Chapter 3: Chapter 3

The receptionist waved goodbye to Peter and Kalista as they left the medical center and headed towards the exit of the guild. When Peter stepped outside, he audibly groaned. “Damn, how long was I asleep?” The sun was beginning to set, and he was in no mood to call it a day yet.

Peter set course towards the battle center, a large building used by tamer's to battle other tamers. He was hoping to see Kalista in a fight to gauge her strength before he began to take on any quests. Although he was quite confident they would do fine in lower difficulty missions, it would be good to understand her limits now rather than later.

As they approached the building, a man guarding the entrance waved them down.

“Identification, please,” he spoke firmly to Peter. Peter handed him his Tamer's license. The man inspected it carefully, his eyes darting back and forth between Peter, Kalista, and the card.

“Training or challenging?”

“Training.” Peter replied. Immediately after, he recoiled. “Challenging? I just registered yesterday.”

The man smirked. “It happens more often than you think.” He paused. “Alright, you're good to go.” The man returned the license.

“Thanks. Are there any people still looking to do mock battles?”

The man raised an eyebrow. “I've never stepped into a battle center that didn't have at least a few right up until they closed. This one included.” Peter nodded and went on his way inside.

The practice fields were large, open spaces where mock battles were held. They were set up in such a way to mimic different environments which tamers might find themselves in. Some were plain looking, where only the ground material changed. Such as sand, stone, or grass. Others were far more advanced to accurately portray certain kinds of fights. One of the fields looked like a miniature forest. At the end of the building, Peter could make out one that appeared to be contained within a glass dome – the inside snow covered mountains. I wonder how they managed to maintain some of these. Each of them had a small section of bleachers nearby, presumably for anyone who wanted to observe a battle.

“Hey.” A voice from behind caused Peter to turn around. The owner was a young man, Peter guessed that he was likely similar in age, maybe a few yearsolder. “You new here?” The man inquired.

“My first day.” Peter smiled.

“Ah, welcome to the profession. I'm Jet.” He offered his hand. Peter shook it.

“Peter.”

“I couldn't help but notice your primal,” Jet said as he eyed Kalista. “You got family members in the security forces?”

“Nope. Just lucky, I guess,” Peter scratched his head. Although getting the wind beaten out of me didn't feel so lucky at the time..

“Want to have a practice match? I just started recently myself.”

Peter suddenly felt excited. “Sure!”

“Follow me, we'll grab one of the empty fields.”

Peter followed Jet to a small booth where one of the battle center's employees was resting. Jet tapped the desk and the man woke up, surprised.

“We need a field. Plain.”

The man's head rocked back and forth as he looked towards the fields. “Stone work?” He asked.

Jet turned and looked towards Peter. He, in turned, looked towards Kalista, who had been watching Jet. Not noticing his gaze, Peter tapped her arm to grab her attention. “Are you fine with fighting on stone?”

She glanced at Peter. “Sure.” Kalista replied.

“Stone is fine.” Jet replied to the man. The man nodded and tapped the screen. “You're all set. A Dryad will head towards the field to be on standby.

Jet nodded and led Peter towards the stone field. Sure enough, the Dryad had already arrived there, wearing the same uniform as the one Peter saw earlier. She gave a small wave to their group.

“We'll obviously do a one on one.” Jet shouted as he walked towards the other side.

“Yup!” Peter shouted back. Peter turned towards Kalista. “Are you ready?” She nodded. In a moment, a metal sword and buckler appeared in her hands.

“Ah!” The Dryad shouted. “Please use non-lethal equipment when possible within the battle center.” Kalista scowled. She transformed her weapons into their wooden versions.

“Non-lethal.” Peter laughed. Non-lethal towards primals, maybe. He thought while recalling his earlier beating.

For his primal, Jet chose a Goblin. She had pinkish skin and wore skin tight clothing, and very petite. But what stood out the most was the comically large weapon she carried. It was less of a club and more so a tree trunk. In fact, it was a literal tree trunk. It appeared almost half her size.

Would Kalista be able to win? Peter eyed her nervously. A swing from something like that would definitely be hard to stop with a shield.

At the end of the day, they're all primals. He thought. Way stronger than I'll ever be..

“Are you ready?” Jet shouted from across the field.

“Yes, we're ready!”

“Menda, throw!” Jet shouted, not missing a beat. Immediately, the goblin threw her weapon across the field.

“Dodge!” Kalista rolled out of its path just as it flew by her. For a moment, Peter thought it would hit the ground and continue towards him, but the instant it touched the stone floor it disappeared, reappearing in the Goblin's hands.

“Throw!” The goblin threw another log.

“Dodge!” Kalista dodged once again. Jet repeatedly commanded his goblin to throw, Peter commanding Kalista to dodge, slowly the distance between the two primals closed with each trade.

“Throw!” The goblin threw once more.

“Vault!” This time, Kalista rolled straight towards the goblin, just barely slipping by the log as it fell behind her and broke into a sprint.

Kalista quickly closed the distance between the two of them and jumped. She held the sword high above her head and swung down. She's got her!

“Prank!” Just as the sword were about to slam into the Goblin's head, her position switched with the log in her hands. Kalista's blow cuts through the wood and sends the pieces in two directions. The Goblin, now slightly above Kalista, jumps onto her shoulders and uses her as a springboard, somersaulting away as she cackled.

Kalista angrily turns and sets chase for the Goblin once more. The Goblin was now running towards the side Peter was standing on, and she flashed him a mischievous smile. Kalista was in hot pursuit and gaining on her quickly. In a few seconds Kalista should...

“Throw!” Mid step, the Goblin jumped as a log appeared within her hands, and she spun around and threw it under and behind her.

“Dodge!” Kalista rolled out of the way, growing more furious by the moment.

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The scenario repeated itself for the next couple of minutes. Kalista would continue to dodge the trunks, and when she finally reached the Goblin, the Goblin would use prank and get away. She even tried to swing a second time to finish the Goblin off, but the Goblin was always just a little faster and managing to escape. All the meanwhile laughing at Kalista's every failed attempt.

Peter felt powerless as he watched the two fight. Was there anything he could do? He wracked his brains, trying to think of anything she could try differently in this situation.

He watched as the Goblin used prank once more and began fleeing, this time back towards Jet. Suddenly, he had an idea.

“Kalista!” Peter shouted, trying to not be so loud as to let Jet hear him. Kalista looked at him, frustration visible in her eyes. “The next time you're near her, wait for her to throw! Instead of dodging, try to destroy the log!”

Kalista looked confused, but nodded her head. For the next minute, Kalista slowly dodged and weaved past trunks and inched closer to the Goblin.

“Throw!” Jet commanded. The Goblin threw the log. Just as Kalista was about to roll beneath it, she heard Peter's voice.

“Now, Kalista, Shield Slam!” Kalista gritted her teeth and slammed her shield into the log. Despite the power behind her blow, the log's momentum carried it forward and slammed into Kalista. Knocking her down and briefly rolling over her. “Kalista!” Peter gritted his teeth in frustration. Kalista began to stand up as Peter heard Jet's voice.

“Throw!”

Another log began to fly towards her. Peter's mind raced as he tried to come up with some strategy. Even if she used her sword, he wasn't sure she'd be able to cut through such a large object. Endlessly dodging was just a battle of attrition. There was only one thing he could think of.

“Kalista, go for the edge of the log and use Deflect!” Kalista positioned herself, so the very edge of the log would grace her, then swung her shield outwards, barely tossing the log aside so that it would miss her. It landed on the ground besides her, crashing and falling apart.

The Goblin instantly began to run. “Catch her!”

“Gladly.” Kalista gritted her teeth as she rushed forward. With all her strength, her powerful leg muscles kicked as she swiftly moved across the stone field. The Goblin began to turn and run, but could no longer run straight away due to the perimeter of the field and was forced to try to run perpendicular to Kalista.

“Hyaah!” Kalista let out a war cry as she swung with her sword, ramming it into the goblin's chest. The goblin screamed in pain as it fell back onto the ground. It scrambled to get back up, and nearly did before Kalista arrived and delivered a mighty kick, sending it flying through the air, rolling backwards. Despite the Goblin's natural regeneration healing her injuries, she began to whimper as she struggled to stand up. As she approached the Goblin, Kalista looked towards Jet, who, rather than paying attention to his primal, was instead solely fixated upon her.

Kalista raised her sword overhead, and with a careful amount of strength brought it down upon the Goblin's head. A quick yelp was followed with silence as she collapsed onto the ground.

“Hold!” The Dryad shouted as she began to ran towards the pair. Her hands were emitting a green glow. Peter in response began to run across the field as well. Since they were all on the other side of the field, it was hard to tell what had transpired.

Oh shit, did she kill her? Peter wondered as he got closer. He could see a faint green glow forming around the Goblin's head. But before he even arrived, he saw the Goblin began to stir.

“Oh, thank gods.” Peter exclaimed as he watched the Dryad heal the Goblin. Although seeming a little dizzy, she seemed to manage to stand up. Peter turned to Kalista. “Are you all right?”

Kalista nodded. “Just some bruises.”

Jet walked over to the group. “Whew.” Peter sighed. “For a second there, I got really worried. I thought Kalista had killed your primal..”

“Naah. Well, maybe. But at your levels you probably won't have to worry about that for a while, not with a wooden sword anyway.”

“She should be fine now.” The Dryad interrupted. The Goblin was hopping on one foot, alternating between each jump. The Dryad turned and applied a bit of healing to Kalista as well, and once finished, returned to her previous position nearby the field.

“Boy, you sure had a nasty look there, lady.” The Goblin said.

“And you sure seem to run a lot.”

The goblin grinned. “If you were a bit skinnier, maybe you'd have caught me sooner.”

Peter could see Kalista twitch.

“Haha, never a dull moment with you, Maly.” Jet laughed. Jet turned back towards Peter. “Hey, you two did awesome. I wish I started off with a primal like yours.”

“Yeah Kalista.” Peter looked towards his Primal. “You did great!”

Kalista grabbed Peter and pulled him into a hug, pushing his head towards her chest. “Aww, but who came up with that great idea. If only these things were a bit smaller, you wouldn't have needed to help me as much.” She rubbed her cleavage up and down his face as he struggled to break free of her grip, casting glances towards Maly.

Maly frowned but Jet tapped her shoulder, and her smile returned. “Hey, what do you guys say to another round?” She asked.

Peter gently separated himself from Kalista. “Another practice battle?”

“Yeah!” Maly exclaimed. “I'm a bit worn out though, but you can fight my sister instead!”

Jet's hand glowed and another Goblin appeared. To Peter, she appeared an exact duplicate of Maly. Face, clothing, body, everything was exactly the same.

“Wow, they're like twins.” He turned towards Jet. “You have two Goblins?”

“Ah, you'll find a bunch around these parts. If you do any capturing quests you're sure to come across some, and it never hurts to have a larger team. You basically need two for your first stamp anyway, and most tamers can easily support a party of six after all. So, what do you say, up for another round?”

“Well..” Peter scratched his head. “I don't know..” His voice trailed off. He looked towards Kalista to gauge her reaction, and found her intensely staring at this new Goblin. “Kalista?” He asked, puzzled.

Kalista glanced at Peter, then the goblin, then back to him. “Hey Peter..” She walked behind him and grabbed him by his shoulders, bringing her lips close to his ears. “You said I did a good job, right.” Her soft voice cooed straight into his ear.

“Y-yeah,” Peter stammered, slightly embarrassed.

“I'm not sure if I want to play with another goblin,” she said, in a both sad and seductive tone. “I think I'd rather play with something else instead.” She said as she rubbed his thigh.

“What if we made it more interesting, then?” Jet interjected. He looked straight towards Peter.

“Interesting?” He asked.

“If you win this practice battle, I'll trade you one of my goblins.”

Peter's eyebrows raised. “That does make things more interesting.” He mutterred. “Wait, what happens if you win?”

“If I win?” Jet paused. “I get your Squire.”

Peter gulped.

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