Crystalline Cavern: The Brigaders

Chapter 2

1000 hours

Kai

       All of us continued down the sidewalk with my hands behind my head toward Cánë as I listened in on Ocean and Dark's conversation about what kind of training techniques Ocean could use before his Pathwa. I looked over to see the girls talking with Violet, still praising her for achieving Quartz rank. I'm so proud of her. She's been working so hard and I'm glad our team is that much stronger now. My thoughts were then interrupted by the sound of my stomach growling, which was not inconspicuous to the others at all. "Really Forest? Your stomach is already complaining about the lack of food it has?" Ocean looked at me with a raised brow and let out a slight chuckle after his sly comment. I just playfully shoved him and scoffed. "I'm sorry, you know this thing has a mind of its own!" I motioned towards my stomach as I grabbed and squeezed my gut. The others just laughed as we continued walking down the somewhat rocky path.

       I turned to Dark with a tired and boring look on my face. "So how much further till we get to Cánë?" He replied simply by saying, "Probably like five more minutes."

       "Well thank the goddess for that." Once again, there was a small collection of laughter at my childish comment. Violet then spoke while sighing deeply and slouching her shoulders. "I can't wait to get to my dorm and rest, I'm exhausted." Ruby quickly responded to her remark. "I can imagine, after that big run, I remember I slept for like ten hours."

       "But don't you usually sleep for ten hours?"

       "Yeah, but when I do, I do it on purpose. That day, I overslept by accident." 

       "Yeah, good thing I'm the one dorming with you to keep you in check because I vaguely remember I had to violently shake you until you woke up to get to class on time." Violet demonstrated as she started shaking Ruby after grabbing her by the arms. We all burst into laughter. There really was never a dull moment when these two were together. I can see why they catch the eye of a lot of warriors back at the academy, they're great people and I'm sure their Aura Núte's are gonna be just as great. "I could never imagine what it would be like if I had to share a dorm room with either of you." Rose only crossed her arms and rolled her eyes as she continued to walk a little further ahead toward our destination. "Come on Rose, Ruby and I aren't that bad." Violet ran up to her, jumped up, and hugged her from behind. "Man, why don't you ever hug me like that Dark?" I turned towards Dark who had apparently spaced out a bit giving from the look he had on his face just now. He's always kept to himself most of the time. "Sorry, but I don't really do physical contact all that much unless I'm trying to knock someone off their feet in a spar." Sometimes I worry if Dark will have an Aura Núte at all. I wish there was a way to find out sooner but only the Goddess Hur Tur knows. If I could choose though, it would probably be her. Though, she's two ranks higher than me so I doubt it. 

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       We all arrived at the entrance of Cánë. The building had two stories with an LED sign of the café's name on it. It had a somewhat retro kind of look to it with the wide-paned windows and rustic red door, alone of neon lights lining each edge and corner of the building. Upon walking in, I could already smell the freshly cooked food and the ambiance of it all. The first floor had booths and tables along with the open-view kitchen where one could see all the food being prepared. We all usually wait by the counter, which had a row of barstools to it, and wait for our food to come out so we could take our trays to the second floor which had special access to local students. A lot of us come here to study, relax after a rough training session, or just to hang out. We all walked up to the counter and made our orders. We all then sat on the barstools as we watched and waited for our food to be prepared. It didn't take long as the server came over to us and handed us our individual trays. We paid them the nova we owed and headed up the stairs. The smell of the pizza was already filling my nostrils to the point where I could just swallow this thing whole right here and now.

       Reaching the top of the stairs, we all immediately saw our table which was a straight walk across the room towards a corner next to a seating area that just had a couple of couches and a chair. The booth was round that had a pretty wide table, so we made it our usual spot since it's the only one that can fit all six of us without feeling too crowded. Climbing into the booth after Dark, Ocean sat next to me as the girls slid in afterward one by one. "Finally, it's nice to sit down after so much movement today and just relax." Violet was already taking a bite out of her tuna fish sandwich. Ocean nodded his head in agreement. "I know what you mean. Morning training before your Pathwa killed me today."

       "I agree. Each morning training session seems to be more intense than the last when it comes to us. It's like they're trying to fine-tune some sort of machine or something. I wish they'd pull back on us every now and then, ya know?" Just thinking about this morning with all of the target practice and hour long run sent shivers down my spine, just dreading the next one. Although running is my forte, I did not appreciate the small objects that were sent in my direction that I had to dodge every two minutes. "Just sounds like laziness to me. I personally didn't have an issue with any of it."

       "Easy for you to say Dark, you train every day and never seem to get tired no matter what the academy puts you through, or even yourself for that matter." Dark just scoffed and continued to munch on his rabbit food. "And you wonder why you haven't surpassed me since last Rank Rage." Dropping, already, the second slice of pizza onto my plate in shock, I snapped back at him. "You know perfectly well that I lost to you last time 'cause I got my sword's weight adjusted in the handle and I wasn't used to it yet. Therefore, I wasn't at one hundred percent."

       "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you had to be at one hundred percent to take me down in a standard dagor." I could only roll my eyes in response. I can't think of a single moment where Dark and I aren't comparing each other's strengths. "In terms of strength, you definitely surpass me. However, when it comes to stamina, I think I overpower you in that department."

       "Even though you just complained about how every session is too intense and that they should pull their punches?" Everyone around the table just laughed as we continued to eat our food. Finishing up my last slice, I noticed Violet looking at me slightly. "You okay Vi?" She blinked a couple of times and finished up her sandwich. "Oh, yeah I'm fine. I'm just thinking if I should order more chips or not."

       "Well, since you're thinking about it-" I reached across the table and grabbed a chip off her plate. "Hey! I wasn't offering you know!" I just laughed and popped the chip into my mouth whole, slowly munching on it while smirking. She just squinted at me and let out a grunt of annoyance. "Now you have an excuse to get more chips!"

       "Whatever. I guess I really don't have a choice now do I?" She slid out of the booth and made her way downstairs. "I think I'm gonna head to the bathroom real quick. Be right back." Ocean spoke up after taking a long sip and placing his drink down on the table. "Yeah, me too. That soda always seems to go right through me." Both of us slid out of the booth and headed towards the stairs. After reaching the bottom and looping around the side towards the restrooms, Ocean suddenly spoke up. "Hey Forest? I need to ask you something important." Looking at Ocean's face, I could see that it was filled with worry and concern, but for some reason, it felt as though it was directed towards me. "Yeah, sure. What about?" He gulped and scratched the back of his neck. "It's about Violet." Panic flashed over me. Usually, when Ocean was worried about someone, it meant that there was something serious going on. "Is she okay?"

       "That's just it. I don't think she is." Something tells me that I need to pray to Hur Tur  for this one.