MAZE - The Endless Quest

"Blue, if you stop one more time to observe something I'm eating without you."

It was the fifth time Pamella stopped to use her new skill, and the group had yet to leave the guild block.

"Let's just leave her, I don't want to be late." Bonnie said while she walked towards the strip mall. She gave a side glance to Blue, angry about her showing off her new skill. To Bonnie it wasn't her fault that she got a different skill, the teacher was the one who gave her the assignment wrong. If he had specified what she shouldn't do she would never have gotten the wrong skill.

Hera walked with her group, wondering if there was something she could do to help. She had tried talking to Bonnie about the skill, and about what she could do to get it but everything just seemed to make her even angrier.

"Bonnie, do you have any suggestions on where we could eat?" Alex asked in a casual tone.

"What? Do you need me to choose the place? Can't figure out yourselves?"

Hera twisted her nose. They invited her to try to cheer her up, she didn't have to be rude. Leo rolled his eyes and replied to Bonnie while Blue stared daggers at her.

"We had this discussion yesterday, there are a lot of options, and the strip mall doesn't have that many tables. So it's better if we eat in the same place. Yesterday I picked the restaurant, today I think you should choose."

The group nodded in agreement, to which Bonnie just scoffed. They went past the first stoplight in silence, even with Leo having to poke Blue's arm every time she stopped to observe something. After crossing the road Bonnie had made up her mind.

"Look, I really want a burger, a greasy oily burger with onions and bacon."

With a big smile, Blue walked toward the girl and put her arm around her.

"You see this, this is the type of woman I want to be when I grow up. Someone who has the best ideas."

Leo put his hand on his face and let out a loud groan.

"Blue, I'm going to tell you this one more time. You are older than most of us." The man had said something along those lines a few times already and that was starting to annoy him.

"You are no fun." The girl answered before sticking out her tongue.

Bonnie took advantage of her distraction and removed Blue's arm from around her taking a few steps away from the girl. "Yeah, don't do that. I don't like people being over-friendly with me." She then looked at Hera "You know the area around here right? Any recommendations?"

Hera thought for a second before opening a big smile. "I know a good place. But I hope you all like cats." The group stared at her for a while before being led to a different path by the woman. Hera walked a bit faster than usual, happy she would be able to go back to a place she loved so much.

A few minutes later, they arrived at their destination.

"I honestly don't know what I was expecting. But it wasn't this" Alex commented now that the group was in front of a building. The words "Cat made Heaven" were written above the door in beautiful calligraphy.

"Please, tell me this isn't one of those costume places. Those freak me out." Blue shivered remembering the last encounter she had with someone in a full cat costume.

Hera giggled," No no, there is just a bunch of cats walking around. They are very well trained so don't worry about one of them walking through the table."

Bonnie stared at her with wide eyes. "Are you telling me that the cats are just roaming around the whole restaurant?"

"Not really, they never go to the kitchen or the bathrooms. If I'm remembering correctly, the doors are enchanted with a cat barrier of sorts. At least that's what one of the staff told me."

Leo was looking through a window inside, a black cat was sitting on a bench staring at him. "Yeah... am I the only one who thinks cats want to kill us?"

All four girls answered at the same time.

"Yes, you are!"

And started to laugh together while they entered the cafe, Leo let out a long sigh and walked inside after the rest of the group.

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"C'mon lassie, don't make me say it."

With a smirk, Helena leaned back in her chair.

"You know that's not how it works sweetie, you know what you have to do."

Greyson clenched his fist. It already was bad enough to be wrong, and now she wanted him to do this? That's why he hates these kinds of jobs.

"Please lassie, I thought we were past that."

"Me too, but I was rejected in such a way that my maiden heart will never recover" Helena was moving like a kid in a highschool play being overly dramatic.

"Oh for f..." Greyson started to speak but held back. After taking a deep breath he started again.

"Helena, A'm sorry for refusing yer help. Ye were right and Ah was wrong. The old method is not always better. Now can ye please help me so the girl can learn Observe?"

Helena gave the man a big smile "Was that so hard?"

"Ye already shoved a knife in my gut, are ye going to twist it too?"

Helena could see a vein in Greyson's forehead ready to pop. She laughed.

"Ok ok I accept your apology, now it was Bonnie right?" Helena checked her file in the guild system "Humm, Yeah I know how to make it work. But you need to cut her some slack on the afternoon training deal?"

Knowing he was already defeated.

"Deal."

"Great! Now tell her that tomorrow she will be coming with me to the underground training room. Don't worry, I promise to give your recruit back in one piece." Helena kept tapping in her tablet making sure everything would be ready for the special training session she had in mind. At the same time, Greyson left the staff breakroom.

"One more time, Ah just need to do this one more bloody time. Focus on that Calvin, focus on that." He kept mumbling to himself while he went towards the cafeteria.

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"Oh Bonnie, don't be sad. The owner said you could go back there any time you want." Blue tried to cheer the girl up.

"It was just so cute. I wanted to bring him home with me." Bonnie said while pouting.

"Well, at least he is in a good home, and you can go see him every time you get back from the MAZE. It should be dangerous to take a house cat with you, even if you have some taming skils." Leo tried to reassure her while putting his wallet in the bag he had left inside the classroom.

"I suppose you are right" Bonnie seemed to agree with them even if she was still sad about not being able to take one of the cats from the cafe home.

Hera just smiled at the interaction, Bonnie wasn't angry anymore, or at least she wasn't showing that. Her plan to help the girl forget what happened with the skill worked. This time she was able to help her.

"So, what do you think we are learning now? A new skill? More weapon training?" Alex said with a big smile. It was visible how much she enjoyed to be here, there was even a spark in her eyes. Hera started to think if she should be more open with her feelings as well when a few other recruits started to arrive.

In less than five minutes the whole class was there, waiting for the teacher. They were talking and joking around just like a bunch of high schoolers. But the second Mr. Greyson walked through the door the room got quiet. Seeing the man, all the recruits felt a primal instinct that told them one single thing. Danger.

The teacher scanned the class and said only two words.

"Training. Now."

Then he walked back and towards the stairs.

There was a moment when a few recruits looked at each other trying to understand what to do. But Leo got up and started to follow Mr. Greyson without missing a beat. With him at the lead, the rest of the class joined in.

A few moments later all of the recruits were in the training room. They walked without making a sound. For some reason, none of them even considered relaxing after seeing the teacher.

Mr.Greyson was standing in front of the dummies with a big black box by its side, just like the day before. He opened the box and picked a pair of wooden daggers.

"Today Ah'm gonna teach ye how not to poke yer eye when using a weapon." He stared at the class for a few seconds "So, what ye are all waiting for? Grab yer bloody daggers already."

All of the recruits were surprised by the reaction. Mr. Greyson was a stern and grumpy man but even this seemed like too much. Hera couldn't help to compare his bad mood with the one he had the day before. It was like comparing a hill with a mountain. What happened that made him so angry?

Less than one minute after his order. All the recruits were holding their daggers in the small arenas they used yesterday.

"Ye know how to hit something. Now ye need to learn how to move around while attacking." He raised his arms to show everyone how he was holding the daggers "Later ye can test to see how ye like to hold this. But for now, point the daggers at yer elbows. The way A'm teaching is closer to a fistfight than it is to use a sword. A'm doing this way so ye can't end up hurting yerself too much."

Mr. Grenson then proceeded to show a few moves. Again creating that invisible target in his mind, the teacher moved around it in a circle. Then he would take a step in and throw a punch to the side moving his wrist so the dagger would be sticking out like a spike. After the punch instead of walking back, he moved forward. Using the momentum of the attack to reposition himself.

His first few moves were slow, but they started to pick up speed. Each punch was aimed far enough away from the main target so it would never be stopped by its body. Leaving only the dagger to do the damage.

After a few seconds, the recruits weren't able to see Mr. Greyson's attacks. His arms were just a blur while his body would spin around this phantom target. He finally reached the end of his attacks when he stepped in and threw a jab that went by the side of where the target's face should be, the dagger still pointing towards his elbow. He then pulled his arm back intending to stab the phantom target.

Even if nothing was being attacked the image was visceral. Hera's eyes were wide in shock, not only by the violent attack but by the speed the teacher had achieved. It should be impossible for the human body to move that fast. How much would the attributes change that?