Heir Of Chaos

A couple of days passed and now, Dale was in the basement of his house. He shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.

It didn’t matter if it was a desirable effect, the calm induced by the energy of Eden was simply unnerving to think of.

To make matters worse, the very same energy prevented him from feeling too worried about it. In fact, the reason why he was feeling uncomfortable with it was simply that he knew it was the kind of thing he should be wary of.

"Damn overgrown weed." He sucked his teeth.

Luckily, Dale couldn’t spend too long cursing out Eden as heavy steps resounded from his stairs.

"Who is that? I invited you into my house to see something and not to break my stairs."

The first thing noticed about the person was his bright red hair. Dale stared at Austin as the latter tripped over the last stair.

To Dale, it didn’t make any sense that Austin could be tripped. He could literally fly.

Maybe flying felt weird. He wouldn’t know, that was — and admittedly, unfortunately — not a facet of his ability. The few times he had been tossed into the air hadn’t felt too bad though.

Austin smiled. "Same difference. Nice place you got. My place also has a basement but none of it is a dojo. The gym is nice though."

Dale raised an eyebrow, ’So his place has a gym?’ Perhaps he would go there when he got the chance.

Above all, physical exercise was still a necessity.

The next person down the stairs was Sarah. As she stepped out of the darkness, her hair changed from blue to orange.

She jumped down the last few steps and skipped to Dale, hugging him. "A dojo?! Cool! My place is just boring... maybe I’ll burn it."

Dale didn’t know what was worse, the fact that he couldn’t tell if she was joking or the way she casually insinuated arson.

Gary walked into the basement, his green hair disheveled. "Sorry for my rugged appearance. This place is like a maze."

Dale lingered for a moment. "No, it’s not. It’s a spiral. Literally."

The other shrugged.

Finally, Trevor came down the stairs. They were complete.

Since the first time they entered the second year boot camp, they were finally alone and could be free.

Trevor took in the basement while nodding. "Nice tiled interiors and finish." He remarked.

Sarah and Gary turned to look at him with incredulous expressions on their faces. "Since when do you specialize in interior design?" Gary asked.

Trevor scoffed. "I actually have hobbies that aren’t violent."

Austin opened his mouth and closed it like a fish out of water. Surely, violence could be a hobby.

As they continued their banter, Dale walked to the corner of the dojo where the training Doll was.

This one while similar to the one he had rented, had some differences.

One of the glaringly obvious ones was the lack of its proximity sensors. A feature of the doll he had rented three days before was that it activated as soon as one got too close to it.

The one that was in his basement, however, required specific bodily inputs to activate its mechanisms.

It made sense, really, why such would be there. He shuddered to imagine himself having barely escaped the jaws of death and hiding in his basement only for him to be done in by a doll.

’Such a horrible way to go out.’ He was sure that he would haunt the entire nation if it happened to him.

Trevor hummed in approval. "So this is what the 9th person got? I have a sparring room but it’s not in my basement. In fact, I don’t have a basement, only a library."

Sarah chuckled, "Of course you do."

Gary butted in. "Knowledge is power, no?" And they all burst into laughter.

As they laughed, Austin finally noticed what Dale was up to. "Hey. Dale, what are you up to?"

The latter smiled from ear to ear and tapped the chest of the training doll twice in quick succession.

His friends watched as it clicked, turning on, and as several pieces inside started to turn.

Its four arms fused into two and silver lights ignited where its eyes would have been.

Dale pulled out his sabers and aimed the tip at the doll. Wooden sabers grew out of the palms of the doll and it mirrored Dale’s stance.

’Just like before. Annoying.’ He coated himself with lightning, covering the remaining distance between him and the practice doll in less than a second.

He thrust his sabers forward while activating Lightning Rod. Orange lightning shot out and struck the doll in the chest.

The doll flew back and slammed into a wall.

A normal person would have folded and tried to recover. It wasn’t even a person.

Dale ran in after it and jumped, swinging his blades down. The doll pushed itself out of the way, increasing its speed until it matched Dale’s.

It quickly sidestepped, appearing beside him while he was still in the air.

’Shit!’ Dale couldn’t dodge.

The doll performed a roundhouse kick, slamming the heel of its foot into Dale’s temple.

He flew to the side, dazed and definitely with a concussion.

Dale pushed himself to his feet and looked at the doll. It stood where it was, waiting for Dale to attack.

If there was one benefit to this doll though, it was that it adapted faster than the one he had rented.

’Not to mention it doesn’t hold back.’ His head throbbed with a headache. At least, his friends had watched but didn’t try to intervene.

Dale turned to them. "That’s basically why I invited you all. Let’s all equally get our asses handed to us by an overgrown child’s doll. Maybe we’ll learn a thing or two. Who’s first?"

Everyone immediately raised their hands, saying, "Not it!" All except for Trevor.

He looked at everyone else in the dojo and raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

Austin shrugged. "Those are the rules. Now, get your taste of wooden defeat."