Lance was wearing plain brown armor possibly made out of thick cloth. Even the basic equipment in Forge Master Sef’s armory was more advanced than that. Metcalf couldn’t see his weapon but it had to be something basic as well. He wasn’t wearing a helmet. Maybe he didn’t have one.
He was sitting high in the first level of bleachers flanked by two other students. The three of them looked at the crowds competing below. Lance just stared at everything. Perhaps he was trying to take it all in. Every now and again, one of the other students would point to an event while talking to him. Apparently they were teaching Lance something.
Metcalf couldn’t recognize the other two students. They were probably higher ranking students like Isabeau. If so, they had no reason to be in the training center.
Lance had only been here a month. There was no way they moved in the same social circles. It was very likely the two students were assigned by the school to show him around.
Why would they bring him here? Last she knew Lance was from the Rock Quarter. Rock Quarter housing was on the far side of Glory City. It was quite a trip to bring him all the way to this particular training center.
In the end it didn’t matter. They were here, and therefore, fair game. She could challenge any of them. If they accepted a challenge, Metcalf could see exactly what they were capable of.
Lance was apparently capable of something. Though he was still deep the red zone, he had gotten a heap of points in a few hours. Still, midterm was in less than a week. It would be impossible for him to get enough points to get out of the zone. No matter what he did at this point he was going to take the final.
He may have just enough points to help her though. She wouldn’t take all of them of course, just enough to get her to a safe point. Also, it would be educational to show Lance just how quickly points disappear in the training center. If he learned the lesson early, he wouldn’t be in the same situation Metcalf was in.
She started walking up the stairs towards them. By the time she got to them, they saw and recognized her. Even though they knew what and who she was going to ask, protocol demanded that she ask anyway.
Metcalf tried to sound as innocent as she could. “Hey,” she said looking at Lance, “you want to do a push drill?”
She almost sounded innocent. The look Lance gave her spoke volumes. He knew something was up. He looked to his companions questioning. They both looked back as to say the choice was his. “What’s a push drill,” he asked finally.
“Basically it’s like tug of war,” the student on his left said, “they get a large rock from the river and you try to use your motion skills to push more of it to your opponent’s zone.”
The student looked at Metcalf with an untrusting glare as he spoke. Metcalf didn’t recognize him but apparently, they met in the training center before.
“Is there any limit on how we use our motion skills,” Lance asked.
That’s an odd question. How is there more than one way to use motion skills? You trade motion from something you don’t care is moving to move something else. Metcalf was stuck on the thought for a while then she spoke. “Sometimes, people put limits on where you can stand, but I don’t see any reason to put any limits on this drill.”
“Sweet,” Lance said with sudden energy, “I’m game.”
Metcalf saw their weapons. The student to the left had a metal staff. The other one had a large knife with a chain connected to it. She didn’t see Lance’s weapon until they got up.
As the stadium seats lifted, she saw it. His massive sword was under their seats the whole time and for good reason. It was easily taller than any of them. It was more than six centimeters long, two centimeters wide, and at least three millimeters thick. The back of the sword housed a long handle. The tip of the single edged weapon curved out from the blade and then back as to imitate the crescent shape of a very large axe. The hilt area expanded in its last few millimeters to meet the blade. The pummel of the hilt was a thick version of the classic hanging circle. It looked more like a small metal doughnut.
It was all made from a single piece of metal. She didn’t know how heavy it was. It had to be heavier than any of them without armor. It looked impossible to lift but Lance picked it up like it was a paper cutout.
All packed up and ready, Lance throws the sword over his shoulder causing the student behind him to flinch. “Alright let’s go.”