Chapter 16: 16: Extremely Inspirational Training

“THIS SUCKS SO MUCH ASS” Damien cried out, so far being the one struggling the most for pace, “I REGRET PLAYING GOLF IN HIGHSCHOOL SO MUCH” 

Rachel on the other hand, with breath to spare, commented while running beside Damien, “Don’t shout like that, that’s only going to make you suffer more. Also... Big L, imagine playing golf, I could never, as a cross country runner.” 

“Fuck... You... Ra... chel...” Damien pushed out, feeling the karmic justice being enacted on him from shouting, watching Rachel cruise ahead of him to run alongside Josephine.

Moments later, Dexter’s booming laugh could be heard before he began reading out a line from a small book in his hand, “Believe! And then you’re already halfway there! What a great quote! Truly wise words...”

“Aha! Another! A smooth sea never makes a great sailor! Wise words indeed!” Dexter called out, laughing to himself while the four runners in front of him struggled to keep up with the maniacal pace he pushed them at, “In fact, I think I’ll take these words a step further!”

Knitting his eyebrows in worry as Dexter’s words made their way to his ears Oliver only could worry for a second before, “... FUCK”

Almost losing his balance, Oliver cried out, his legs already burning enough to put a rocket launch to shame, “... so... stupid...”

Feeling his chest begin to set itself on fire, Oliver decided to not verbalize his thoughts, yet he could not help but begin an impassioned rant in his head:

Fucking stupid oh my godddddddd! I feel like I’m being railed in the ass! Not even in the good way... Anyway, what kind of psycho just randomly causes mini-earthquakes while doing a warm up jog! WARM UP JOG!! 

EVEN MORE! What are these bullshit ass quotes!? These quotes are so patron-fuckin-izing that I could write a rip-off book about how to become successful out of them!! They sound like quotes from Getting Over It... I swear to fucking god, I’ve heard at least one that was from that exact game... I thought we were in another world???

His inner monologue, one filled with anger, continued to drone on in his head, one that, if verbalized, would give Damien, Josephine, and Rachel an extreme shock, Oliver was the prim and proper leader, always composed handsome guy after all. 

Truly, Dexter had a way of drawing out the motivation out of everyone...

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“Wow, they really are suffering...”

Murmuring to herself, Kaitlyn couldn’t help but wonder... Why was she here? 

‘I don’t feel like I can contribute anything... All I can really do is fight...

Like, Dexter’s training just makes you really angry while giving you risk of bodily harm to push you beyond your limits...

What can I do... What's my purpose... 

... For now, I’ll just be their supervisor for some quests... yeah! That sounds good, sounds like something I can do... sounds... humane..’

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Twirling her swords as she resolved herself to be the nice instructor, standing up on the rock as she pushed aside the oncoming depressing mood. 

“I have friends now... and I have a ... sort-of purpose. I can’t be bogged down now. Especially because I have responsibility.”

Sitting back down on the rock, Kaitlyn pushed her hair out of her face, counting on her fingers a few training plans she could implement, “I could...”

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Back with the suffering runners, the two original front-runners, Josephine and Rachel, began to struggle more, unable to hold coherent conversation anymore between their ragged breaths. 

However, much to the four runner’s chagrin, Dexter was still bright and cheery, reading out his lines, “The struggle you’re in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow! When there is no struggle, there is no progress! What bangers these quotes are!! I miss reading them out, to my strug... I mean... My constantly improving students!”

Feeling the burn in her legs and her mental sanity as she pushed herself upright once more after almost losing her balance while listening to Dexter spout nonsensical quotes, Rachel, her eyes glistening and tearing up from the dust, was filled with doubt as the forest seemed to get closer. 

Pushing on, trying her best to stay ahead of Oliver and Damien, having already given up on keeping up with the monstrous Josephine, Rachel used her age old chant to motivate herself:

Pretty girls! Pretty girls! Think of all the pretty girls watching you right now, Rachel! Got to win, impress those girls, make them fall in love with you and your dashing looks! Pretty girls! Pretty girls! Think of all the...

“I MADE IT!!” Josephine cried out out of breath, tears of happiness flowing down her face as she used the tree for support, “I’m free~... What a... stupid warm-u-” 

“FREEDOM!” Rachel proclaimed, taking in big breaths of air as she stabilized herself against the tree with Damien and Oliver close behind, tears of happiness streaming down her own face as well, “My... legs are... saturated... with lactic... acid, I swear... and I’m so... out of breath.”

Still struggling a little for breath, but able to string together sentences, Josephine, now standing up straight and walking around, patted Rachel, ignoring Dexter who was clapping, “At least you can talk... Look at those two dead bodies on the ground...”

Oliver and Damien, the two dead bodies on the ground, laid in the shade, trying their best to reanimate themselves. 

“That run was extremely unpog...” Damien murmured, a hand on his stomach to ensure he didn’t throw up, “I feel like I lost so much weight though... I went from like a whale to an olympic runner...”

“Please never say that again,” Oliver stressed, pushing himself onto his elbows, taking a moment to gaze towards the city that stretched out before him now that he was a distance away. 

Letting the group gather themselves, Dexter tucked away his small book jam-packed with ‘inspirational’ quotes before getting their attention once more, “So that was a nice warm-up was it not? Ready for the run back?”

As the color drained out of the faces of the four recently reanimated runners, Dexter chuckled, clutching his stomach, “Ahhh, don’t worry about it! We can skip it this time around! I’m feeling generous! You should have seen the looks on your faces!”

“Anyway, though, we’ll make our way back, and if Kaitlyn has any ideas on training I’ll let you go off with her. Otherwise! You’re stuck with me~” Dexter emphasized, a grin on his face as he brushed some hair being blown across his face, “Let’s get going then! Chop, chop! You can recover on the walk back!”