The Sketch: The Voyage of Soal

Battle Training

The next day, Retna and Retna alone had led Soal back to the Voltale Volcano, inside the lava area, on a red, rocky island connected to the bridge (by another bridge). From there, Soal could see where Retna and Anter lived, destroyed by Dark Hands, a white-and-red rectangle that stuck out from the red expanse around them.

"Fighting 101. Verbal Battle. If you'd like to know, each lesson is about five hours," Retna began her first lesson. This was something Soal had been attacked by many times, but never had the heart to fight back.

"Go on, insult me!" she roared, and Soal waited a few moments to say something. "Snobbish, lava-headed rat." was something he heard a lot, but Retna was impressed.

"Pretend I'm Articulus," she almost danced around her little arena. "Pretend I'm about to eat you or something. Or something, you decide."

"You dirty black worm, you can't kill me!" he probably could until further training was used. Retna was sarcastically amazed by his remark.

"Okay, next step. You're good in that one. It's a boring one too. Now this one would take months for you to really master. It happened to me," Retna went on. "Physical Battle, Part One, Shielding."

Retna held up a large stick that looked like a baseball bat, but without the handle, and handed Soal a stone shield. Leaping at him with unequaled force, Soal held up his large rectangular shield, and blocked her attack. Satisfied with the results, Retna moved on, and this time targeted Soal's knees. Missing, he almost reached in time, but was injured and Retna figured he needed something easier. Within a week, he had mastered shielding, and could pull it off his back and hold it in the appropriate area within the blink of an eye. That signaled Retna to give Soal a gift. It was his very first shield, which looked similar to his practice version, but made of tough iron, and could carry around anywhere.

Soal was much more nimble in the Sketch world, which he had noticed earlier, but now he realized the full potential; he could dash and smash like no one could on earth. Physics just wouldn't handle the squashing and stretching there. But what Soal couldn't predict is what Lint Corp would throw at him next. After all, they had created this world, which was amazing in itself, but the possibilities were still limited. From there, Retna moved on to Ranged Battle.

As Soal had walked into the volcano one day and onto the platform, an arrow fell from the heavens straight at him, and Soal blocked it with his shield in no time. As it harmlessly sank into the shallow magma around him, both Retna and Anter hopped down from a cave in the ceiling and landed next to Soal, ready to begin the next lesson. "Stage Three: Ranged Battle. This one's important. You'll want to learn this one early, and practice practice practice! There may be other people you can look up to for the different arts, but we excel in bows and crossbows. If you need anything after training, come to us," Anter spoke to Soal.

"Well then, I'm ready as I'll ever be!" Soal enthusiastically said as the sisters set up targets, and motioned Soal to back away to another platform. This time a few voltales were watching from the sidelines nearby, as they knew they were witnessing something historic, and they felt to be a part of it, no matter how little. Anter struggled to carry a human-size bow to Soal and a quiver, and went back to Retna on the bridge, as well as Porter who was there too. Over the course of weeks, Retna taught Soal the basics of shooting a bow and dragon crossbow (a crossbow that fires robotic dragons that are fired, spiked, and explode when they make contact with a target- Retna's weapon of choice), but soon he got into deeper subjects, where Soal was a natural. He was an especially quick learner, which the sisters and Porter used to their advantage. A good shield and bow-wielder was useful. But after enough time had passed, it was time for the most important field- sword fighting.

Through all this time, Soal had been sleeping on a bunk in one of the dark rooms of the volcano, the one where he had found the helmet he was still wearing (not to sleep, of course!). It made him look and feel like a true knight, which was what he was becoming, instead of the bullied, useless orphan he was before. Every day he had lunch and dinner, which was mostly bread and milk, and occasionally an apple or potato. He was becoming a true warrior. And he would need this training in the long run, as it was essential to his job here. By now it was early into April. He had received the Sketch in February. Boy, he'd spent longer in here than he had realized! The first night, he was hoping to wake up back in the boarding school, back to his real purpose, but as time went by, he got to know the land better, and recognized its worth. Each day, Soal learned something new about the kiwis' world. But there was always more to find out.

That morning he would remember clearly, the day after he'd mastered ranged battle. Retna was joyous to see him. "Now's the most important part, sword-based combat. The one I am certain you'll love. Feel the hatred, think about all the mean people in your life. Let out the ANGER! Slash that blade! It works. I've done it too. Feel free to-" Before she was even finished the sentence, Soal rapidly swung his practice sword Retna had given him the last night, and Retna barely dodged out of the way, as she didn't have her shield up yet! She was impressed, but that was overridden by the concern on her face. The way he swooshed his sword like that, the vindictiveness from which it was driven, was so vengeful that it had to hurt Retna's feelings. However, there was no way to help him. If she followed him back to the Genesis Stories at the end of their journey, she would die, and she figured his native world was worse than this one. But that was what made it effective. Even Articulus would feel threatened if someone like Soal stepped up to him, ready for battle.

When Retna held her shield, Soal was more than enthusiastic to swing his stone practice sword immediately. It split the stone shield in two. Retna had never seen such unprecedented force in a character, or Un-Character. The stories her mother told her when she was a child did not make out Moth to be this strong! This was Soal's secret technique, and surely his foes would never see this coming. As time went by and Soal learned to keep his temper under control, only using it during training at times, and could strike any spot on his opponent's body, including right through their shield. But then Soal remembered he was just a kid, eleven years old, an unimportant little rat who had absolutely no hope in life or any chance of success. But this war could be his opportunity in life to prove he could be special.

Retna's last question one day was a very odd one. "When is your birthday?" she asked Soal. He only replied, "July sixth," and left to his bunk without saying another word. He had a good night's sleep that night and dreamed a very good dream. Ironically, it was that Retna would finish training the next day.

The next morning, Retna stood beside Soal's bunk, and as he stretched and yawned, Retna told him something funny. "I believe you've mastered the art of warfare. Training's done, unless you want any more."