Once Upon A Time In CATCF

Chapter 7

When the children got into the 'weaponry', as Mike had called it, Charlie's jaw fell to the ground. Rows and rows of wooden shelves lined 2 of the 4 walls in the massive place. In the far wall, dozens of different deadly-looking weapons hanged. Knives, sticks, fans, swords, and every other battle supply imaginable were in that room alone.

"Now we just have to each choose one. Go on, kidies" Mike said in a monotone. Violet instantly dashed off to the far wall, dragging the metal boy with her. The three children that were left just looked at one another. Charlie remembered something he had wanted to ask the two of them.

"How old are you guys?"

"11" Veruca answered in the same sweet and innocent tone as always. "How about you, Gus?"

"...12" Charlie thought Augustus seemed confused about his own answer, as if he had a completely different way of counting his own age.

"But you're as tall as Violet, and you managed to carry both of us" Veruca commented, impressed. Augustus turned a nice shade of red. A shout from the other side of the room made the three kids jump.

"So, are you just going to stand there or what?" the turned to look at mike and Violet, who had clearly been the one who called out to them. She was holding one of the long sticks Charlie had seen in the shelves before. Mike seemed to be instructing her on how to use it, showing a few moves with a different stick.

"Need help?" Mike didn't seem eager to help them find the perfect deadly weapon. Regardless, Charlie was happy the boy decided to help anyway. He doubted that he (Or Augustus and Veruca) would be able to choose by himself. He doubted that that he could even think about holding some of them!

"I-I think so, if that's ok with you"

"It's fine, you guys are the guests" the other boy walked up to them and looked at the three up and down. Charlie couldn't help but feel intimidated by Mike's steely gaze. Finally after what felt like an eternity, Mike spoke, looking at Veruca.

"Well, you're probably the easiest one to find a weapon for, since you're a lady, so I know you should get something easy to lift and move..." he motioned for her to follow him, and then called over his shoulder "Violet, you're a girl as well. Help me out with this. Charlie and Gus, just look around and see if you like anything" the blonde girl followed them of the back of the room, leaving the 10 and 12 year olds to just stand awkwardly in front of the double wooden doors. Augustus took the initiative and started walking towards the wall on the right, where he started examining the sharp objects that lay before him. Charlie followed the boy, and examined the options.

An axe? No, too heavy and clumsy. Sword? Too...sharp and scary. Charlie, growing up in the jungles, had never really used anything from metal. The only "weapons" he had ever used were sticks, stones, or flaming sticks. He looked around the room and something caught his eye. Something buried in a bag at the corner of the weaponry which the boy hadn't noticed before. He ran to said bag, stuck his arm in, and pulled out the object. It was a Y shaped wooden...thing, with an elastic cord attached to the top edges. In the middle of the cord was a leather piece. Charlie stared intensively at the object. He had no idea what it was, or how to use it, but somehow it felt perfect in his hands, as if that was where it belonged. A voice woke his from his thoughts.

"Do you like that one? It's used more as a toy, and not very useful in battle, but I guess it would suit someone like you" he turned to see mike and the girls. Violet was still holding the stick, and Veruca had two Pink and silver...things.

"What is it?" he asked the metal clad boy.

"A slingshot. I'll show you how to use it. Here, look" Mike took the 'slingshot' from his hands and dug around the bag where Charlie had found the object. Finally he found what he wanted- a stone. Then he positioned himself, put the stone to rest on the leather piece, grabbed the sides of said piece, and pulled back. After about three seconds of aiming, mike let go and the stone went flying until it hit a target which was stuck to the wall near the ceiling. Perfect shot. The four other kids applauded him, including Augustus, who had just come to see what the talk was about. Mike only grumbled in response, but Charlie could see a hint of pride and satisfaction in his eyes. Mike turned to him and held out the slingshot.

"Here. So, do you think that's the one?" Charlie thought about it for a second. It seemed rather easy to use, and was better from a long distance, which he was perfectly ok with. He nodded eagerly at the other boy and took the 'toy' from him. Mike then turned to Augustus, the only one besides mike himself that didn't have a chosen object.

"Did you find anything? At all?" Charlie pitied Augustus at that moment. Mike's gaze was seriously scary. In fact, the whole of mike was scary, what with his out of proportion metal limbs and strange 'glitching' problem. The fact that he was an immortal guardian didn't do anything to help, either. Finally the 12 year old responded.

"Sorry, no. it's just that I don't really know where to start...could you help me, please?" Augustus tried at what seemed to be a small pleading face. Mike sighed and ran a hand over his face, deep in thought, then looked back at Gus.

"Well, you're strong, I can see that-"

"He's very strong. He even managed to carry both Violet and I at the same time yesterday" Veruca interrupted with a prideful smile.

"We could make some use of this. Not a sword, because you'd be too clumsy with it," Augustus's cheeks turned pink at that. "I don't think you'd be well off with something too sharp, so maybe..."Mike seemed to suddenly get an idea "Come here" he didn't wait or look back to see if Augustus was following him or not (which he was).

Mike led them to the other end of the room, where he pulled a big wooden hammer from the shelf. It hit the ground with a thud. Mike looked back up at Augustus and motioned to the bulky thing.

"So, what do you think?" Augustus just stared at the weapon unsurely, and then picked it up with absolutely no effort at all. He turned it around in his hands, then smiled and nodded at mike.

"That's the one"

"Ok, then, now we just need you guys to learn how use them. To the training room we go!" Mike didn't show any emotion at all while saying that.