[Ry-san] Desi's Training

"Why didn't I get a map?!" Desi wondered out loud, as she floundered through the labyrinth of a forest she was lost in. “Come to think of it, why didn’t that merchant offer me one?!” She had been told that the battle arena was just through this forest, and she had rushed off without even getting any food or supplies. She should have, she thought ruefully, gotten something to keep all these vile bugs away!

Suddenly, her foot struck a rock, and she yelped, grabbing it and jumping as she swore, cursing the rock, the forest, the bugs, the merchant, herself, and the dome. As the pain subsided to a dull throbbing, she gingerly put her foot back on the ground, and looked around at her surroundings.

The first thing she realized was that it was easy to see now. The trees had thinned, allowing light to pass through more so than when she had last looked. Also, she could see blue, lots of it! The sky!! How she had missed it, when before she had taken that azure expanse for granted!

When she had looked up, she glanced around, seeing only tree’s, but they seemed less crowded than before, far less crowded!! And looking down was best of all. What she had tripped on was, not a rock as she had thought, but the first part of a paved path, the kind that usually meant only one thing…

People!! Civilization!! She all but flew with elation. She knew that there was not path out from the forest towards the nearer towns, for she had passed none while entering the woods… did that mean that it led to the Dome?!

Only one way to find out, and ran down the path to discover the answer. Less than a half an hour later, the tree’s dwindled more and more before finally not a single tree loomed before Desi. Not that it mattered, since even a corner of it, if she had seen just that, would have been the entire focus of her attention.

She ran inside, and almost immediately found herself being shown to a room and told that her teacher would arrive shortly.

Welcome to my Intermediate class, Kitsu. Also, in your first lesson, be sure to include a link to Desi's profile.

(Here's Desi's info... )

After a while, Desi's fidgeting from excited impatience ended, as she grew steadily bored. Nobody was showing up. Was this some kind of a joke or something? Could it be that there were people watching her, laughing their overly indulged, egocentric, little heads off?! The more that she thought of that possibility, the more infuriated she grew. Finally, she stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her, vowing silently that she would teach whatever spoiled idiot that came up with this professed ‘prank’ a thing or two!! Her footsteps nearly echoed as she made it clear that she was not a girl to be messed with.

She glanced around after a few minutes, and uttered a long suffering sigh. First she was lost in the forest, and now she was lost here?! At least back home, there had always been a map nearby! And people that could give directions, unlike these apparently abandoned, maze-like hallways she had wandered into. Just her luck… she was about to attempt to retrace her steps, when an odd breeze brought an even odder noise to her ears.

“Hmm?” She blinked, and halted in her tracks, as a sound unlike any that she would think to hear in the Dome, though to soft to recognize for the moment, brushed across her hearing. It sounded so familiar, though for some reason it also made her shiver. What could it be…?

Her curiosity aroused, she drifted down the corridor, smiling as the sound grew slightly louder by each step she took… there! She stopped at a door, no different from it’s neighbors in appearance. She touched the doorknob hesitantly, gasped, and pulled her hand back. The metal was freezing!! But… it was so warm… how was that possible?

Only one way to find out… She yanked open the door, not bothering to knock. Something freezing and wet hit her face in an instant.

Snow?! Impossible!! This was a room, not the arctic that she was looking into. Had to be. Perhaps she had fainted in the forest, and was dreaming this? She entered the room, and felt her shoes instantly soaked with icy melted snow, and shuddered.

How was this possible? She could not be dreaming, since she felt like she was standing on a swiftly melting glacier… but how could she NOT be dreaming?

This was a hallucination. She was in the forest, most likely delusional, ranting, raving, and foaming at the mouth, she decided, and wondered out loud if anybody had found her. She hoped that they hadn’t. And if she had been found, she hoped her parents never learned of her escapade. And if that happened…

She winced at the thought, and started shivering again. Tucking her hands beneath her armpits to warm them, she looked around the snowy world she found herself in. She could see not a single person, or, for that matter, anything but the white, swirling, snow. The cold, cold, COLD-she started shivering again, she HATED the cold-snow.

Good job. Move right along.

“Okay… so, I’m lost AGAIN?!” This was getting on the directionally challenged young girls nerves. How often could one person get lost?! And in a room, at that?! Okay, so there was currently a blizzard coming down in the room, but still--!

The sound of snow, crunching beneath heavy footsteps, startled Desi from her thoughts. She whirled around, tensing, her hands crossed protectively, the blades that she wore around her wrists glistening with the melting snow upon them, and saw… nothing. Nothing at all, save the snow falling down around her.

The startled youth remained immobile, listening intently for any more footsteps. For a moment, nothing, then the sound resumed from behind her!! Desi felt a huge, amazingly cold hand on her back, and she went down, habitually rolling when she hit the ground and cursing herself for doing so, because the roll allowed the snow to cover every inch of her body, and, upon doing so, soak her and freeze her nearly to death. She turned, teeth chattering, to face her opponent…

And took a step back in shock. Before the shocked girl, it’s gaze menacing and raging, was a creature, shaped loosely like a human, made of snow. Her arms fell limply to her side as the astounded young girl gaped up at the creature.

SMACK!

The snow monster attacked the shocked adolescent with it’s huge hand, and the girl staggered for a few moments before she regained her balance. This thing was STRONG!! She glanced back, but the door was nowhere to be seen through the dancing snowflakes. Only one thing to do, if she could not escape… the young girl raised her arms, laden with the razor sharp blades, and quickly slashed at the snow creature.

She hit it, slicing off one of it’s snowy limbs, an arm to be precise. However, the arm broke apart the instant it hit the rest of the snow, and more of the frozen flakes swirled up to the stump upon the beings shoulder, recreating the lost appendage. The astounded lass stared at it, until she was hit again by the snow creature.

She noticed something odd in the way it attacked her… a desperate strength in it’s motions… it was despairing of something, she could tell. With a sudden spear of dread that stabbed at her heart, she realized how little she wanted to battle this being. Was it possible to escape this snowstorm, this room? She wondered this, as she dodged the creature’s attack.

Jumping backwards, she hit something hard and firm against her back. Cold, but not wet or slippery… so it wasn’t ice… she could not look behind her, however, to keep from meeting her death in this frozen place. Desi slipped, suddenly, crying out in fear and flinging her arm involuntarily outwards…

And gripping something. Something wooden… the door! Behind her had been the door!! Her joyous tears froze as she pulled herself upwards…

The creature pulled back a fist, preparing to knock her out at the least…

And she burst through the door, the snow being’s fist coming down on her ankle, causing pain to wrack the wounded area as she shoved the door closed, and sank to the ground. As the youth inspected the wound, she was relieved to find that it was merely bruised. Standing up, she limped down the hallway, glancing back a few times at the door that hid a room of ice.

Good job. Always nice to see someone who doesn't feel they have to defeat the snowbeast.

*winces* It may take me a bit longer to finish up the next part... it's 'hell week' in Drama Club, the week before the play. It's been a lot more intense during the past month, but this week wil have literally 5 hour rehearsals DAILY at the shortest, and an 8 hour one on saturday...

By all means, take your time. I know what it's like to have a full schedule myself.

Sorry about the disappearance. Hell week became Hell month, and then my creative writing teacher seemed to become temporarily deranged and give us two huge projects, a 50 page packet and a 15 chapter memory book... I'm just glad that the only nightmare that lies in my immediate future is finals, and that I can procrastinate a bit with them...

I'll start the next lesson right away

Kitsu, you have been gone at a most difficult time. Ry-san has resigned as a teacher, so there is no point to continue this training. If you still wish to remain at the Dome, head to the homerooms of Shrub or Safer.

What?! Darn... alright, I'll head there now. Thank you for the information