanced up at the clock. 5:36, it read. He'd have an hour and a half to do such before the spar if she accepted that time.

Anya's smile grew broader at Lance's acceptance, and ended up shaking his hand rather forcefully. "Seven o'clock will work fine," She replied. "And as for that fight, it happened to be in my favorite arena, against an overconfident opponent will little experience against my fighting style. I had almost every advantage, even if it did not appear that way at first. Congratulations are unnecessary." Her words came off as rather arrogant, yet the tone she used to speak was one of simply stating facts, making it clear that she didn't intend to boast, even if her choice of words was quite poor.

Suddenly, a loud, irritable voice disrupted Anya's concentration. She glanced to the side slightly, sizing up the girl who was now hailing her coldly, placing a hand on her spear as she challenged Anya to a spar, causing the young blademaster to sigh slightly.

"That is your weapon of choice, is it? How uninteresting. I've fought one spear-wielder today already. If only your weapon was a mace, or something similarly uncommon. That would provide much-needed practice," Anya said resignedly. "By the looks of it, you're the sort of person who spends all of their energy to summon their weapon in its most powerful state once, then carries it everywhere with you so as to conserve energy. For someone with good focus, it's a convenient way to maximize your combat ability. But, it's cumbersome and crude, and if your focus isn't top grade, it ends up rendering you preoccupied and slow. I wonder, which of those two are you?" Anya, without warning, suddenly began analyzing Anne's weapon preference.

There were two main ways to use one's weapon. First was the style Anya had outlined, in which one would mentally and physically prepare themselves, and then use all of their strength to create a single, superb form of their weapon that far surpassed anything less in quality. However, like Anya had said, this meant one had to maintain their weapon's existence constantly, even while sleeping. For someone without the right mental conditioning and the necessary reserves of energy needed to keep such a powerful object manifested, this path would be foolhardy, and would result only in a non-functional weapon, and a confused, tired wielder. But on top of this, if one lost their weapon, they would be unable to create a replacement with any ease, making it impractical if the user ended up disarmed.

The second method was to manifest one's weapon only when engaged in combat. This resulted in a more precise, convenient weapon which was lighter in weight and could be replaced easily if lost or destroyed. However, this also meant the weapon was not as strong as it otherwise might be, since the weapon would be breakable, and less destructive, making this style practical only if one had the necessary precision to create multiple weapons without exhausting oneself. This method was much like the strategy Anya used, but not entirely the same.

There was actually a third way to manifest one's weaponry, a style few knew of or bothered to attempt. In this way, one compressed the energy used to create a weapon, minimizing the necessary cost and maximizing the summoned item's effectiveness, but miniaturizing its size and form, rendering it somewhat less effective. Of course, the weapon could be expanded to its natural state with the proper application of the weapon's name and a surge of power, reconstructing the weapon until it reached its normal size and effectiveness, but doing so was nearly as taxing as summoning the true form of the weapon in the first place. This style was the style of the Blademaster Anya: to compress and create smaller replica blades, saving her weapons' true forms until absolutely necessary for victory. Even if these miniature weapons broke, they could be replaced in the blink of an eye, and at minimum cost. For a skilled fighter, the smaller size could easily be dealt with. Indeed, it was in fact advantageous to her, since it made the blades more effective when thrown. Thus, this was the unique combat style in which she specialized.

"Well, I suppose it's at least sort of interesting. I guess I'll fight you, then, if only to find out. Better hurry, though. Someone is sure to book the next duel slot now that the most recent match has been completed. If you're serious about this whole duel, then I expect you arrange it. I'll be waiting," Anya concluded nonchalantly, speaking in a manner which was quite disrespectful, even if she didn't intend it to be. Finishing her brief - not to mention largely one-sided - conversation, she turned back to Lance.

"Well, then, I'll be looking forward to our spar. But, it seems I have a duel to prepare for. Until then." Giving a casual wave, Anya finished speaking and, brushing easily between several of the Eagles, she headed through the arena door.

"Seven o' clock will work fine. And as for that fight, it happened to be in my favorite arena, against an overconfident opponent will little experience against my fighting style. I had almost every advantage, even if it did not appear that way at first. Congratulations are unnecessary." There it was again! That whole Tone vs. Words battle in Lance's mind. It was the very bane in his existance and he had a hard time separating the two. She could be coming across as boastful, but she could also be stating facts.

Before he could decide what she meant, Anya had brushed past him and was talking to Anne. An icy aura was in the air. Anya was seeming to think out loud, talking to Anya as if she knew more about anything than anyone. Lance furrowed his brow at her as she talked.

"That is your weapon of choice, is it? How uninteresting. I've fought one spear-wielder today already. If only your weapon was a mace, or something similarly uncommon. That would provide much-needed practice," Anya said resignedly. "By the looks of it, you're the sort of person who spends all of their energy to summon their weapon in its most powerful state once, then carries it everywhere with you so as to conserve energy. For someone with good focus, it's a convenient way to maximize your combat ability. But, it's cumbersome and crude, and if your focus isn't top grade, it ends up rendering you preoccupied and slow. I wonder, which of those two are you?" Suddenly, she began studying the spear Anne had, as if breaking it down to molecule size to see how it worked. Yeah, Anya was someone different. But maybe this was the secret to how she wins just about every battle she runs into. Finally, she snapped out of her analyzation trance and continued speaking again.

"Well, I suppose it's at least sort of interesting. I guess I'll fight you, then, if only to find out. Better hurry, though. Someone is sure to book the next duel slot now that the most recent match has been completed. If you're serious about this whole duel, then I expect you arrange it. I'll be waiting. Lance actually widened his eyes at what she just said and how she said it. That seemed to come across as rude, but he couldn't tell. Words vs. Tone...

She turned back to Lance. "Well, then, I'll be looking forward to our spar. But, it seems I have a duel to prepare for. Until then." Lance watched as she gave a casual wave before leaving the arena room. It seemed to emit a cocky side of her, like she knew that he could beat Anya and easily too.

Turning back to Anne, he tried to relieve that icy tone in the air Anya had left behind. "Well, then, now that that's done, we can go back to our dorm and play Resident Evil 6." he smiled.