Mech-man: The Mission of Fate

Chapter 17

It was a creature as big as a whale, with similar features. Its massive body was grey with dark blue stripes. The creature opened its eyes, its gigantic light blue eyes stare curiously at them and it opened its mouth and let out a sequence of bubbles. Max immediately noticed that the creature had no sharp teeth, its harmless, shinning white teeth seemed to be making a smile.

"What is this?" Lucas asked as he almost fell in fright. The gigantic face of the sea creature now was pressing against the submarine's windows.

Mark laugh, "Don't be scared, it's a beast that the school keeps as pets, they're harmless if you don't anger them."

"Why are they so big?" Max asked astonished.

"At the start, the school used it to keep sea predators away. Then they just became pets." Mark replied patiently.

"Isn't it harmless?" Lucas inquired, "How does it keep predators away?"

"Were you shocked and scared when you saw it at first? That's what the predators experience." Mark started to explain, "The predators are scared of its size and its looks, not because of it attacks, although it can get messy sometimes."

Lucas nodded trying to hide his embarrassed face learning that he was easily scared by a harmless pet.

"Should we go up?" Max asked, he could wait to see the school.

Mark shrugged and replied, "If you want to."

"Yeah, let's go up." Lucas agreed, he still felt uncomfortable as the mighty beast swam around the submarine.

As the submarine floated up to the surface, the top of it opened. The view of the island came into view. A towering castle stood in the middle like a mountain. Its four main towers each had a flag flapping in the wind. Seeing Max and Lucas' stares, Mark began to explain pointing at the castle, "This is the place where you will be spending most of your time in."

"What are the four flags for?" Lucas inquired.

"They are the for teams of the Mech-man." Mark explained.

"What are the four teams?" Max asked curiously.

"The four teams are what the trainers split every student into." Mark answered Max's questions patiently. From him, Max learned that the four team each represented a predator. Red for lions, blue for sharks, green for snakes and yellow for eagle. Green and yellow teams were mostly for the rich while red and blue teams were for the poor. Each team will normally go on mission together.

"Should we go into the castle now?" Lucas asked when Mark finished explaining. From what they could see, the area in front of the castle was deserted, not a single person could be seen.

"Where's everyone?" Max asked as Mark led them to the double wooden doors that marked the entrance of the castle. On the doors, a mechanic fist was carved into the wood, it was the symbol of Mech.

"It's probably lunch break; everybody is in the dinning room." Mark answered, "It's a good time to introduce you two."

"Umm, do we have to?" Max asked, he hated attention.

"If you don't want to, we can visit some of the teachers first. They'll be glad to have new students." Mark shrugged and spoke.

"How many teachers are there?" Max asked as they walked through the doors. Max looked around, absorbing his surrounding as much as he can. The inside of the castle was anything unlike he had ever seen. The ancient stone wall felt as if they could collapse anytime. A torch on each side hung on a blackened wall, illuminating the hallway they had just entered. It was more of a place that Max had expected, a few fancy chandeliers hung from the high ceiling currently not open. The walls were full of different styled painting from old portraits to abstract painting that no one could understand. The painting decorated the hallway giving it bright colours replacing the dull grey stone walls.

"This is the hallway that you must pass before going into the castle." Mark informed as they reached the end of the hallway. Outside the hallway was a yard bigger that twenty times the orphanage, fields of grass easily larger than few football pitches made the world seem green under the shinning sun, in the middle of all, there stood a stone statue, he looked normal except his right hand. It was clenched into a fist shape with a spike growing of each knuckle. His expression looked unpredictable, impossible to say if he was happy or sad.

"This is Sir Lancolt. He founded the school about five hundred years ago, and he became the first teacher, teaching only the rich." Mark declared with a serious expression pointing at the statue, "Rumours also says that he was the strongest Mech man that have ever live with a Mech level of fifteen. But you can't trust rumours, there's no proof."

"What happened to him?" Lucas asked.

"Well," Mark said pausing, "Some people said he went on an investigation but disappeared without any trace. You really don't know if it is true."

"But the power of Mech-mans got passed down right?" Max asked out loud.

"Obviously, we won't be here today if it wasn't passed down." Lucas immediately answered.

"Is it a coincidence that the first Mech-man was that strong and rest weren't?" Max thought out loud again looking at Mark.

"Maybe no, but I don't know. Anyways, we arrived at the teacher's area. Don't be too loud and be polite, first impressions matter a lot." Mark suggested as they arrived at another double doors but only smaller than the first one.

"Come on, lets meet your teachers." Mark said cheerfullyas he guided Max and Lucas through the double doors and inside the room.